Not All Content is Created Equal - Two New Bloggers Found Out the Hard Way.

Written by: Becca Paskerian & Lauren Mello

Have you ever thought about what really goes into content creation? Do you look at lifestyle photos on Pinterest and Instagram and wonder how people are living such luxurious lives? How they get such amazing plandid (planned candid) photos? Well, we found out that it isn’t nearly as glamorous as it seems.

So, who are we?

Becca: I’m the Community Manager at Brand Content. A few things about me: I’m obsessed with Instagram Stories, I could eat pickles for every meal, and I wouldn’t be able to get anywhere if it wasn’t for Google Maps. “Not all those who wander are lost.” Except me, I’m usually lost.

When Lauren describes me in one word, it’s confused, but I don’t really know what she’s talking about.

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Lauren: I’m the Social Media Platform Specialist at Brand Content. I eat, sleep and breathe social, but I always make time for Starbucks cappuccinos and a day spent slow browsing at TJMaxx. I love to dance, and I’ve been in a committed relationship with Dr. Meredith Grey for 14 tumultuous years.

When Becca describes me in one word, it’s loud. Very loud.

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Record Scratch*

Freeze Frame

You’re probably wondering how we got here.

Well, we were recently tasked with building out the social strategy and blog for our Boston based agency, Brand Content. As avid social media users, and fans of some of the most famous bloggers, we were really excited about the prospect of being able to try it for ourselves. We set out thinking, “This will be fun! We’ll brainstorm some general blog topics and then we’ll walk around Boston to take photos we can use on our blog and social channels! We’ll have tons to choose from.” Little did we know…being a blogger is way harder than we thought.

Prior to going out on our photo shoot, we researched the most Instagrammed places around Boston and looked at hundreds of photos. We made a comprehensive list of all of the places we wanted to visit, and what types of content we wanted to get. We read articles about how to create the best content for social media in terms of lenses, filters, subject matter, and themes. We heavily prepared for our outing, and were excited for all of the content we assumed would fills months of our content calendar. It turns out, it wasn’t nearly that easy.

Three hours and over three hundred photos later, we had two usable images. Two. Only 1% of all the photos we took were actually on brand, of good quality, and relevant to what we needed. We hadn’t anticipated the weather playing a role in our ability to get “the perfect shot.” We did not foresee construction and scaffolding to be such an obstacle. And we really weren’t prepared for the sheer number of pedestrians that we’d have to work around in order to gain access to most of the locations on our shot list.

Eventually we got the photos, but then came the blog topic brainstorm.

We came up with five ideas that would be relevant to our readers and on brand with the theme and aesthetic that we’re trying to create. After the initial excitement of creating momentum wore off, we quickly realized that five was not enough. Five would cover this week, but what about next week? We didn’t want to be scrambling to get ideas flowing and blog posts written every single week.

This definitely wasn’t what we were expecting.

We now know that it takes extreme patience and a lot of planning to create great content. We figured we couldn’t be the only people overwhelmed and surprised by how much effort and strategic planning goes into creating original content, so we decided to share some tips and tricks to help our fellow content creators!

Lists, Lists, Lists

Create lists for everything. Creating great content is about providing timely and relevant information that your readers/viewers want. The only way to stay on top of this is to create lists. Whether its a list of photo opts, props to buy, websites to visit for inspiration, people to follow, potential guest writers, or even relevant hashtags, making lists makes the impossible seem possible.

Document Everything

You never know when inspiration will spark, or when you’ll see something truly incredible. It’s important to document everything and take as many photos as possible. When writing blog posts, and creating social media content calendars, the more accessible your thoughts and photos are, the better. It is difficult to look back on an event and remember what you were thinking and seeing. To combat this, always document what’s happening, while it’s happening.

Recruit Guest Writers

Guest writers add variety in tone, voice, and style to your blog. By combining different voices, it’s possible to expand the level of expertise and reach more readers and followers.

Plan

The best content in the world is irrelevant if there is no strategy behind how it’s shared. The best content creators are successful because they plan for the unpredictable and they’re strategic about where their content goes. Calendars and schedules are incredibly important in the overall content strategy. To ensure that all content is relevant to your specific audience, there needs to be a set plan on how to find them, and how to give them what they want.

Final Thoughts

In the end, all the hard work and effort is worth it to share your ideas and connect with readers. In the last two months, we’ve taken over a thousand photos, written over 20 blog posts, and gained over 150 new followers on Instagram. We still have a long way to go, but we’re excited to continue to learn and improve.

If you’d like to learn more about us, check out what we do at Brand Content and Follow our Medium channel!