On Talkytimes, can dind innovative and highly enthusiastic creatives. The streaming platform is mildly competitive and has a very accommodating community which allows for genuine expression of oneself from the various streamers on the platform. With video content being the most effective type of content, there is no wonder why there is an increase in the number of users on Talkytimes, Tiktok, Youtube annually.
However, not all content creators online understand what they are doing. We have many newbies, amateurs and people who are just winging it. If you are among the listed groups, it is more likely that you are finding it difficult to break through and get the exposure you crave. The reason, however, is less likely to be because of the huge number of competitors online. That excuse wouldn’t fly, especially on Talkytimes, since the competition is not so stiff, and the audience is quite open-minded. The more potent reason is that you haven’t mastered the full layout of a strong content strategy.
Today we’ll be going through something we, at Talkytimes, refer to as the 5 pillars of content strategy. 👇
These well-explained and broken-down pillars will form the blueprint on which your content creation success will soar. With these 5 points, every necessary part of content creation would have been discussed and brought to your knowledge. They will make you think, bring solutions to both present and future problems you may likely face, as well as continuous thriving results in your content creation journey.
It is expected that you have made the decision to be a part-time or full-time content creator, and have the passion and the drive to take time and build yourself in the field. Using the presence of followership, it was analysed that in 2021, there were over 200 million content creators worldwide, and that value might be really downplayed and not taken everything into consideration. This is being pointed out so that you have an idea of the other largely determined content creators already present in the world. Once you know you are among the determined bunch and want to have a voice of your own in the creative space, we can move ahead.
5 PILLARS OF CONTENT STRATEGY WITH TALKYTIMES:
BRANDING
The very first thing you should do is put your mind to your identity online. Your brand is what will differentiate you from being just another content creator out there. It is what gives you your unique label and everybody needs that unique label. It is very possible for your content to be so good but still go unnoticed because there’s no unique label to identify you by. If all brands of ketchup on the store counter had the same label or no label at all, then Heinz wouldn’t be so special.
As a creator, your brand can contain a variety of many and anything:
- Your name
- A logo/colour/picture
- A dress code
- A word/statement/punchline/catchphrase
- A sound etc.
Anything you say, do or show consistently that becomes a part of every content you make becomes a part of your brand identity. This brand identity will have an effect on your brand image to everyone who comes across your content, so it helps you to have some control over the narrative.
One more thing to discuss under branding is the inspiration behind it. Most parts of branding will be influenced by your preferences and personality. In addition, your content and target audience should also have a say in the branding. The target audience will be looked into next but it should be in the back of your mind that they would be involved in your brand identity decisions. Take for example you create content for children between the ages of 5 to 10, you should have an understanding that they wouldn’t exactly be online. The decision that they would actually watch your content will mostly be made by their parents after careful scrutinization. Your brand, therefore, has to show caution, and have no form of negativity or perceived corruption to be able to get and maintain your audience.
TARGET AUDIENCE
Subjectively, a lot of content creators would like to say this is the most important pillar. That’s up to you to decide. Regardless, the audience is a very big part of the content creation world. Almost everything you do, from the planning to the production and release of your content, even the aftermath of it, has to be done with the audience in mind.
The first thing to obviously make clear is what is called the target audience. The global audience is every available person online who can access your content. About 63% of the global population uses the internet, this value covers over 6 billion internet users. This goes to show that the possible reach of your content is huge. There’s enough to go round on the table, but you do not have the stomach for it all. So, why not just take a bite of only your best meals? Ergo, your target audience.
Now, the target audience is that part of your global audience that you structure your content to satisfy. They will also structure your branding along with the content you put out (i.e. the timing, the type, the delivery and so much more).
The branding-content relationship is actually not a synchronous one. One doesn’t come before the other, they are intertwined. You tailor your brand to suit your target audience while also picking your target audience using the criteria of your brand’s message.
A typical target audience analysis will put into consideration this criterias:
- Age group
- Gender
- Location
- Level of education
- Hobbies
- Income/social class
A note of caution is to not totally ignore the people who you haven’t classified within your target audience. They might not take precedence, but if you have the ability to satisfy both your target audience and other groups with your content, it wouldn’t hurt.
CONTENT
You would think this would come first, since it is the main thing that is being prepared and served, and it is the major thing that has to be really good for you to get a chance. However, the already 2 discussed pillars are forerunners to your content. Your content is probably what you come up with first, or at least what you think about first, but it shouldn’t be the first thing you plan.
However, this doesn’t take anything from the content. It is still a very important aspect of the content creation journey.
There are many things to take note of in your content before you begin to release it:
- Topics (niche) – You need to find the niche that works for you. A niche is a field or umbrella under which every topic you create content on will be. There are various niches to pick from, an endless list containing lifestyle, fashion, health and fitness, sports, and many more. 3 basic things contribute to your decision on a niche; your knowledge about the niche, the popularity of the niche among your target audience, and your passion for the said niche.
- Delivery – Though it has been mentioned that you are more likely to receive engagements for video content, creators are making waves with other forms of delivery like text, audio and pictures. You could even find a way to mix some of them. The delivery method you decide should be made after a good study of what you want to present and how you want it to be consumed. For example, images would be less stressful than videos for people with a low attention span. Another thing that would have an effect is the platform you choose. On Talkytimes, you find more streamers, due to it being more for the video content creators.
- Timing & Consistency – Consistency is the engine of content creation. The ability to keep making content despite underwhelming engagements and building yourself to be better is important to your journey. The production takes a lot of idea-generation, planning and implementation, but even after all that, Timing your releases is also as important. The time of your release could be at constant intervals or spontaneously. Regardless of what it is, you must choose a time that would be comfortable for you and your target audience. Your timing should also be able to read the room and know when, and what type of content should be released because there is such a thing as releasing great content at the wrong time.
POSITIONING AND PROMOTIONS
When you have successfully created a unique brand for yourself, selected the primary target audience you would like to structure your content for, and have been able to back it all up with great content that has been strategically calculated, what’s next?
By this time, you would have been getting a good amount of engagements. Usually, the engagements will start with an upward trajectory and then hit a plateau, where it seems stuck. This plateau could be a bit frustrating and give you a feeling of decline, this is where positioning and promotions come in.
You have to begin to put your content in places where they haven’t been but in a natural manner. This could be done by participating in events and discussions in communities of your niche. Make your contributions as regards trending topics, complex topics, and the likes. This way you will get noticed by other people who haven’t heard about you. They will have a push to check out your content, and if you have been doing the right things they will see a reason to follow you.
Another less natural but effective way to position yourself is through social media advertising. With social media ads, you can get your content to pages of people who wouldn’t usually come across your content. It increases your reach and gives you a chance at increasing your followership and engagements beyond the normal, thus, helping to overcome the dreaded content plateau. Facebook and Instagram are the two most popular platforms for social media advertising, and with a combination of the two, you are able to gain access and patronage to a very wide age group, with Facebook providing more of the older people and Instagram providing a much younger age group.
Still thinking about the dreaded plateau, this last pillar is tied to every other one. You could call this pillar any similar name, but at the end of the day, it describes the need to always look into taking what you are doing up a notch.
It will be discussed with other 4 tips:
Your branding isn’t only done at the start of your journey. As you go along, you have to make sure to not seem stale. As such, you have to keep adding new updates to your brand. The idea is to make little additions frequently, to give it a fresher feel. Then after a very long period when it seems like the times have moved on, you come up with a great rebranding strategy. In the actual sense, this part is called rebranding.
Updating your audience doesn’t exactly mean changing your target audience. What happens here is the realization that your audience undergoes changes. The people who were initially targeted and followed you are now growing, they now have new interests. If you targeted teenagers in 2018, by 2022 most of them are no longer teenagers. It is then important to welcome in the audience who now fit into your target audience description.
This will involve moving with the times and restructuring your content to what the new audience prefers.
This will follow the changes that would be introduced into your branding and audience. It will be a direct change which you would mostly not have to make conscious action towards.
One part in which you can update is in improving your knowledge in the field. There are top online learning platforms you can go to improve your content knowledge and delivery.
- Updating your Positioning
The way you improve your position from an amateur to a full-grown expert is by putting yourself a level above and showing your expertise. You begin to offer courses, consultancy, influencing and so much more.
This will get you brand endorsements and collaborations, as well as offer you a whole lot of monetisation opportunities.
We hope you found helpful, applicable tips in this article that’ll help you grow and develop as a content creator. To start your own journey, join Talkytimes and get monetized! 😎
