Social media and digital media has been enabling people to share their ideas in various forms. Whether they are blog­gers or vloggers, their content becomes the reason for their social media engage­ment. A plethora of social media web­sites along with owned and earned media is available for sharing con­tent. Those who envision making a difference need to create a content strategy in the first place. More than often, bloggers and vloggers step out into social media with their content without knowing what they should make and for whom they should make it. This re­mains a half-baked idea.

Their big idea should provide information and analysis of their chosen topic. Whether they record themselves talking to the audi­ence or create a mixture of video and images, it is their call. They need to ensure they have an outline before they begin creating content.

Those interested in writing can choose to create a blog. They can develop write-ups on topics that should be informative, entertain­ing, or thought-provoking. Those having a flair for video editing will invest in purchasing equipment to develop effective videos. Con­tinuous learning is the key to becoming a suc­cessful content creator. One should constantly learn about the skills one needs to learn to ef­fectively promote content. For bloggers, it can be how to write, edit and manage content. For vloggers, it can be how to create a setup, what frame to make, lighting the scene, recording, and editing. Learning is a life-long process that all content creators must pursue. They should evaluate their performance and learn from other content creators.

However, to become a successful content creator, one needs to be relevant and consis­tent. Relevancy is achieved through observa­tion and learning. A content creator should observe the ideas and topics they can discuss with which their audience can relate. This rel­evancy will emotionally and mentally connect your content with your target audience.

Furthermore, you should follow a consistent timeline to upload content. You can share your content through blogs, vlogs, YouTube chan­nels or can use your Facebook or Linkedin pages or profiles. In either case, you need to remain consistent in uploading content. You cannot upload content thrice a week and then not upload content for the next two weeks. You should have a timeline or a content plan in place. It is advisable to go easy on yourself. Take your time in creating content and upload it every week. After a couple of months, you can increase the frequency from one post per week to two to three posts per week depend­ing on the views and engagement. You should ensure that you are posting content at times when there is a higher engagement.

With relevancy and consistency comes the foresight to know what to create. Create an outline of all the relevant topics you can cre­ate your content on. This includes topics of your interest and content related to impor­tant national and international days. Becom­ing a content creator looks like a walk in the park. It requires one to learn every day, con­duct in-depth research on the topics, gain in­sights and use one’s judgment to create con­tent that resonates with the audience.

Muhammad Omar Iftikhar
The writer is a fiction writer, columnist and author of, ‘Divided Species’—a sci-fi story set in Karachi.
He tweets
@omariftikhar