So you have an excellent idea and you cannot wait to create ‘content’ out of it. How do you go about the process? More importantly, how do you make a business out of creating content? Maanvi, the Senior Editorial Lead and Nidhi Mathur, Senior Manager of Business Development and Strategy at Vitamin Stree—an online content brand which talks about gender, identity and the things considered taboo therein, helped us explore these questions. 

 

The process of creating a business begins by formulating and defining the target audience at the ideation stage itself. This step is the basis of all the content that is created and how it is  communicated thereafter. The second step is to underline the best way to convey these ideas. Would you like to use humour? What kind of language works best for your content? Should it be seen as ‘quirky’ or ‘relatable’? Once you have figured this out as a content creator, the next step is to decide how you will evaluate the success of the content that you post—the metrics. To sum it up, the audience comes first, then the content and finally you reach the stage where you can pitch your content (and your brand) to collaborators and sponsors. 

 

1. The Ideation Stage 

At this stage, it is essential that you research what the latest discourse is and track trends to understand what is happening around you, and on the internet. The next step is to figure out what unique factor you or your brand can offer. It is also helpful to speak to your target audience in order to understand them better and to crowdsource topics and questions from them. Once you have this ticked, you can create what are called ‘core content buckets’. This includes the new angles that exist within the same topic, and what can be anticipated as a trend about this topic. This requires you, as a content creator, to be updated on trends and also to listen and be open to learning. 

 

2.  How to convey your ideas

When struggling to figure out how you can package and deliver your ideas, the best method is experimentation. Test out what works and what does not work, in an attempt to ‘fail fast’ so that you try, evaluate, and move on. Even if the approach as a whole may not work, an aspect of it may work out which you can then choose to adopt. While creating content, especially since it is on social media, an undeniably important aspect is the shareability of your content. It is also helpful to explore like-minded partners with whom you can collaborate. This will help you grow together and facilitate exploration of ideas through unique angles. Finally, it is crucial to specify the filters of the platform and the format you will be using. 

 

3. Evaluating success

The tricky part about evaluating success as a content creator is that there are various metrics. There are traditional metrics which comprise a number of views, shares, CTR (click through rates), all of which are usually determined by your title and/or your thumbnail. Then there are non-traditional metrics. Has your content struck a chord? Do the comments reflect appreciation and support? What is the level of engagement? Yet another metric can be in figuring out which format was the best to tell your story. To sum it up, your brand strategy should comprise a healthy mix of all these metrics. 

 

4. Business Models for your content 

• Branded content:

These collaborators sponsor the video (or content) and want high audience engagement and expect the audience to remember their names. These could comprise “powered by …” titles, using a 10-15 second segment to talk about them or having subtle mentions of them in your content. 

 

• Affiliate Marketing:

These comprise brands whose coupon codes and discounts you can include in your content. 

 

• Finally, your own merch

Well, this one is pretty self-explanatory. Build a brand and have brand-oriented products that your audience can buy. 

 

5. Pitching to Sponsors and Collaborators:

The process of pitching to a sponsor primarily requires you to ‘productize’ your brand. This means you can price different types of content (that your brand creates) and bundle them. In this aspect, case studies of previous brands work best. Furthermore, as a content creator, you need to ‘seed the idea’ by reaching out and pitching to collaborators. You may not get a positive response each time, but you have to let them know of your interest in collaborating. After all, collaborations take time.

 

The process of creating a brand out of content creation does indeed seem like it can be summed up in a lecture but it is a journey that takes time, endurance and flexibility in terms of strategy. But the bottom line is that one needs to protect their editorial values and their boundaries while pitching to and collaborating with sponsors. So the next time you get that insane reel idea, go for it? You have read this article, who knows you might be making money pretty soon... ka-ching!