One of the most peculiar problems that content creators face is the inability to create consistently better content. Imagine a scenario where you get a moment of clarity and inspiration, as well as an event that’s an idea for your coverage and you make an outstanding piece of content. A lot of new readers, listeners or viewers take a look at it, fall in love with it and decide to see what else you make or even decide to take a look at some of your old work. Then, they figure out that the rest of your content is nowhere near that quality, so what happens next? Do they stay loyal to you for that one piece or do they just move on? The latter is the only logical outcome. In order to avoid this, you need to find a way to make your content consistently better. Here are several suggestions.
1. Invest some hours
For a lot of people writing, editing and producing is a part-time job. Now, there’s a claim that it takes one about 10,000 hours of effort into… well, virtually anything in order to master it. Now, if you spend 3 or 4 hours per week writing, how long will it take you to get there? “Too long” is a suitable answer. Instead, why not set aside 1-2 hours each day for making new content, revamping your old content and self-improving in this area.
In this way, you’ll create a surplus of content which will give you two completely new options. First, you’ll get the privilege of developing an editorial calendar and already have some pieces ready in advance. Second, you get a chance to discard a piece of work that you aren’t happy with or one that doesn’t satisfy your standards. While this may sound as something logical, even intuitive when you’re way past your deadline, you might not have this option available. To simplify, consistent work gives consistent results, it’s as simple as that.
2. Develop an angle
The next thing you can do in order to make your content stand out is to establish a story angle instead of just reporting on the facts. This will give you an opportunity to cover an event/occurrence that is by no means a scoop. Regardless of their stance, people will want to hear the other side of the story, even if just to disagree with it or argue in the comment section.
Sure, some bloggers or brands may want to avoid anything controversial at any point, but let’s look at things from a logical perspective. To you as a brand (regardless of whether you’re a nonprofit, business or an individual), isn’t it better to be loved by 10 members of your audience and hated by 10 than for 20 people to be indifferent about you? For those who are still afraid of this, you need to keep in mind that A) opinionated doesn’t necessarily mean offensive and B) there’s always something you can do to remedy the situation. Experts skilled in crisis management usually have a way of turning the narrative in your favour even if things start seeming grim at first.
3. Give examples
The biggest problem with keeping straight communication with your audience is the fact that by oversimplifying, you might start losing those who see you as condescending. On the other hand, by being too technical, you might lose those who can’t understand you. The best way to transcend this issue is to give examples as frequently as you can.
Nonetheless, the examples need to be right as well. If it’s a story, characters need to be depersonalized so that the readers can get immersed in the story. While this may not seem that logical, it might even be worth your while to check out how fiction writers are making their stories more immersive and try mimicking the same style in your examples. If it’s a situation, try to find something familiar, relatable or so unbelievable that it’s fascinating. Keep in mind, nonetheless, that giving examples for just the sake of giving examples is not good practice. The image that you’re using in order to clarify any information that you’ve just given needs to be relevant to the story at hand or at least serve as a faithful analogy. Otherwise, you’re missing the point.
Conclusion
The beauty of these three techniques lies in the fact that they are universally applicable to your content, regardless of the format, niche or topic at hand. You can use examples in written posts the same as you can verbalize them in a podcast episode. On the other hand, each of these three techniques requires a tremendous amount of work, so the best thing for you to do is get onto it right away.
