Stay On Top of the Rules of Content Creation
When Trish became aware she had a talent for photography, she decided to see where she could improve her self-taught skills. After taking several photos, she saw an increase in likes on her content and began thinking of it as a creative outlet rather than just a hobby. Trish then turned her photography content into content marketing content with hopes that one day it would pay for college. After a while, Trish became aware that content marketing was becoming an extremely popular trend and decided to try it out herself. She wanted to embrace the rules of content creation. She could use it to expand her social media presence and show people she had what it took to be a great content marketer.
As Trish gained traction for content marketing content, she also began learning about the legal aspects of content marketing. When you’re limited on time and money, you can’t afford to make mistakes or break laws that could cost you your entire business; That’s why we admire people like Trish (and other content marketers) because they are trying to do their due diligence before starting their content marketing careers.
The Legal Stuff
Today is not just about “always getting permission before using content marketing content in your content marketing content.” Today is about going deeper into what you need to stay legally clean. To protect yourself from copyright infringement, always be sure to get written consent from the original author or owner of all content you plan on using in your piece. Even if you find some free stock photos online, be sure to check their license requirements before downloading them! Footage-sharing website Creative Commons has a search function for users to check what type of rights are allowed when sharing videos on their site. Content Marketing Certified also offers resources for checking licenses before publishing new content marketed with outside materials. But there is much more.
I’ve been in marketing for a while now and I’ve seen some pretty creative content strategies over the years. Some work, others don’t. What’s consistent? The need to produce quality content that is engaging and relevant. It doesn’t matter if you’re an experienced marketer or just starting, these 6 tips are guaranteed to help you with your next piece of content!
The 6 Rules of Content Marketing Everyone Should Follow
Trish started photography as a hobby, but it became her creative outlet and so she used it to create content marketing. You too can, if you follow these tips:
#1 Copyrighting – Make Your Content
When someone says “one of a kind”, we immediately place whatever they speak of exclusively in a qualified bubble. As we should. The same goes for content creation. There are a lot of sites with amazing content. Some stuff will blow your mind. These content creators went through due diligence, to be able to call themselves Creative Creators. What we need to know, however, is that content can be protected by copyright law. Copyright content gives exclusive rights to those who own it and doesn’t allow others to use what they created as their content. This prevents plagiarism and theft of intellectual property (IP). Copyrighting content also protects writers from those who copy, alter, or steal content for commercial use.
Simplicity is not the absence of clutter, that’s a consequence of simplicity. Simplicity is somehow essentially describing the purpose and place of an object and product. The absence of clutter is just a clutter-free product. That’s not simple. – Jonathan Ive
But How Do We Avoid Copyright Issues in the First Place?
- Create Your Own Content
- Use Your Own Ideas
- Make Content Original
Create a Digital Trail for your ideas through a series of outlines, notes, or content drafts. Make sure that you can show proof that you did create a certain content before someone else did, whether it was published or not yet published anywhere else. Including your name as part of the content will prove to be useful if plagiarized content is used by another individual for commercial use. Content marketing is the process of creating content around a brand to engage customers or prospects which eventually leads to sales. It is not only used by brands trying to engage consumers but also by publishers looking for new sources of content or social media content influencers who are paid for their posts on sites like Instagram or YouTube. It can be anything from articles, blog posts, email marketing, video production, etc.
Imagery Influence
Using images, videos, and visual material will enhance your user experience exponentially. Making content is a great way to build your brand as an expert in the content marketing industry. One of the best ways to do this is to create content around your intellectual property. The first step you’ll want to take is copyrighting content marketing content that contains your original work or that which you have been granted permission by the owner to use.
Here are some examples of what can be copyrighted:
- content marketing ebook
- digital images
- photos
- blog posts
- podcasts
- videos
However, it’s not enough just to put a © symbol on things – you must also register the copyright with the US Copyright Office. Nearly every country has an equivalent government department responsible for registering copyrights through a process and agency. You can register content marketing content through the US Copyright Office’s website.
Present tense: We create engaging content for users. The content converts more activity.
Past tense: We created engaging content for users in the past. The content filled users with emotions.
If your messaging sounds scripted and outdated, your content will be non-appealing to readers. What is content without realism?
#2 Keep Sentences Short
Short sentences are easier to comprehend than long sentences. A good content writer knows how to use shorter sentences that smaller children can easily read along. If you want the content of your website or landing page to be more appealing, then you need to learn how to create short content with just enough actionable information.
Long sentence: Our company has been in business for fifteen years and we have succeeded greatly because of our creative content services which led us through many difficult challenges coming from highly competitive businesses on the web today. We always focus on our goals of providing quality content solutions at all times whether it is mainstream or not.
Short sentence: We’ve been in business for 15 years. Creative content led us through challenges.
When content is short, you can communicate more ideas effectively and with less effort. But when content is long, it becomes difficult to consume by users and the probability of losing them increases significantly. Keep content simple, fun, and easy to read to keep your content focused.
#3 Be Active With Present Tense Verbs
Active verbs make content engaging because they allow content writers to describe the action that will occur later on instead of just talking about what already happened or what could happen somewhere else at some other time. Make the subject a super-driver of your content and stick with it. The mistake of writing in passive voice is a common one, and very simple to fix. As content providers, we should know that content written with an active voice speaks of content in the present tense, content that is happening right now, and content that is already in progress.
Inactive: The content has been created by our team.
Active: We create content for users in the present tense.
Inactive: Compressing images is Antonio’s least favorite activity.
Active: Antonio’s least favorite activity is compressing images.
Content created using passive voice speaks of content in the past tense; content that was already told or has been produced. Passive voice not only makes your content sound weak but also outdated. The active sentence conveys the message a lot more concisely. Your text is also cleaner. By keeping content clean and brief, you can capture the attention of your readers and increase user engagement by a decent margin. It takes talent and effort to write content concisely since it requires putting your ideas and creativity together.
#4 Use Simple Real-Life Scenarios
The simpler you make content, the more engaging it becomes. Hopeful content that is written in the past or future tense makes content complex and difficult to understand. To write content that does not require a lot of editing, content writers should use scenarios from real life instead of writing from an imaginary place. Scenarios from real life are easier to relate to for users because they’re similar to what is happening in the user’s life at the moment. So, content writers should write content using their
RIGHT: Our team explored your process by attending a charity event. We had the opportunity to experience what is like to serve others, without a profit.
WRONG: Imagine us, working together with you on a project and doing charity together.
Real-life content is much easier to understand and follow as content writers make the content as simple as possible. If the content is written using real-life scenarios, it will be more relatable for users. In short content, fewer words mean a better word economy which leads to higher chances of engaging readers because there’s no room for confusion. Do not worry about syntax, rules, and grammar requirements. You can always adjust and pivot once you start to receive feedback on the things you write. Content writers should constantly strive to improve content writing skills and content marketing strategies. This includes making the copy simple to understand. Essentially, content writers need content inspiration that can help them simplify their messaging and convey their message more efficiently.
Bottom Line
Creating something unique, while keeping it simple, is a difficult task. It is important to remember – learn how your audience expects you to write. Then go write as simply as you can. Start there. Telling stories is one of the most effective ways to simplify content. Content writers should deliver messages using anecdotes that bring their message across more effectively. Using anecdotes makes content more engaging and relatable. So when users read your content they feel like they’re sitting on a couch with you having a casual conversation about your product or service or topic matter. It’s easy for people to relate to others’ experiences.