How do I get started as a content creator?
When I first set off on my journey to become a digital content creator many years ago, I only had vague ideas on what a viable career would look like.
The only thing I was sure of was that for me to have any chance of making a living off doing this, I would have to figure out how to create digital content that people would actually consume.
Even then, I had no idea where to begin, or what or how to create. I didn’t have a strong understanding of social media platforms, and apart from writing, I had no prior experience or knowledge in video making, graphic design or even web design.
Curate
The first step was to observe what other people were creating and to identify which content resonated with the public.
I decided to create fan pages on Facebook – the most popular social media platform at the time – about subjects that I was already familiar with. One such page was The Kuchingite, a community page which centered around my hometown of Kuching and the wider Sarawak state in general. (There were other pages before and after The Kuchingite, but those are stories for another day).
I began collecting online news and magazine articles that I felt would resonate with people and reposted them with short summaries. I sourced photos and videos from throughout the internet and played around with different captions.
By curating content (an underrated skill in and of itself), the page began to attract a tiny following, which, while nothing to shout about, gave me an opportunity to experiment with content creation.
Create
To differentiate myself from other Facebook pages and groups which were also reposting links and articles, I experimented with repurposing these news items into original content, mainly by sharing photos accompanied by a written summary.
Oftentimes I would add extra details that were omitted from the article itself – for example in a news report about a new hotel development, I would sometimes add the names of all the companies involved, or post extra photos sourced from the companies’ website etc.
I would dabble in making different types of content such as graphic posts and infographics, and began learning how to shoot and edit videos.
I even taught myself how to create a (now-defunct) media website, which felt like a daunting task at the time.
Storytelling
Eventually, I realized the secret sauce to it all is the art of storytelling.
Whether you are putting your own unique insight on curated and repurposed news articles, or creating your own original content, the ability to entertain, inspire and captivate your audience is a valuable one.
Good stories can be heartfelt and intellectually stimulating; they can make you ponder, laugh or cry. Every person, country and even company has a story to tell, and the best ones will be shared and retold over and over again.
Armed with this realization and with my Facebook page as my initial portfolio, I was able to approach potential clients and kickstart my career as a freelance content marketer, eventually moving on to different projects such as creating content for museum exhibitions, among others.
Conclusion
So there you have it, my 3 steps baby steps into the world of content creation – simple measures that will allow you to jump right into the nuts of bolts of social media platforms to observe and learn about content before getting into the hard work of churning them out at scale.
I hope you found my experience useful. Good luck on your creator journey!
Interested to learn more or collaborate? Reach out to me on social media or through email!