5 Things Great Content Creators Should Always Keep In Mind

Posted on by apeysays

Whether you’re writing a blog post, whipping up a newsletter, or crafting copy for an ad campaign, there are a few key rules to help you stay on course and get your message across to your intended audience. As an editor and digital brand strategist, I keep the following checklist top-of-mind whenever I’m writing or publishing something. It’s a great rule of thumb to keep you on message, get your point across, and most importantly—ensure your readers feel respected and seen.

Here Are 5 Tips for Creating Great Content

1. Remember your audience

You know your market better than anyone. Make sure they know that, too. Write for the reader and use your content to deliver content that addresses their challenge with a solution only you can provide.

2. Serve the reader something valuable

Don’t waste time producing content just to publish something. Make sure it’s relevant to their needs and respect the reader’s time. We’re all bombarded with a jillion messages a day—don’t be another brand simply trying to sell something or crowd their feed. Offer a solution or get out of the way. (Read more about what it means to create bite-sized snippets of “snackable content” that’s easy for readers to digest.)

3. Be authentic

Hats off to Gen-Z for their commitment to honest branding and an adherence to real, relatable content and storytelling. It’s opened up a refreshing space in the ad industry that values authenticity above all else. Take a page from your teen’s TikTok and leave the sizzle reel behind—it smells like an ad and we’ve got enough of those already, thankyouverymuch.

4. Keep it simple

If you want to use flowery prose, try journaling in a notebook before bed. (Seriously. This is a fun practice and it’s shown to be good for your mental health. But it’s not meant to drive action with your desired audience. Unless you’re selling poems, in which case, carry on.)

5. Make it memorable

Memorable content is the kind that’s worth sharing. But no one will remember content that they’re expecting. Lean into the traits that make your brand different than others. Find your niche and stick with it, whether it’s through relatable storytelling, compelling insights, or by presenting new solutions. You don’t have to craft clickbait that’s designed to illicit the worst out of people (hi, Facebook whistleblower allegations) to be effective at engagement. You can be funny. Or honest. Or just really, really helpful.

Why the Name Snackable Content?

Posted on by apeysays
Bag of popcorn spilling onto a table

First off, I love snacks. Eating is fun! A play on everyone’s favorite time of day (snack time, obvi) and smart digital strategy is a pun worth pursuing.

But even more important than paying homage to a midday bite to eat, the phrase “snackable content” actually refers to web content that’s meant to be bite-sized, easy to understand, and shareable. Like popcorn! Easy to make, easy to consume. More than ever, readers consume content through a scroll through their feed or a quick Google search that surfaces snippets of answers to their query. With so much information available at the tip of everyone’s fingertips, creators and brands have a limited opportunity to capture the interest of their intended audience. Content that’s designed to be “snackable” plays to this short window of opportunity.

What Kind of Content Is “Snackable”?

Snackable content can refer to any type of format and is not just limited to appearing in one type of feed or platform. Snackable content can refer to an article or listicle that’s specially designed for the reader to scan for key points. It can take the form of a shareable graphic designed to illicit attention on social platforms like Instagram. It can even appear in video format, with quick snippets of information and imagery juxtaposed in a compelling way the viewer finds both useful and shareworthy.

Examples of Great Snackable Content

There’s no hard and fast rule to creating content for your website or social platforms that defines what makes it “snackable.” But there are a few key traits that make something truly shareable. Below are some of our favorites who really embrace the short attention span of users, to great success.

1. Well-Designed Social Media Graphics

Real Simple (@real_simple on Instagram) uses clean designs and easy-to-understand bullet points to get their point across quickly in-feed. Simple graphics made to be visually appealing are more likely to be shared. Aspiring influencers care deeply about their aesthetic and aren’t as likely to share content that doesn’t fit into their design principles.

2. Easy-to-Read Lists

BuzzFeed is the king of the listicle, and their model of image + copy + image + copy turned the internet publishing world upside down in the mid 2000’s. Why use 800 words when you can use a handful of bullet points to get the same message across? Skip the flowery language and get right to the point, with some imagery sprinkled in for good measure. (Hint: Image choice can also help your SEO ranking, so choose and label photos wisely.)

3. Short, Interesting Videos

TikTok, the short-form video sharing app, is peak snackable video. Originally designed to limit user-created videos to 15 seconds (now up to three minutes), popular TikToks are short, eye-catching, and tell a story. Good TikTok videos grab the user as they scroll through a feed of content specially selected to fall into their “For You Page” driven by an incredibly effective algorithm that digital marketers are still trying to understand. Sometimes it’s pure quirk, sometimes it’s entertaining, sometimes it’s informational. But it’s always short and sweet!

@willsmith

Threw my back out doing this @marypapageorge

♬ original sound – Will Smith

Want to create a content strategy for your brand that places effective messaging and delivery at the forefront? Reach out and we’ll get to work.