What Is a Content Creator? (and How to Become One)

There are billions of pieces of content online for people to consume and interact with. Someone somewhere has created that content – they are what we call content creators.

In this article, we will explain what a content creator is, what they do, and then give you some tips for how to become a successful content creator.

If you’re interested in becoming a content creator or you just want to find out what they do this article will hopefully give you some answers.

Let’s get started.

What is a content creator? 

The role of a content creator is to produce written, audio, or visual content and information which is then published on platforms such as social media channels, a company’s website, or their blog. The content is produced as part of a company’s content marketing strategy.

With so much content been produced today, there is a vast array of content that a content creator will be tasked with creating. This includes everything from creating a 60-second TikTok video to writing a 5000-word e-book.

What does a content creator do?

Content creators research, develop, and then produce engaging content for clients and the companies they work for. The content they produce is usually part of a company’s content marketing strategy and is produced with the intention to generate a reaction from the consumer of the content such as a website visit, social media follow/like, make a purchase, or to fill out a form (lead generation).

To become a good content creator, you need to understand your audience and which platforms to produce content for.

For example, let’s say your product or service is aimed at business professionals. To reach this audience and get them to engage with your content you will probably want to produce content such as blog posts, articles, and e-books as opposed to TikTok videos and sharing pictures on Instagram.

On the other hand, if you want your content to reach teenagers interested in gaming then video content is probably the way to go.

Some content creators work on creating lots of different types of content whilst some others focus on a niche content type. Here are some of the most popular types of content that content creators are tasked with producing.

• Written content – this includes content such as articles, blog posts, reviews, guides, white papers, ebooks, case studies, social media posts, product descriptions, and web copy.
• Video content – this includes content such as tutorials, reviews, unboxing videos, vlogs, interviews, webinars, presentations, live streams, video conferences/ meetings, and Q+A’s.
• Visual content – this includes content such as photos, infographics, memes, GIFs, and illustrations.

One of the major skills you need to have if you want to become a content creator is to be adaptable. This is because the industry is constantly changing, and you need to stay updo to date with the latest trends. But the good news is all of the skills discussed in this article can be learned if you’re prepared to put in the time and effort.

5 tips to become a great content creator

One of the best ways to become a great content creator is to learn what the most successful existing content creators do.

Here are 5 tips to become a great content creator.

1. Understand your audience

Great content creators make sure that they understand the needs, wants, and problems of their audience and then produce content that satisfies them.

The best way to understand your audience is to do a lot of research and to engage with existing content that is published so you can see how you can produce content that fills a gap and helps your brand stand out from the crowd.

There’s no point just creating another “how-to” video without adding anything new. Originality will be rewarded when you’re a content creator by both your audience and it also has massive SEO benefits too.

2. Stay up to date with trends

Successful content creators stay on top of the latest trends and changes in how consumers use and engage with digital content.

There are always new social media apps gaining traction in the market, so you need to understand how they work and how best to use them to promote the company you work for.

The best way to do this is to become a user of all of the new and existing platforms to see how they work from the consumer’s point of view. This will help you to produce authentic content that is tailored for the platform you are producing it for.

3. Practice

One of the best ways to become a top content creator is to practice your craft. For example, if you produce written content then you should practice writing as much as you can.

There are lots of ways to do this like writing a personal blog about a topic you care about or just write articles and share them with friends and family and ask them for feedback.

The same goes for content creators who produce video content they can produce videos for a personal YouTube channel or TikTok account which will help them master the craft of producing video content that people want to watch and engage with.

4. Produce content that gets a reaction

There’s no point producing content if it doesn’t actually get any results. By this, I mean content needs to elicit a response from the consumer of it. For example, if you’re creating short videos about your products then you will want the viewer to do something after watching it such as share the video, like the video, or even better click-thru to your website and make a purchase.

When you’re planning and then creating content for brands you need to think about how you will encourage the audience to respond.

5. Measure what you do

Good content creators measure how their content performs with the audience. This includes measuring metrics like how many views a piece of content gets, how many shares it gets, and how many consumers click thru and make a purchase after viewing the content.

Once you have this data you will know how to improve your content and your overall content marketing strategy. Thankfully, there are plenty of content marketing tools (many of which are free) to help you do this from the internal analytic tools on platforms such as Facebook and Twitter to tools like Google Analytics.

The bottom line

A content creator produces content for brands as part of their content marketing strategy. In the current age of social media billions of people are content creators on a personal level, but to become a professional content creator there are a few skills you need to master.

These include being able to produce content your audience wants to engage with, staying on top of the latest trends, practicing so you can improve your skills, producing content that gets results, and knowing how to measure the performance of the content you create.

If you’re prepared to put in the time and learn, you too could become a successful professional content creator.

Learn more about where to find content creators for hire here.