So you Want to be a Content Creator?

Here’s how to start!

Everyone’s journey to becoming a content creator is going to be a little different. Some people go viral and are overnight successes, while others work at it for years before getting where they want to be. No matter the process, there are still key steps that can help along the way!

Niche

The first thing to do when you decide that you want to be a creator is to figure out your niche. It’s good to start with no more than 3 pillars within your niche so that you don’t get burnt out having to come up with ideas and post about the same thing. Variety is key! So for example, my niche/ pillars are motherhood, lifestyle, and sustainability. With those 3 I have a lot of room to post about different topics AND secure brand deals. If your goal is to eventually get paid, it’s important to make sure that your content appeals to brands! Make sure that you even think about brands you would want to work with when choosing your niche!

Posting

The next thing to do is to start actually posting! Consistency is key when trying to get into a groove and grow. Give yourself a reasonable posting goal and do your best to stick to it. I aim for posting 3 times a week and showing up on stories daily. Do I always reach my goal? Nope! But I always come back to it even after a few days off! And an FYI, showing up on stories doesn’t mean you have to talk directly to your audience, you can share a funny meme, informational post, polls or asking questions. So if talking to the camera is not your thing, there are other options!

When posting on your feed, aim for reels simply because that’s what IG is prioritizing. Use trending audios and make your posts engaging. Think about the kind of reels that you enjoy watching. If you enjoy watching them, then you will more than likely enjoy creating them! Also, back to what I stated earlier… consider brands you would want to work with when creating your content. If you’re just posting pics of yourself, your kids, or random things… that’s not showing brands what you can do or the kind of content you can create.

Your content should be high quality and cohesive. Does this mean you need to go out and buy a fancy camera? Nope! You can do a lot with your phone camera, the Lens Buddy app and a ring light from Amazon.

Another helpful app for creating content is Lightroom. You can use Lightroom to edit your photos with presets so that they all look cohesive. Presets can be found by a simple google search. There are free ones and then ones you can purchase. The main thing with presets though is to make sure it matches you, your style and skin color!

Engagement

Another important step in being a creator is to engage with your current audience, target audience, and other creators in your niche. Engaging with your current audience helps them to also engage with you! So if you like and comment on their posts or stories, there is a higher chance that they will also reciprocate. This also helps to build a relationship with them! You should also engage with your target audience, which are people who you would want to follow you. This helps with growth!

Engaging with other creators is one of my favorite things to do because it helps to build another community. As a creator, you essentially don’t have any co-workers, which means you have no one to talk to that truly understands what it’s like. Building a community of creators helps with that, because now you have other people to talk to, share ideas with, and you all can help each other out! I can tell you personally that I have so many creator friends that I am truly grateful for because they genuinely support me and I support them back!

Study

Something else that helps along the creator journey is to study your favorite creators! Before I became a content creator, I already followed a bunch of “mommy bloggers” on IG. When I decided to make the leap, I really started to pay attention to what they posted, content styles and how they shot their photos. I used this info to guide me while I was creating my own content.

So, if you’re a food/ lifestyle creator, I would suggest following other pages that are doing what you want to do. Study their style and make it your own! Same thing goes if your’e in the motherhood or lifestyle niche. Find other successful creators and start trying to “copy” them. This will help you to develop your own style and figure out what you like to do and also what you don’t like to do!

Have Fun!!!

The last thing is to have fun!! If being a content creator is for you, then you will enjoy it! Focus on your why and start working towards it!

I know that naturally being concerned about numbers and growth is going to happen. Though this is important, having great content is even more important! If you have a bunch of followers, but your content doesn’t appeal to brands, then this is not going to be profitable for you!

So I’m going to leave you with a few quick tips!

  • Update your Instagram Bio!

    • Include your email address so brands can reach you.

    • Include your city, sometimes brands need creators in specific areas for collabs

    • Include your niche

    • Keep it short and sweet. Check out mine for an example!

  • Join influencer groups on Facebook

    • There a ton of them that you can gain knowledge from and find growth opportunities 😉

  • Growth is slow, but can be faster if you want it to!

    • It’s OK to do giveaways

    • It’s OK to do follow loops

    • Do what works for you! They all have pros and cons.

  • Don’t try to rush and work with brands!

    • This does not happen overnight. Get your content together and start working on becoming a pro before deciding to take on brand partnerships.

  • I can help!

You Got This!!