What is Online Content?

Content in its most vague definition, is the “stuff” that makes up most websites. Content is blogs, videos, imagery, social media posts, polls, animations and illustrations, infographics, graphic design etc. Engaging content makes your followers, readers and customers want to keep coming back to consume what you have to offer. In the modern world it is not sufficient to just be, to exist in the webosphere because you will fade into obsolescence. In order to stay current, and remain at the forefront of your consumers minds, you must be constantly creating consumable relevant content. You are the zookeeper and your customers are the animals, feed them or they may leave (or worse… consume you).

What is a Content Creator?

Content creators take many forms, and most content creators are specifically within one area or a small selection of areas within the genre. Many large marketing agencies offer content creation as a service, due to the access to many freelancers, but they charge a premium for this and it can work out very expensive. Content creators are inherently creative, up to date on pop culture, tech wizards, and proficient in creative industries.

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How are Photography and Content Creation Linked

Freelance Photographers make great content creators, because we are often well versed in many of the fields, Photography, Video, Design and blog writing.

For instance, despite being predominantly focused in photography, i studied Visual Communications at university, which taught me everything from animation, illustration, lens based media, etc. And most photographers have an art background too, for instance, i’ve done classes in book binding, screen printing (along with many other printing techniques), drawing, painting, typography etc.

Most photographers are trained in a multitude of disciplinaries both manual and digital, so are well placed to assist with content creation in all its assorted manifestations.

Can I Create My Own Content

In short, Sure, but not if you want it to be good. Many startups create their own content because they do not have the budget for outsourcing. However, people in these industries are inherently creative, have studied in these areas, practice their crafts, invest in the correct tools for the job and (the downside) charge accordingly. Experience, knowledge and practice will mean that they do a much better job than a novice and paying for the service will be well worth the payoff of having great engaging and visually intriguing content for your platforms.

Content for Instagram

Great quality content for instagram is imperative for building your brand online identity. Product shots, model shots, “user content”, short videos, memes and lifestyle shots are all great ways to keep your followers engaged with your content, grow your following and translate that into sales. Instagram is predominantly a visual medium, but its also important to create engaging and genuine accompanying text and quirky specific hashtags (dont over do the tags people!)

Content for Facebook & Twitter

Facebook and Twitter are where you can engage with your followers and customers as the expert on your subject. Here, information and entertainment are the rulers. You content can be more substantial, but your other areas of content can feed nicely into here. It is also a great place to run competitions, and promotions.

Blog for your Life

Seriously, blogging is key to growing your content. Writing about subject related to your business or brand, will help draw people into your website. Your blog content will need to be more in depth copy, with accompanying imagery and videos to help break it up.

Creating Versatile Content for Multiple Platforms

If you are smart about your visual content creation then you can use the same assets across multiple posts, on multiple platforms. For instance, one trick is creating wide landscape imagery, with a core central visual which can then be cropped up for multiple uses. See below for an example of how a professional will shoot imagery which is appropriate for all your platforms.

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Creating Video For Social

I’m just going to say it straight up, if you want incredible video content, then get a videographer. However, if you’re just wanting a little bit of additional content to support your imagery then asking your photographer to create some video is a great way of “Not handling the product too much” and can be very cost effective in terms of samples, timelines and setups.

“User Content” for Social Media

One way of creating lots of content for social media is gifting out samples to “influencers” in the hope that they post photos of your product. There are some pitfalls to this; the quality of content can vary a lot, there is little in place of “terms of engagement” once you have posted the products so sometimes you may get shafted and not get anything in return, great influencers charge a lot of money for this, and free influencers tend to produce unimaginative crap (sorry but it’s true). Many influencers are using a cut and paste format for their social, because they are copying someone that copied someone that copied someone else…. everyone is a basic b!tch on social and if you dont believe me, head on over to Insta_Repeat and see for yourself, and the best way to get original and interesting content is to get a creative to create it for you.

Take the Next Step for your Content Creation

Get in touch today to discuss your options for photography, blog writing, video and other content creation for your brand.