Content Creation For Beginners
Part 3 Of A 3 Part Series
Be Sure To Check Out Part 1 and 2
Whether it’s your website, social media page, or an opt-in email you have less than 3 seconds to make a positive impression. You can write the most engaging and informative text, but if your visual content doesn’t instantly connect—leads and prospects may never make their way to the artful words you’ve written. This quick content creation guide for beginners will help.
#1 Strategize
The biggest mistake most brands make is posting content for the sake of posting. This may generate some opt-ins and clicks, but a strategy ensures impact.
Identify your primary demographic and at least two secondary niches.
Determine what social media channels your demographics prefer.
Create a quarterly content strategy based on industry and product trends.
Map out your content mix including organic (free) and inorganic (paid) marketing.
#2 Choose Your Tools
If you have the budget, hire a pro to put your marketing strategy into action, but you can do it yourself!
Here are some of my favorite DIY marketing tools:
Canva—bring out your inner graphic designer! No worries if you don’t have an artistic eye as Canva has hundreds of predesigned templates. Choose your template by industry and the type of content you want to create. For example, a perfectly-sized Instagram post. You can also do basic photo editing in Canva.
Flo Desk—is an email marketing tool that includes automated emails, DIY landing pages, and website pop ups. Create a landing pages for each of your demographics and or offers to keep your leads engaged with your content by funneling them into the sales cycle.
Planoly—continue to post to social media on the fly, but streamline things by prescheduling your Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter posts in Planoly. Schedule at least a week in advance. You’ll still have to log in to respond to engagement but daily posts will be automated.
#3 Create Your Content
Don’t wait until the last minute to create your content or it may fall to the bottom of your to-do list. I always suggest starting with a photoshoot to capture branded portraits that you can use for at least the next 6 months.
Standard Portraits—these are crystal clear, close-range product photos taken from a variety of angles on a crisp white background. All product labels or features should have close-ups.
Styled Portraits—these are product photos shot with props or a decorative background. For example, featuring your vase with fresh flowers placed in different areas of a home or office.
Lifestyle Portraits—these are images that feature real-life people wearing, using, and enjoying your product. This will help others envision what they will look like too.
Visual imagery is key, but you will also need a mix of videos, blogs, articles, decorative graphics, newsletters, and emails.
#4 Analyze Your Results
Although you’ve got a strategy in place, keep a close eye on your Google Analytics, campaign analytics, and paid ad analytics to fine-tune things.
In the digital world, many of the strategies that work today won’t work long-term. So, map out your strategies every 4 to 6 months and get the most out of them while you can.
Need Help Creating Your Content?
This blog shares a few content creation tips for beginners, but to really dive in I invite you to work with me! I can coach you one-on-one to create your content and marketing strategy or you can download my 30+ Content Creation Tools or watch the workshop Plan 90 Days of Content Workshop to get you started today.