Keep Rising: Why It’s Dangerous to be Content with Your Content

Written By Malik G.

When it comes to producing content, you should always be giving it 100 percent. However, sometimes you get into a groove that begins to make your content feel formulaic. While content that follows a formula does have its benefits, you should never feel comfortable with being complacent. Your content, along with your overall brand should always be striving to reach new heights.

Content marketing is all about outdoing yourself and making your next batch of blog posts, videos, and infographics better than your last. Let’s go through some of the ways to develop fresh content ideas and concepts while simultaneously improving your skills. Remember that there’s always a better way to do what you’re already good at.

Write Outside of Your Comfort Zone

All writers have their strengths and weaknesses. Some content writers prefer to utilize humor. Others tend to keep things strictly professional but like to stay away from using big words. Whatever your strongpoints may be, it’s time to move on. In order to create more developed content, you’re going to have to start writing outside of your comfort zone.

As a content writer, you should aspire to garner more versatility. That means if you’re good at writing blogs, start crafting scripts. Love doing infographics? Move onto social media for a while. Constantly going back to the well might work out for some time but eventually, your audience is going to want more from you.

Changing writing styles might seem risky but it’s well worth the reward of becoming a more flexible content creator. Sure, you’re probably going to stumble initially but that’s a part of the learning experience.

Collaborate With New People

It’s easy to become complacent when you have such a stable working relationship with someone or a group of people. However, if you notice that the end result of your hard work is beginning to look monotonous then it may be time to make a change.

Now, I’m not telling you to sever the relationships you’ve worked so hard to establish but rather to start working on some new ones. Sometimes creative individuals bring the best work out of each other. Put those networking skills to good use and collaborate with people you usually wouldn’t partner with.

Whether it’s a new web developer, graphic designer, or another content creator, you never know what someone new will bring to the table. In addition to helping you explore new ideas, they can also show you how to view currently existing concepts from a different perspective.

Take More Time When Developing Content        

Tight deadlines have a tendency of turning creative content writers into printing presses. When that happens, their content begins to suffer, making it feel less thought-out and more formulaic. The bosses upstairs are probably going to hate me for this one but take your time.

Great content can’t be thought up and created within the hour (well, it can be but it’s rare). In order to come up with some truly innovative ideas, you’re going to need to give yourself some breathing room. If you can write about a specific topic in under 30 minutes, maybe it’s time to start thinking about more difficult concepts.

The best content is developed after naps, lunch breaks, and maybe even a YouTube video or two. No one really knows where great ideas come from but it’s certainly not from rushed work. Think carefully about the content you’re creating and take the time to perfect it. Your audience will thank you for it.

Stop Taking “Good Enough” For an Answer

Depending on how you’re looking at it, someone telling you that your work is good enough is either a standard compliment or a horrible insult. Many content creators are stagnant simply because they settle for good enough. If you finish working on a piece of content and your reaction is “meh”, throw it out immediately and start from scratch.

Every piece of content you produce should feel like the best you’ve ever created. Once you begin to become satisfied with your content, your audience will catch on, become bored, and eventually move on. In order to find true success, you have to craft content like you have something to prove.

It doesn’t matter if you five followers or five million. Audiences can tell when a content creator is giving it their all, which increases their appreciation for the work. If you really want to grow as a content creator, stop accepting “good enough” as an answer.

Always Display Confidence

You have to believe that you’re the best in order to become it. Your content creation skills will only develop as far as your confidence will allow them to. Believe it or not but crafting content requires the same amount of confidence and charisma as performing on stage. Your abilities need to be on full display while working on content.

The best content creators dial everything up to 100. Remember, content marketing is all about entertaining and engaging your audience into making a decision. That’s pretty difficult if you’re just metaphorically taking it easy when you’re writing a blog post or making a video.

Get out there and show your audience that you’re a well-versed, knowledgeable, funny, and creative individual that knows what they’re talking about. If you don’t believe what you’re saying is the truth, no one else will. Confidence is key.

Conclusion

The most dangerous thing you can do as a content creator is become content. It should be everyone’s goal to keep rising and developing their craft. You may not become the best overnight but by stepping out of your comfort zone, collaborating, displaying diligence and confidence, as well as pushing yourself to be better, I can guarantee that you’ll be there in no time.

See You Around and Good Luck!