4 Tips to Become A Successful Content Creator

vemuda.com - Don’t you feel like you’re missing out on a huge opportunity? I mean, it’s 2022, and there are people making good money online talking about. 

Basically anything. Cars, money, plants, even the Smurfs. If you have a passion, it’s very likely that there are people online who share the same passion.

The goal of this post is to give you all the tools you need to get started. I’m also going to tell you exactly what strategy you can use, and it’s all extremely cheap or completely free. 

You don’t even need to buy a camera nowadays, your smartphone probably has a decent camera and it’s a good starting point.

Source: unsplash.com by Szabo Viktor

So, if you’re interested in starting your career online as a content creator, this is your starting point. Especially if you plan to create video content that, as you probably already know, has the most potential in the world.  

You don’t have to do video, but I highly suggest that you do. Here’s why: Video is the future 87% of marketers say video content has increased traffic on their websites, according to SmartBrief.

Marketing businesses and start-ups use video as their main marketing strategy. Why Because people got used to it. It’s extremely easy to consume: you don’t have to read, just watch.

Video is also the best way to become  memorable. If you want to push your brand, visual content is the best when it comes to being influential. People will remember you if you combine visuals and audio in the right manner.

Furthermore, video content is highly persuasive. By persuasive I mean that it is much easier to engage with people emotionally through video than written content or just pictures.

It’s easier to deliver your message and provoke emotional reactions in people. The  combination of camera movements, angles, good acting, audio, and words spoken are  the best way to tell a story, at any level.

Finally, videos are the best way to keep your  audience glued to the screen. It’s not just about getting people’s attention, it’s also  about keeping it for as much as possible.  

This is becoming more and more important. The more entertaining content always wins. Always.

Time ago, people didn’t have as much choice as they have today when it comes to content. They had to switch through TV channels, yeah, but still, they didn’t have that much choice.

Today, you have hundreds of YouTube channels talking about the same topic, thousands of gaming channels, millions of music artists and so much more. With apps like Tik Tok and lately Instagram Reels, people have more power than ever.  

All they have to do if they don’t like your video is to swipe up. It’s that simple. And you have to create content accordingly: people  won’t listen to you if you can’t entertain.

Look at it as a marketplace. In economics, we talk about capitalism as a model where consumers vote with their purchases. This simply means that if people aren’t buying from you, you are probably doing something  wrong.

If people are buying from you, it means that they believe your product is good enough to “vote” with their money.

It’s similar in the content creation field. When people watch your videos, they vote with their time. If people aren’t consuming your content, it doesn’t necessarily mean that the algorithm is against you.  

You simply aren’t creating good content or you aren’t fulfilling a need in the marketplace.  

For example, it will be much harder to grow a  gaming YouTube channel than any other category.

Why? Because there’s a lot of competition and people already have trusted influencers to follow, they don’t need more. If you look at it from this perspective, everything will start to make sense and you’ll understand why your content hasn’t already grown.

Anyway, let’s get straight to the strategy that I want you to use. 

1. Define Your Brand, Niche, & Content

Here’s the thing. You can’t do it all. You might have multiple passions, but you have to choose one type of content and commit to that. If you really aren’t sure, you can try multiple topics out and see what you work best with.  

Don’t go for “what is trending”. There’s an audience for everyone, and trying to ride someone else’s wave isn’t profitable long-term. What I’m saying is do your own thing. Figure out what you like to talk about and do that.  

Also, remember that you shouldn’t copy anyone. If you don’t feel like teaching people how to do something with tutorials, document. If you don’t feel like vlogging everything you do, give people value on a topic you know well.

There are endless possibilities you just have to find out what makes you happy and you can do best. Once that’s done, it’s time to talk about your brand. Obviously figure out a name (this could be your name, for personal branding).

You should also consider making a logo. You can hire a graphic designer to make one for you, or you can design it yourself if that sounds too expensive.  

Otherwise, you can always use free logo makers online. Which are free and extremely easy to use.  

You can customize them and then have multiple versions. Some examples of free logo makers: freelogodesign.org, namecheap.com, logomaker.com, tailorbrands.com, logomakr.com. Some of them are really good.

You can also not have a logo and use your  pretty face for a brand. In the future, however, you might want to sell some merch, so a logo, which rights you own, can come in handy.

When it comes to branding, you also have to decide what type of content you want to bring.  

If you follow our strategy, you’re going to use more than one platform to post your stuff, so this doesn’t really involve things like video length and type.

It’s all about your position. What words do  you use? Are you going to make vlog-like videos or are you going to go for something more professional? Will you hire a video editor or will you work on videos yourself? Will you have your own catchphrase and hashtag?

Define everything that has to do with tonality and voice. Also, consider developing an avatar. In marketing, those are profiles of ideal customers. Do something similar. Give it a name, gender, income, occupation, age, and so on.

This is your ideal follower. By understanding  who you’re talking to you can target your videos better, Never try to reach everybody. There’s no content creator that is followed by everybody.  

Every creator has a niche and has haters, no matter what they do. So, clarify who your content is for, then go to the next step.

2. Give yourself time to learn how to create 

Are you a good entertainer? Cause most people aren’t. If you aren’t used to talking to a camera, that’s a skill you have to develop. Most people have no idea how hard it actually is to be entertaining and speak eloquently in front of the camera.

Take a quick acting course. This will teach you how to speak slowly, not rush, and improvise when needed. If you can (due to COVID this might not apply), participate in Toastmasters, that’s also a good piece of advice.

If you find difficulty speaking in front of a camera anyway, you can also try scripting your videos. I highly suggest you create a script (or at least a structure) for every single piece of content you create. This isn’t to “fake” your content.

This will help you stay straight to the point and not fiddle around with a bunch of topics. Follow the script, and don’t make it obvious that you are reading.

Also don’t worry about making mistakes, because you are going to fix those in post. By post, I mean the editing phase.

Yes, you need to learn how to edit videos. Don’t worry, it isn’t difficult at all. The most important thing is learning how to cut videos.

This will help you cut away outtakes, and parts of the videos where you are reading the script. It also helps you when you need to cut pauses and “ermmmsss”.

Keep your final videos short and to the point, without moving around the subject. It has to go in a straight line. If people don’t receive  what you promised them in the title right away, they are going to switch to other content, so remember this.

Then also learn how to add music, text, colour grading, and so on. You can start with basic software like Windows Movie Maker. You can switch to better editors like Adobe Premiere Pro, but I highly suggest you give Davinci Resolve a try. It’s free, and it has so many tools.

It’s the only editor you’ll  ever need. It takes a little to get used to, but you’ll thank me later, trust me. Sony Vegas is also a good choice.

If you don’t have a computer, you can always use apps for video editing on your smartphone or tablet. If you have a decent smartphone you can download surprisingly good video editors for phones, and you can seriously do a lot of stuff directly there.

I also suggest that you learn basic lighting techniques. This doesn’t mean that you have to buy studio lights. You can use your  regular lamps and lights you have around your house.

But learning these basic techniques will  dramatically improve the quality of your stuff.  

Audio is also extremely important, and I suggest that you purchase a microphone or a lavalier microphone. Those are little mics that you can plug into your phone and attach to your clothes. They work great, and a lot of them go for 20 bucks on amazon.

If you don’t want to purchase one of those, you  can always use the microphone of wired earphones and attach it to yourself. This is very important especially when you’re recording outside.  

Good audio is important, and you have to start somewhere, but with time I suggest that you think about upgrading to a decent microphone because it makes an impressive difference. 

3. Post on Instagram & YouTube for 2 weeks 

I suggest that you start your journey with Instagram and YouTube content. The content shouldn’t be posted twice, so no recycling content.

You should give people a reason to follow you both on YouTube and on IG. You can use YouTube for weekly content and Instagram for daily content.

After you created something for people to look at, 2 weeks should be already gone, at least. Don’t look at the numbers for now. The goal isn’t to reach anyone, the goal here is to have some content ready when people are going to find out about you.

No one is going to follow an empty page. Market yourself as a fresh content creator that wants to do things differently. 

4. Post on Tik Tok and treat it as free marketing 

Tik Tok’s algorithm is fantastic. Those that create good content have really high chances of success. And by good, I don’t just mean high quality and valuable to people.  

I mean entertaining. Make coherent and contextual content. Contextual means that you can’t post YouTube-type content on Tik Tok. It won't work.

Create content especially for Tik Tok, and think of it as free organic reach. If you keep posting good stuff that is genuine you are going to reach people.

From there, your goal is to send people  to your IG and Youtube, where you can monetize ads, sell your merch, or sell anything else.

It’s like a sales funnel, and there are countless people making thousands and thousands of dollars every month thanks to this. So why not become the next one?

So, thank you guys so much for reading, I hope you have enjoyed this post. With that said, have a great day and  I’ll see you all in the next one.