Creating content is both an art and a science. While creativity and innovation are crucial, adhering to certain best practices ensures that your content is effective, engaging, and achieves its intended goals. This chapter will aim to sum up the do’s and don’ts of content creation, helping you avoid common pitfalls and excel in your content journey.
| 1. Know Your Audience | |
| Do | Don’t |
| Understand your audience’s needs and preferences. Research demographics, create content tailored to the correct audience. Tailored content is more relevant and engaging, increasing consumption and sharing. | Assume your interests match your audience’s. Creating high-level content for a novice audience can lead to disengagement. Misaligned content can result in poor engagement and damage credibility. |
| 2. Prioritize Quality Over Quantity | |
| Do | Don’t |
| Focus on high-quality, valuable content. Publish in-depth articles weekly instead of daily superficial posts. High-quality content builds trust and is more likely to be shared. | Flood your audience with low-effort content. Posting daily low-effort updates can overwhelm and annoy your audience. Low-quality content dilutes your brand’s value and leads to disengagement. |
| 3. Stay Consistent with Brand Voice | |
| Do | Don’t |
| Maintain a consistent brand voice across all content. A brand like Buffer uses a conversational tone in all communications. Consistent voice builds recognition and trust, making content relatable and memorable. | Change your brand voice based on trends. Switching from a humorous to a formal tone can confuse and alienate your audience. Inconsistency erodes trust and makes your brand appear disjointed. |
| 4. Optimise for Search Engines (SEO) | |
| Do | Don’t |
| Implement SEO best practices. Use relevant keywords and structured headers in an article titled “10 Tips for Effective Social Media Marketing.” SEO helps content rank higher, increasing visibility and driving organic traffic. | Overstuff your content with keywords. Cramming keywords like “best social media marketing tips” can appear spammy and harm rankings. Keyword stuffing leads to poor user experience and lower search rankings. |
| 5. Provide Value with Actionable Insights | |
| Do | Don’t |
| Offer actionable insights that readers can implement. Include specific tips like “Use Instagram Stories to create polls” in a “How to Increase Engagement on Instagram” article. Actionable content empowers the audience, making your content more impactful. | Create purely theoretical or generic content. An article on “Digital Marketing Strategies” without practical advice offers less value. Content without actionable insights fails to provide tangible benefits, reducing effectiveness. |
| 6. Use Visuals Effectively | |
| Do | Don’t |
| Incorporate high-quality visuals that complement your content. Use infographics to summarize key statistics, created with tools like Canva. Visuals enhance engagement, understanding, and retention, improving user experience. | Use low-quality or irrelevant visuals. Using irrelevant stock images can detract from your message and appear unprofessional. Poor-quality visuals undermine credibility and distract from key messages. |
| 7. Engage with Your Audience | |
| Do | Don’t |
| Encourage and facilitate interaction with your content. Include questions at the end of blog posts or create interactive polls on social media. Engagement fosters a sense of community and loyalty, encouraging repeat visits and sharing. | Ignore audience feedback or comments. Not responding to comments on social media makes your brand appear aloof and unapproachable. Neglecting audience interaction can lead to disengagement and loss of potential brand advocates. |
| 8. Stay Updated with Industry Trends | |
| Do | Don’t |
| Continuously educate yourself on the latest trends in content creation. Experiment with platforms like TikTok if short-form video content is gaining popularity. Staying updated allows you to adapt your content strategy to align with current trends. | Rely on outdated methods or ignore new trends. Sticking to long-form blog posts while neglecting video content can limit your reach. Failing to evolve with trends can make your content outdated and less appealing. |
| 9. Test and Iterate | |
| Do | Don’t |
| Regularly test different content formats and strategies. A/B test email subject lines to see which generates more opens and clicks. Testing and iterating optimize your content strategy for better results over time. | Stick to a rigid content plan without analyzing its effectiveness. Continuing to produce underperforming content without adjustments wastes resources. Lack of flexibility and analysis can result in missed opportunities for improvement and growth. |
| 10. Maintain Ethical Standards | |
| Do | Don’t |
| Adhere to ethical standards in content creation. Cite sources properly and be transparent about sponsored content. Ethical practices build trust with your audience and protect your reputation. | Engage in unethical practices like plagiarism or clickbait. Using a sensational headline that doesn’t match the content can drive traffic but harm credibility. Unethical practices can lead to legal issues, loss of trust, and damage to your brand’s reputation. |
This article was originally published in the September 2024 Edition of FastTrack and is a part of Digit’s Content Creation Guide Series online.
You can access more articles of the series here:
1. What is content creation?
2. Master Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts
3. Understanding social media audience
4. Exploring new ways of social media interaction
5. All the tools you need as a content creator
6. Do’s and Don’ts for Content Creators (You are here)
You can access more articles of the series here:
1. What is content creation?
2. Master Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts
3. Understanding social media audience
4. Exploring new ways of social media interaction
5. All the tools you need as a content creator
6. Do’s and Don’ts for Content Creators (You are here)
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