How to Create Engaging Content for Beginners?
Hi everyone,
I’m new to content creation and I’m trying to improve my skills. I’ve been reading some articles on WikiHow, and they are incredibly helpful! However, I still have a few questions about creating engaging content that resonates with readers.
Here’s what I’d like to ask:
What makes content engaging? Is it the structure, tone, or visuals?
How can I find unique topics to write about? Sometimes I feel like everything has already been covered.
Tips for beginners: Are there any tools or resources you recommend for someone just starting out?
I’d love to hear your thoughts and experiences. If you have any examples of content that worked well for you, please share them!
Thanks in advance for your help! 😊
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I’m new to content creation and I’m trying to improve my skills. I’ve been reading some articles on WikiHow, and they are incredibly helpful! However, I still have a few questions about creating engaging content that resonates with readers.
Here’s what I’d like to ask:
What makes content engaging? Is it the structure, tone, or visuals?
How can I find unique topics to write about? Sometimes I feel like everything has already been covered.
Tips for beginners: Are there any tools or resources you recommend for someone just starting out?
I’d love to hear your thoughts and experiences. If you have any examples of content that worked well for you, please share them!
Thanks in advance for your help! 😊
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As a home decor content creator with over 100k followers, I would recommend posting daily. It doesn't have to be an elaborate post, it doesn't have to be perfect, but just start posting daily so that you can get a feel for it. And then from there show up every day in your stories because people want to follow people that they can connect with and that they can relate to. If all they're seeing is generic posts on your feed, they're not able to connect with you further through your stories and through who you are.
Make sure that you're adding value. Figure out who your target audience is and who your key demographic is, and figure out your niche. And then from there, figure out how you can add value to your audience. And as long as you're adding value and being consistent, then you will see growth.
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Make sure that you're adding value. Figure out who your target audience is and who your key demographic is, and figure out your niche. And then from there, figure out how you can add value to your audience. And as long as you're adding value and being consistent, then you will see growth.
Engaging content is going to do one of four things: entertain, educate, inform, or do a combination of the first three.
Content should spark an emotion or a feeling, whether that's happiness or empathy, or excitement. It's just knowing what your audience is responding to. And at first, you may need to try several things to figure out what your audience is responding most to.
And I just want to say that you want to create content that's most authentic to you. So if you are going through a really hard time right now, maybe you lost a parent or a grandparent, and you're just like going through grief, it probably wouldn't make sense to talk about really exciting, fun stuff. You want to speak from the heart, and you want people to be able to connect with you on a true human level.
I would also recommend using a tool like Trello or Notion to help organize your thoughts.
TikTok has creator insights, but my favorite way to figure out what people are responding to is just doing some research on my own and seeing what others are doing and what I'm actually responding to emotionally, good or bad, and if any of that resonates with me and what I have going on in my life. And from there, I'll see what I think I can translate to my audience, and that's the kind of content that I'm going to make.
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Content should spark an emotion or a feeling, whether that's happiness or empathy, or excitement. It's just knowing what your audience is responding to. And at first, you may need to try several things to figure out what your audience is responding most to.
And I just want to say that you want to create content that's most authentic to you. So if you are going through a really hard time right now, maybe you lost a parent or a grandparent, and you're just like going through grief, it probably wouldn't make sense to talk about really exciting, fun stuff. You want to speak from the heart, and you want people to be able to connect with you on a true human level.
I would also recommend using a tool like Trello or Notion to help organize your thoughts.
TikTok has creator insights, but my favorite way to figure out what people are responding to is just doing some research on my own and seeing what others are doing and what I'm actually responding to emotionally, good or bad, and if any of that resonates with me and what I have going on in my life. And from there, I'll see what I think I can translate to my audience, and that's the kind of content that I'm going to make.
This is a great question, and one I get a lot! There are a ton of ways to become a content creator, but a straightforward, proven playbook is to replicate whoever inspires you. For example, Zach King inspired me a lot. So whatever he does, I try to do. I don't think there's any issue copying another creator, as long as credits are given, and you add your own element to it. And that also means you can copy whatever content style that works. So look at the content that got over 1 million likes. Try to understand why it's so popular and then replicate accordingly. Ultimately, I don't think people will punish you for plagiarism, but people will punish you for not giving credits enough.
Then, assuming you want to grow a following, focus on building a profile. Ideally, stick to one type of content. For example, you want to strive to be top of mind for a certain niche. For example, when we talk about travel vloggers, who do you think of? When we talk about food reviews, who do you think of? As a beginner, you may not yet know what kind of niche you want to focus on. So just post whatever you are comfortable doing. The keyword here is comfortable – it's not viral content.
Then just try to post as much content as possible. Study the analytics, find out which video performs well, and duplicate it in the next video. For example, if you posted nine videos, and two performed better than the others, analyze what made those two videos perform better and create a formula to apply to your upcoming videos. From here, it’ll snowball, and you’ll eventually get your playbook and solidify your niches.
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Then, assuming you want to grow a following, focus on building a profile. Ideally, stick to one type of content. For example, you want to strive to be top of mind for a certain niche. For example, when we talk about travel vloggers, who do you think of? When we talk about food reviews, who do you think of? As a beginner, you may not yet know what kind of niche you want to focus on. So just post whatever you are comfortable doing. The keyword here is comfortable – it's not viral content.
Then just try to post as much content as possible. Study the analytics, find out which video performs well, and duplicate it in the next video. For example, if you posted nine videos, and two performed better than the others, analyze what made those two videos perform better and create a formula to apply to your upcoming videos. From here, it’ll snowball, and you’ll eventually get your playbook and solidify your niches.
The best way is to learn the hook, because nobody has an attention span anymore. You need the first 3 seconds of the video to convince them to watch more. And based on that, if people watch more of the video, then that's how you go viral. It's all based on the watch time of the video, because these social media platforms want you to be on the app for as long as possible.
When it comes to a hook, anything shock factor where they have to find something out later in the video works well. What has worked well for us is introducing a question right at the beginning and then reeling viewers in. And the best way to get all that watch time is for there to be an ongoing question throughout the whole video, and then you wait to reveal it at the end.
For example, with my 6/7 video, I called it, "POV: when you finally understand what 6/7 means." I think it got 20 million views, but I was trying to investigate what 6/7 means through the video. And my hook at the beginning was literally, "What does 6/7 mean?"
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When it comes to a hook, anything shock factor where they have to find something out later in the video works well. What has worked well for us is introducing a question right at the beginning and then reeling viewers in. And the best way to get all that watch time is for there to be an ongoing question throughout the whole video, and then you wait to reveal it at the end.
For example, with my 6/7 video, I called it, "POV: when you finally understand what 6/7 means." I think it got 20 million views, but I was trying to investigate what 6/7 means through the video. And my hook at the beginning was literally, "What does 6/7 mean?"
I primarily work with small business owners, so I'll answer from that perspective!
Content to me falls into two primary buckets: conversion or conversation. A lot of businesses lean towards conversion content, but really, that should be about 20% of the content that you produce. The rest of it is typically conversation content. This can be something informative, entertaining, or interesting. This is the kind of content that people DM to their besties.
When we're thinking about creating content that actually kind of sticks with people, it's the stuff that's not an ad. If you think about how we even interact with ads these days, we're swiping, we're waiting that five seconds so that we can skip the YouTube video ad. As a business owner, you kind of have to be a little bit mindful of that.
You have to be thoughtful about creating content that fits the landscape of social media. Try to focus on the user experience instead of just selling a product. Be sure to think about the first two to five seconds when someone experiences your content. If they can't understand what's going on, then you may have already lost them. So make some sort of hook. This can be an audio hook, a visual hook, or an emotion hook. It should be something where someone looks at the post and has a reason to stay.
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Content to me falls into two primary buckets: conversion or conversation. A lot of businesses lean towards conversion content, but really, that should be about 20% of the content that you produce. The rest of it is typically conversation content. This can be something informative, entertaining, or interesting. This is the kind of content that people DM to their besties.
When we're thinking about creating content that actually kind of sticks with people, it's the stuff that's not an ad. If you think about how we even interact with ads these days, we're swiping, we're waiting that five seconds so that we can skip the YouTube video ad. As a business owner, you kind of have to be a little bit mindful of that.
You have to be thoughtful about creating content that fits the landscape of social media. Try to focus on the user experience instead of just selling a product. Be sure to think about the first two to five seconds when someone experiences your content. If they can't understand what's going on, then you may have already lost them. So make some sort of hook. This can be an audio hook, a visual hook, or an emotion hook. It should be something where someone looks at the post and has a reason to stay.
First, make sure to know who your audience is. Imagine you're making content for a specific person. Who is that person? To start, don't worry about numbers. Focus on putting out content. Every single time you post, think to yourself, "Why would my person want to watch that? Why would that person care?" You need to have a clear hook and a clear purpose behind each post.
For engaging content, I would also make sure to show your face. Try to invite your audience in. I recommend asking a question, getting their opinion, or giving them something to comment on. I also suggest telling a quick story. Be sure to make it quick, snappy, and skimmable.
I really do think that step one is to simply get the content up. Even if it doesn't look great or is messy, you have to build the content creation muscle. Like any other skill, say learning an instrument, it will be hard and frustrating in the beginning. It may seem to come naturally to other creators, which is part of the frustration (but know that they had to go through this process, too). Over time, you'll learn your voice and what topics resonate with your audience.
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For engaging content, I would also make sure to show your face. Try to invite your audience in. I recommend asking a question, getting their opinion, or giving them something to comment on. I also suggest telling a quick story. Be sure to make it quick, snappy, and skimmable.
I really do think that step one is to simply get the content up. Even if it doesn't look great or is messy, you have to build the content creation muscle. Like any other skill, say learning an instrument, it will be hard and frustrating in the beginning. It may seem to come naturally to other creators, which is part of the frustration (but know that they had to go through this process, too). Over time, you'll learn your voice and what topics resonate with your audience.
Authenticity and being respectful of your time are key! There doesn't necessarily have to be a unique topic to cover, like you could do a review on a popular game like Catan, and if it's done well, the views will come.
Also, you just have to keep making content and fall in love with the process! To start, I would just film with whatever camera you have and see where you go from there. The first thing to upgrade is audio.
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Also, you just have to keep making content and fall in love with the process! To start, I would just film with whatever camera you have and see where you go from there. The first thing to upgrade is audio.
To make engaging content, start by deciding on a niche. Choose something you're interested in and passionate and knowledgeable about. Then, give your viewers a unique perspective on that topic that they can't find from other creators—see what your competitors are doing, then put your own twist on it. Be authentic and tell stories that people can connect with.
Make your content visually interesting and appealing. Free tools like iMovie, Audacity, Wordpress, and Canva make it really easy to create videos, audio, blog posts, and social media content, so try a few of them out to see what works best for you.
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Make your content visually interesting and appealing. Free tools like iMovie, Audacity, Wordpress, and Canva make it really easy to create videos, audio, blog posts, and social media content, so try a few of them out to see what works best for you.
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