6 Habits of Highly Effective Content Creators That Makes Their Work Stand-Out
No matter what type of creator you are — this list will propel your content creation to a different level
Living in the world of the Internet where the world starts with posting cute Instagram selfies, making Tiktoks, watching Youtube, and end with tweets— there has been a high trend of content creation which made almost every other person out there pursue the content creation field.
But focusing solely on writing good content isn’t enough to become a successful creator especially when there are millions of creators out there who are also creating the content within the same field.
“Content is king, but marketing is queen, and runs the household.” — Gary Vaynerchuk
When we talk about making content successful, content and marketing go hand-in-hand and successful creators know this concept and work accordingly.
As Andy Crestodin has said, “It’s not the best content that wins. It’s the best promoted content that wins.”
But now you may wonder, what do these successful content creators really do? How are they able to make their content viral?
Well, it all really starts from the start i.e. what you do before creating the content. Most content creators develop and follow certain key behaviors that have allowed them to master their field of content creation.
#1 They Understand Their Audience
It’s what they say — before you put an effort to create the content, you’ve got to understand your audience first.
Great content creation is about serving an audience. And highly successful creators thrive on this — they know their industry’s audience and ensure their content reflects their wants.
A top B2B copywriter, Aaron Orendorff notes that:
“Every piece of content you create has to do two things:
(1) rescue your audience from their own personal hell and (2) deliver them onto their own personal heaven”
Jerod Morris, vice president at Rainmaker Digital, believes that you’ll be a lot better off if you put yourself in the reader’s shoes.
“Who is your reader?” Morris asks. “What keeps him or her up at night? What do you know or what stories can you tell to help alleviate any pain or suffering or frustration they are feeling? When you empathize in this way, you set yourself on the track of creating content that will be meaningful and impactful.”
Different audiences have different questions, needs, and problems. To create content that the audiences love, there needs to be an in-depth understanding of that audience.
- Who am I creating content for?
- What’s the personality I am going for?
- What interests them?
Whether you’re a writer or a video creator, your audience is people who have busy lives, a lot on their plate, and certain pain points they’re trying to overcome. Think deeply about their situations and how you can address them with your content.
Then, and only then, you’re ready to create.
As Tim Ferris notes, “It’s about building a tribe of people that absolutely LOVE your content. It could simply mean as many as “1,000 true fans” that are super connected with everything you create. They alone can sustain your creative career.”
#2 They Don’t Write a Lot — But Often
Writing is much like a muscle — you must exercise it daily to avoid losing its strength but there must be a balance between exercising a lot and less. This especially rings true for content creators who happen to find a happy balance between posting too often and not enough.
Successful content creators write regularly, even when they may not be in the mood for writing. They just write even if it's just a few rubbish words but they make sure they don’t break the habit.
“When you make music or write or create, it’s really your job to have mind-blowing, irresponsible, condomless sex with whatever idea it is you’re writing about at the time.” — Lady Gaga
With just 15 to 20 minutes of putting some thoughts down or free-writing about your day, you can get some ideas for your next blog post or youtube video.
After all, this isn’t a hobby we’re working for; it’s a discipline.
#3 They Have Their Own Personal Voice
“Stand out from the crowd. Use your own voice” may sound like a piece of cheesy advice but it really matters for content creators!
Let's be honest here, shall we? You’re not only the content creator on the internet. There are countless other creators around the world who are offering their advice, opinions, and expertise in whatever industry you’re in. If you go on mimic someone else, you’re officially going to get screwed.
Your industry already has that person — it doesn’t need two of them. What they need, is your own unique voice.
Great content creators have their personal voice which makes them stand out from the crowd which becomes a major factor in their success. Perhaps Launchbyte’s boss Lee puts it the best:
“There are many articles out on the web that highlight the importance of content,” writes Lee. “I’m sure having great content helps. But many times, it is the personality that draws in the audience.”
Your voice is the one thing you can bring to your content that no one else can.
Your audience may watch your videos, or read your blog post, but your personality will help you to cement yourself uniquely from the rest. And this can encourage your audience to come back for more.
#4 They Curate Other Creator’s Content
It’s not enough to create content, you should also share other creator’s posts and videos onto your social channels and pages. But successful content creators know it’s not enough to share it with their followers and fans.
“You must also position yourself as an expert and genuinely interact with your communities,” says the New York Times best-selling author Guy Kawasaki.
But just sharing content pieces isn’t enough — it is important that you engage with it because engaging makes the content unique to you, and it also becomes valuable when you add additional information, insights, or your opinion.
It’ll not only expand your knowledge but will boost up your content’s reach because when you share other people’s not only that creator will appreciate it but your audience will probably too and — thus, increasing people's engagement with you.
#5 They Track Their Metrics And Goals
“Content creators create just for the love of their content” is a romantic idea in the content creation world.
However, as much as this is true that there are people who follow this romantic approach i.e. they create because they love it — but there are many other people that do it to make a living off or grow a business with it.
And in that case, it is necessary that you pay attention to the metrics and goals that will push your content forward. One of the other powerful approaches of content creators is that they pay close attention to their progress — by tracking their metrics to make sure they hit their desired goal.
“What’s measured improves”― Peter Drucker
If you had 1,000 visitors on your website last month, how many signed up for your newsletter? How many downloaded your monthly offer? or if you’re a YouTuber then how many people subscribed to your channel?
While these are the questions that matter. There are some other metrics to track:
- Traffic
- Social sharing
- Time spent on site
- Comments or Likes
Other than them, there are many different combinations of metrics you could track but successful content creators make sure that they don’t get too caught up in tracking the metrics that will result in obstructing their creativity.
As Scott M. Graffius summed it up the best:
“If you don’t collect any metrics, you’re flying blind. If you collect and focus on too many, they may be obstructing your field of view.”
When you’re choosing your metrics, ask yourself: “How it’s going to help me to achieve my goals?” and work according to that. This will not only help you to ensure that you’re not wasting your efforts but making sure it doesn’t hinder your performance.
#6 They Question Status Quo
Being a good content creator needs much more than posting good content, or having a great network — it needs curiosity. Even seasoned content creators lookout for information that’s being promoted. Curiosity has always been a common trait of polished creators.
“You need to be curious to identify problems worth solving,” says Lorraine Twohill, head of marketing at Google, “and then come up with new solutions.”
If you aspire to become a good content creator then you need to be curious. Make a habit of questioning the status quo constantly. Start with taking a contrarian view of a simple piece of content — question why the author thinks the way he does, what happened that triggered this viewpoint.
By doing this you’ll begin to think more critically about the content you’re consuming. And if you didn’t know, critical thinkers are ones that make great content creators.