Content creation is an important part of brand building and SEO development. Without content, you risk your brand being lost in a sea of competitors. Content allows you to position your brand as an industry leader whom your customers turn to when they need your services.

But, creating content can be time-consuming and it is often hard to come up with original ideas. To combat creator’s block we’ve developed a list of tips and daily techniques so content creation becomes second nature.

1. Stay on top of Industry news

To create content you need to know what’s going on in our industry and keep up to date with current news and trends.

Read news in your industry every day so you’re up to date. This way you’ll be the first to understand trends and explain how they’ll affect your audience.

Set up news feeds with apps like Feedly, full of blogs you know relate to your industry. Talk to colleagues about what they’re reading and their thoughts on the latest trends to build your opinion surrounding important topics.

The write pieces commenting on these news topics and giving opinions on how they’ll affect your industry. This is what your audience will want to hear!

2. Know your audience

To create great content that your audience is intrigued to read you, first, need to understand who they are and what they like.

Understand who is reading, and who you want to read your pieces.

If you want to interest a different type of reader try researching what they like to read and write pieces and create content that you know will suit their interests.

Develop ideas on their interests and create creative opportunities surrounding these. Consider their age, gender, location, family size and job title and how you can write pieces that interest them and help solve their common problems.

3. Curate other people’s content

If you become really stuck for ideas look at what people are talking about around you and rewrite articles with your own added point of view.

Compile a list of your favourite blogs and point readers towards these resources. Or take an interesting topic they focus on and rewrite the content from a different point of view.

We don’t recommend plagiarizing as obviously it’s stealing content, but also it’s just replicating content that is already out there. Rather, improve your SEO by taking an interesting topic, but also adding to the conversation. This way your readers are more likely to engage with your new content.

4. Network

The best way to create content is to get involved in all aspects of your industry and learn for yourself.

Network with industry players, maybe creating interesting interview articles, or picking their brain on industry topics and trends.

Use this networking to build a bank of intriguing and different opinions and expertise, so when it comes to writing your content is far-reaching and well informed. The better quality your content the more your audience will see our brand as an industry leader that they turn to for answers and services.

5. Don’t just comment on problems, solve them!

This is a really important point when it comes to content creation.

How many times have you read an article that outlines a problem, but, after you’ve finished reading, you don’t feel like the article has benefited or helped you in any way.

Build your articles and content around common questions your customers have. But, also ensure that you provide concise answers and ideas to solve their problems. Whether your content is visual, written or audio always keep your customer in mind and strive to show that your brand can make their life easier.

If you need help creating compelling content that engages your audience as well as improving your SEO, then get in touch with us at Image Matters. We’ve got a team of experts ready to create different forms of content for social and website use.