How to Become a Content Creator

Content creation is a good fit for anyone with an entrepreneurial mindset who's energized by producing engaging written or video content. With the rise of digital technology and the growing popularity of video platforms, launching a career as a content creator is within reach for more people than ever. 

Becoming a content creator first involves identifying your niche—the unique expertise you possess and can share with the world. To grow your influence, you'll want to develop strategies around using a content calendar and social media content plan, as well as techniques for building an audience of peers and followers. Developing these skills takes time, but your dedication can lead to job opportunities, a rewarding community, and even financial success.

Read on for a comprehensive guide on how to turn your expertise and passions into a rewarding professional career as a content creator.

Ways to become a content creator

Today's digital world is dominated by content. According to Crunchbase, there are reportedly an estimated 50 million creators around the world involved in what's defined as the "creator economy.” This is a lucrative space, as it encompasses the technology and toolkit that allows creators to produce and share their content, grow their following, and generate income. 

This boom partly stems from the fact that there are many ways to become a digital creator. 

• Experts make content around their specialty. This could include: creating live virtual classes or on-demand video courses, writing whitepapers or ebooks, or starting a blog. 

• Writers might share their work by launching newsletters with both free and paid tiers. 

• Video creators may choose to collaborate with clients to produce innovative work.

Setting up a well-designed website is a crucial step for content creators wanting to put their best foot forward and stand out from the creative competition. Whether you're a seasoned writer looking to grow a marketing business or position yourself as a subject matter expert (SME), or a video creator exploring the newest social media platform, you want a hub to display your high-quality work long-term.

Over time, your website will help you to maintain a consistent voice, tone, and brand. Your site can also give you the flexibility to provide members-only content, which is one way to grow your audience and generate income.

Finding your content niche and expertise

Every person has unique skills and talents. For content creators, those talents are known as their niche or area of expertise. Having a well-defined specialty sets you apart from others and gives you a competitive edge.

Figuring out what expertise you have to offer is the first step toward finding success. You might be an expert in a specific topic area, like healthcare or marketing. Or you might excel at a specific type of content creation, such as long-form writing or short-form videos.

Identifying your strengths can help you determine the niche that's right for you. Asking yourself questions about your passions, interests, and areas of knowledge is a good start. You might want to examine what special skills you have to offer, such as explaining complicated topics in a simple way. Doing niche research and competitive analyses can show you areas in which there may be a gap you could fill.

This research and analysis will also help inform your eventual content strategy. For example, you might decide to focus on just one kind of content, such as writing, or take a hybrid approach based around writing and video. 

Learning how to approach becoming a content creator and determining where to focus can take time. You might test out a number of options or pivot your focus a few times before finding the content niche that feels right to you. 

Learn how to discover your content niche and expertise

Creating your content calendar

Regularly posting high-quality content leads to return visitors who are engaged with your brand and website. However, having a consistent, ongoing pipeline of content requires planning, organization, and a strong work ethic. A content calendar, with a day-by-day overview of your posts, helps you stay organized and provides a blueprint to help prioritize tasks.

These calendars might go in-depth on the type of content you're scheduling (e.g., a video or a blog post) and other granular details, such as which platforms you’ll be publishing it on, the time of day you're posting it, and whether it's new or repurposed content.

A content calendar is especially effective when paired with a social media calendar. These two things work hand-in-hand to support your business strategy and promotional efforts. For example, you might post a short video on social media to tease a longer video posted on your website. Social media content or copy is easy to integrate into your overall content mix. 

You can create a content calendar using something as simple as a spreadsheet or choose a more sophisticated platform, like a social media project management software with scheduling capabilities.

Squarespace offers multiple ways to make content creation easier. Unfold gives users a quick and easy way to create and customize templates for social media posts with their existing video, photos, and text. Squarespace websites also offer the ability to schedule content, such as blogs, in advance. Many social media platforms allow you to schedule certain posts in advance, which can further streamline your marketing and promotional efforts.

Learn how to build a content calendar

Building your own community

For content creators, having a community of supporters is a key part of building influence, increasing reputation and reach, and generating income. Building this community of loyal advocates is an intentional and proactive process.

The foundation of your supporter network is your friends, family, and existing followers, as well as customers and clients. To find ways to expand your community, research the audience of the content creators in or adjacent to your niche, follow others in your field, and pay attention to the online conversations happening within your area of expertise.

Social media makes it easy to find other influencers and thought leaders, as well as interact with their content. However, your community-building strategy can look different on each platform. For example, video-heavy social media channels such as TikTok will require different strategies than Twitter, which often involves short, text-based interactions.

You can put your best foot forward by maintaining a frequently updated online presence and ensuring you're always creating high-quality content. As you produce more content, it helps to identify advocates who always share or interact with your posts, and nurture these engaged followers. You can build those relationships via direct communication, such as email newsletters, or by providing exclusive gated—or premium—content.

Think of gated content like a membership club, as it tends to be available in a password-protected area and is accessible only if someone pays a fee or shares their email address. Squarespace Member Sites give creators the option to create password-protected posts or website pages. Member Sites includes built-in tools for managing memberships and customer payments, which makes it easy to start sharing your exclusive content.

Learn about the importance of cultivating a supportive community 

Networking with fellow creators

Building a supportive community is part of a successful content growth strategy. Many creators cultivate a network of creative peers who understand the ups and downs of working in their field.

Having a network of like-minded creators makes it easier for people to get advice and guidance on potential problems or work pain points, as well as swap stories about tips and professional best practices. Work opportunities tend to circulate within professional networks, which can lead to chances to earn additional income.

Amassing this broad professional creator network is often a proactive process. Networking for artists looks different than networking in other industries because creative industries tend to congregate in different areas. However, you can join online groups or attend in-person events where creators might congregate. If one-on-one conversation is more your style, you can drop someone an email with a compliment and a greeting, or ask to go for coffee and talk about professional matters.

Teaming up for collaborations and cross-promotional activities are other great ways to connect with other creators and find a new audience for your work. By writing guest posts, either on a blog or in an email newsletter, or creating a collaborative video, you have a chance to expand your niche and reputation and become exposed to different potential followers.

Above all, it's helpful to be surrounded by creative people doing innovative work. When times are tough and you don’t feel inspired to do your best work, having supportive peers around you can keep you motivated to move forward. 

Learn about the advantages of networking with other creators 

Being consistent with your content

Once you've landed on a niche and strategy that works and built a supportive network of peers and followers, your next step is to keep producing the kind of high-quality content that's helped you to get where you are. 

Maintaining and nurturing your unique voice is one major key to long-term success. Preserving your brand, making sure you have a well-defined mission and vision, and avoiding scaling too fast are all ways to maintain content consistency.

Squarespace offers a variety of tools to help you streamline your content and maintain your brand. 

• Make a website. It's easy to build your own website with fonts, color schemes, your own logo, and photography styles that match the aesthetic you're looking to convey. 

• Brand a newsletter. With your Squarespace website, you can build a newsletter with a layout that aligns with your website’s core branding. 

• Automate any additional emails. Use Squarespace’s automated email options, so you can be efficient about how and when you send emails to your followers.

• Create branded videos. The Marketing Kit in Squarespace's iOS app makes it easy to create videos using existing photos, text, and branding from your website, then resize them so they are optimized for posting on various platforms.

• Customize marketing content. Squarespace iOS app users with an online store can access custom marketing images, videos, and GIFs to create polished posts and emails.

But remaining consistent isn't always easy. As your content becomes more successful, your schedule can often become busier and your time to create will be more limited. Plus, once you have followers and clients responding to your work, it can be tempting to change your approach to have broader appeal.

It's helpful to remember that people follow you because they relate to your content. This could be because you provide useful or interesting information, or because you have an appealing way of delivering your content's message. Don't shy away from what makes you unique—lean into it and embrace it.

Learn more about the importance of content consistency