2023 has witnessed one of the most significant changes in the world of Content Creation for quite some time. If you hadn’t guessed I am talking about the emergence of AI. Be it the written word, imagery or music they have all been affected and I don’t think AI is going anywhere so it is a case of adapting.

My thoughts on AI

As it stands, for some, AI might be the elephant in the room. So I thought I would talk about it first and share my perspective and involvement:

AI and my writing

I have begun using AI tools for writing, I use them to spark ideas if my mind goes blank, I often use the odd sentence provided and then rephrase the rest. I fine AI useful for factual statements, it can explain better, for instance there is heavier usage in the Privacy Policy and Disclaimer pages, in amongst my own words.

I also feed my (as yet unnamed) AI pal a blog post for it to generate short social media ideas, it acts as my publicist promoting my writing more effectively than I can. (Is that the most British sentence I am going to write in the blog!) However, I don’t have any plans to publish blog posts entirely written by AI, why would I? After all, I write blogs because I enjoy it.

AI and my images and Graphics

I have begun to use AI tools to generate images and graphics for the blogs. I will, when I have got a firm grasp of them myself, write some blog posts about some of these Apps I am using in the Apps section of the blog. AI is great for creating an image that can match your colour scheme or produce unique visuals that no photographer could ever see never find capture on film.

Also, I will use my own photographs in my content creation when suitable and images from public sources (and I will get better at remembering to credit the photographers, not needed I know, but it is the right thing to do).

The dark side of AI

As with everything else in life, AI can be a valuable tool that can inspire writing or or produces stunning fantasy and other genres of imaginative images. Unfortunately there is a dark side to it as well. At the same time as content creators are achieving spectacular results, the topic has already come up of those with malicious intent who plan to misuse AI, such as fabricating photographic evidence of wrong doing, particularly targeting those in the public eye. However, blaming AI for this is akin to blaming a car for being driven by a drunk driver.

What Does A Content Creator Do?

In the professional world a content creator is responsible for creating written word, images, videos and social content to promote a brand or organisation. They would be expected to know their audience inside out and be up to date with the latest developments in social media practices as well as industry trends for the business they work for. Great communication skills are a given as they might be working with a wide range of colleagues. Of course, that is a content creator in the world of work.

How Do I Start Content Creating?

The minute you begin a blog or create a Professional Instagram account, you become a content creator, unlike the professional setting you are your own employer so to speak and you chose what content you want to create. It is actually one of those positions that you can begin as an amateur, prove you can do the job and become a professional. The moment you are paid for a post or are sent a product to review you are on the ladder to becoming a professional.

Content Creation Topics

Now we have got the elephant in the room out of the way. What am I going to be talking about when it comes to Content Creation? Well, you’ve probably heard the surgical saying: See one, do one, teach one (at last on TV). That is sort of my plan here. When I stumble upon effective content generation practices that work well, I’ll happily share them with you. Some of the areas I will cover include:

Understanding your target audience

One of the reasons I (for the second time) split my blog up is that I have more than one audience. Although I am living with Fibromyalgia and Living Creatively with Fibro (which is being redeveloped as we speak as the front page is a hot mess) is based around this experience. My PKM, Genealogical and digital interests reach beyond the scope of a spoonie lifestyle, so why limit the audience.

By understanding that many people read my articles that were not part of a chronic illness community it was logical to separate my content. So if you are a blogger it is worth looking at your numbers, nothing too intense just what posts are getting attention and where from. I began blogging because I was living with Fibromyalgia but my content doesn’t have to all be related to this. Do you serve one audience or more?

Develop a content Strategy

I’ll put my hands up. My strategy is a permanent work in progress at the moment. I am at a cusp where I am having to rapidly produce new content to get things up and running. At the same time I am transferring content between blogs, tiding up old content whose images caused problems with new style layouts. There is a lot of balls in the air (in between juggling my spoons – Fibro speak) so the only strategy is to press on and get things onto an even keel. Then it is time to find a routine that works for me and the readers.

One thing I have learnt in all my research is that you need to have a regular routine of posting if you are wanting to grow your following. Different platforms have their own expectations. The one beauty of blogging is that you are on your own platform and not at the whims of others. The amount of times I have heard of YouTube or Instagram accounts that have been taken away or stopped being promoted due to some new rule of the platform.

If you are building your content on someone else’s platform the first thing to do is follow your hosts recommendations.

Creating unique and engaging content

Can I draw your attention to the first topic of this post again, AI. If you are using AI just remember there are so many others doing it too. At least make sure your tool has a plagiarism checker. Also, let’s pause on the word engaging. Engaging to who? We are all different and have our own tastes. My content might be a little longer form than some, but shorter than others. Equally, finding the balance in tone, serious and times, humorous at others. It comes back to the understanding your audience again. In terms of content creation know who you are addressing.

Pay Attention To SEO

Another big topic, any content creator wanting to grow their following has to understand SEO at least a little bit. I will be covering this topic in further detail as it deserves its own post. For anyone brand new to the world of blogging and content creation, SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation and it is literally the act of making sure your content pleases Google (yes, there are other search engines but if you please Google it will be fine for the rest). Of course when it comes to search Youtube and Google mean the same thing.

If you only plan on getting viewers or readers from Pinterest, for example, you can ignore SEO, but for the majority of us we rely on the Search engines to ensure we are not talking to ourselves.

Create Content That Adds Value

When I began blogging, this is a lesson that took me a few months to learn. Once you are established people may come to your blog to see what you have to say on a given topic. As a new blogger or Facebook creator (whatever content you produce) people find your content when trying to answer a question or solve a problem. Try to remember than when writing most of your posts. Some posts, like this one, are what I call scene setters. This is not to answer a question but to display the vibe a reader can expect from the rest of the blog.

Regularly Measure Your Contents Performance

If we go back to understanding your audience, you remember I said that quite a lot of my audience were not from the Spoonie community. That is why I decided to split my blog up. If I wasn’t keeping an eye on my blog performance and seeing what people were reading, I wouldn’t have known that. As writers we have a desire to write about what we want to talk about. As bloggers we need to understand what our audience want to read.

How often have I read from bloggers or seen YouTubers say that their best performing post was something that was minimal effort, almost throwaway so to speak, while the content they plowed hours (and sometimes real money) into barely gained any traction. We all need to remember that.

Until next time,
Susan