Clapper is officially four years old. We’ve done a lot in four years, and we’ve learned a whole lot more! To celebrate this achievement (and thank you for making sure we got there) we wanted to share our four content creation essentials for social media influencers.
Think of this as a content creation philosophy, or at least the basics of one. These four pillars have guided our content creation for the past four years. They’ve gotten us through creative slumps, helped us develop brand new series, and established a cohesive voice and style for our content. And you don’t need a budget or fancy cameras to use them!
Our Content Creation Essentials for Social Media Influencers
1. Know Your Audience ðŸ§
Really, we want you to listen to your audience. The most basic sense means reading comments or scrolling through DMs to literally see what they’re saying. But this can also mean analyzing how your content performs to see what they’re more interested in. You can also pay attention to trends in your niche or community. The main thing is getting to know your audience and what they need (or want!) from your content.
Engage With Them
Respond to their comments, check out some of their content, or go Live just to hang out. Like friends or family, you must spend time getting to know them. Not only will you better understand what they like, but you’ll build a real connection with them.
Understand Their Wants
Do they come to your page to laugh? Learn how to cook? Connect with someone else? Once you know what your audience wants out of your content, creating videos is easier and you’ll reach new audiences. You’ll develop a brand and style unique to you, which might be one of the ultimate social media goals.
2. Not Just Videos 🎧
Your content is more than just the videos you film. Like OG creator @JDubsArts said, your video is the basic part of the sandwich. The bread, meat, and cheese have to be quality, but the pickles and condiments really make it. The music, editing, and visuals all elevate your videos.
The Elements Matter
The music you use can totally shift the tone of a video. Captions make your video more accessible, but the wrong style can throw off the aesthetic. Stickers can grab the audience’s attention, and your opening image is a hook. Even your caption contributes to how your content performs. Spend time curating every piece of your video. Make sure it’s cohesive and matches your unique style!
Try Storytelling
Think of how you can format videos or organize clips to draw in the user. A vlog could start with a quick clip of you later in the day before diving into the rest of the video. A tutorial could hook the audience by mentioning a pain point or question before diving into your video as the solution. Humans love stories, and they’ll make your videos more compelling!
3. Find Your Rhythm 📆
This might take a little while, but it will be worth it. You have to figure out your own rhythm and pattern for your content schedule and your content itself. This will help you stay consistent in your posting schedule, but will also give your videos a cohesive style.
Your Content Schedule
You’ll need a clear idea of how often you want to post your content. That might develop over some time: posting every day isn’t feasible for some creators, but others may really like it. Try out a few different posting schedules to find what works best for you and your content.
We also recommend finding your rhythm with content creation. Try creating your content in a batch, or making videos as you go along.
Your Editing Style
Videos have their own rhythm. Test out a few different versions to find yours! Are your videos slow and calm, with very few cuts? Or do you prefer to have exciting transitions between quick clips? You might find that your rhythm changes based on the video or series you’re creating, which is also great. Eagle-eyed creators will notice we have different styles and rhythms for each of our official accounts. Check out @ClapperCreator, @ClapperAcademy, and @Clapper to see what we mean!
4. Be Authentic 🌟
To us, this is the most important piece of content creation. Without authenticity, nothing else really matters.
Follow Your Passions
Maybe creating content isn’t your passion, but talking about history or sharing your art is. Let that guide your content creation! Find the niches and communities you’re drawn to and start creating content for them. If you get an idea for a content series that you’re really excited about, dive in! Prioritize the content you enjoy or feel passionately about.
Show Your Personality
Be the most authentic version of yourself that you can be. You’ll have a lot more fun if you aren’t hiding yourself or pretending to be someone else. Authenticity builds a stronger connection between you and your audience, too. Your followers and community are here for you as much as they are your content, so don’t be afraid to let your personality shine.
These four principles or ideas are the foundation of our content creation practice, and we recommend you use them as a springboard for your own! But all creators and social media influencers are different. You might find that these are your essentials, or you might find a few don’t really matter. It can take some time to find your own content essentials. Don’t rush the process.
In four more years, we might just be using one of your essentials.