Why you don’t have to be a writer to create good content

Writing

There’s a new level of content creators and it boils down to one thing – those who are genuine in their writing and have a following who engages with it. We like to call them influencers.

Publishers were once a monopoly made up of freelance, corporate-employed and based out of one or two major publication offices, but long gone are the days of monogamous writers who are compensated fairly for their work. If you’ve ever read the book Disrupted, about a laid off writer who found himself working as a content creator at a popular startup, then you know where this blog piece is going. You don’t have to be a writer to write good content anymore.

The internet has now welcomed non-writers to have some of the most popular content out there. Mommy bloggers who write about their child’s first tooth ache and the natural cure they found for it, the daddy blogger who writes about building a motorcycle and riding it across the country, or even the high school student who publishes videos applying their makeup every morning before school – there’s a couple common denominators – genuity and reach!

These people are your everyday writers, they go to your school, work at your company, or go to the same public places. They aren’t perfect, but they’re oddly relatable. They have the same characteristics as a regular Joe but they do it with such grace and style that it’s intriguing. They talk about real issues, every-day issues, and they aren’t being paid to do it.

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Celebrities: paid. Publishers: paid. Macro-influencers: 50/50 paid-unpaid. Micro-influencers: unpaid.

In turn, this gives them the characteristics to grow a large following on social. The real-life moms talking about screw-ups rather than how perfect their life is one of the most popular trends 2017 has seen (personal research came from here, here, and here). These social influencers are the most genuine accounts you’ll find online. Influencers in the name of their reach, their high engagement, and most importantly their niche audience interested in niche mommy things.

These people are the new publishers. And social media has helped bring light to their life, or their writing rather.

That’s why when writing your next piece of content, you can know that it doesn’t have to be perfect, but there are tools out there that can help you.

The best type of content has three things in common:

1.Genuinity

If you haven’t experienced it, don’t write about it. It’s as simple as that. Genuine content comes from personal experience and that experience can only be written from personal events. Write it how you would tell a story to your friends and the authenticity will translate through to your audience.

2. Good research to back up your opinions

Whether it be on a hot topic or not, having some sort of research or cited piece of content is always key. Any easy way to do that is to have 1,200 tabs open at once and then copy-and-pasting away! Not…

Sidebars and plugins are always helpful, or finding the right systems that actually offer your relatable research and quotes that you can easily drag-and-drop into your content. By simply entering keywords or search terms into the query before you get started, you could have more reputable and reliable sources with more direct content.

3. A solid spelling and grammar check

Let’s be serious, good spelling and proper grammar is a must. Would you trust someone who repeatedly misspells a common word? Probably not. Spelling, grammar, and proper usage of words is key to iterating your story and message through your content. Optimizing your content with checklists or tools is a great way to make sure you come off as professional but authentic!

So when it’s all said and done, let the micro-influencer revolution begin!