The 5 C’s of content creation

When creating content, be the best answer on the internet —Andy Crestodina

You need the soul of an artist and the mind of an entrepreneur for content inspiration and creative imagination respectively. Content creators are artistic entrepreneurs. They are highly inspired and well informed thinkers who have mastered the art of influencing people at the levels of emotion and cognition.

Content creation is the process of generating topic ideas that appeal to your buyer persona, creating written or visual content around those ideas, and making that information accessible to your audience as a blog, video, infographic, or other content formats. It is the art of crafting a message for a target audience across various platforms. Target audience may be dictated by age, gender, income, location, interests or a myriad of other factors. You can’t be everything to everyone, but you can be something to someone. – Drew Davis, Brandscaping

Content creators need to realize the 5 C’s of content creation and deploy them for effective content creation and communication as follows:

1. Clarity
2. Community
3. Creativity
4. Credibility
5. Continuity

1. Clarity – Content creation requires purposefulness and vision. Clarity of purpose is important for the creator’s unique value proposition and deliverables to consistently align. For instance, as a columnist with the Nigerian Tribune for over a year now, I have consistently tailored my articles around entrepreneurship and related subjects. Furthermore, as a creativity and innovation expert, my focus is largely on innovation-driven entrepreneurship. Clarity of purpose will help find your Uniqueness, Passion and Specialization (UPS). Do you care to know the literal interpretation and function of ‘UPS’? Go figure that out. Clarity engenders access to unhindered access to inspiration and uninterrupted ‘content’ supply. There are times I tend to derail from purpose with respect to content creation, however, vision brings my content back to alignment. Where there is no vision, content creators cast off restraints, and if the ‘foundation’ be destroyed, what can a makeup artist do? Clarity is the engine that drives creativity and continuity. It is the foundation of content creation.

2. Community – A community is a social unit with a shared socially significant characteristic, such as place, set of norms, culture, religion, values, customs, or identity. Content creation resonates with social values. It is therefore important that content creators build a community around their ideologies and deliverables in general. A community of like minds is essential for content assessment, development and consumption. Remember that, every content (message) requires a platform for ideas to be communicated to members of a community (audience). For instance, one could have contents on oral health, intellectual property, digital technology, agribusiness, solar solutions, gamification, and rural electrification.

3. Creativity – Without ignition, there is no recognition. Creativity is the spark that ignites content creation and development. Creativity is independent of knowledge. Content creation is the ability to creatively put ideas and thoughts together.  Creativity is the ability to generate ideas and do things differently. It is therefore logical to posit that content creation is from one generation to another with respect to ideation. Ideation is the creative process of generating, developing, and communicating new ideas, where an idea is understood as a basic element of thought that can be either visual, concrete, or abstract.

4. Credibility – According to Merriam-Webster dictionary, credibility is defined as the quality or power of inspiring belief. Content creators are influencers and thought leaders who inspire and lead those who consume their contents. Credibility could also mean the quality of being believed or accepted as true, real, or honest. As a content creator and columnist in my own right, I try as much as possible to build my brand on credibility. Due to my understanding of the vulnerability of the community we influence as creatives, I have learnt to put credibility above creativity due to the vulnerability of my community. Vulnerability in this context means the quality of being vulnerable (= able to be easily influenced). As influencers and content creators, we must put ethics above aesthetics and credibility above creativity. To leave an indelible mark, do credible and incredible things. You are an authority in your craft, so be mindful of those you feed. Be mindful of their vulnerability and always ensure that your contents are not only desirable, but also useful. If you must imitate and borrow brilliance of other creators, ensure you ‘imitaste’ to see that you are not deviating from your unique value proposition to your target audience. Above all, stay credible by all means.

5. Continuity – Can you create something new and continue? Content creation is work! “Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is probably the reason so few engage in it.” – Henry Ford. Content creation is everything about clarity, community, creativity, credibility and continuity. Continuity means the unbroken and consistent existence or operation of something over time. Content creators are consistent creatives. It is not easy to be consistent. Your constituency is made robust by your consistency. How far can you go with your content delivery? Continuity strategy is built around community. Let us briefly take a cue from the “comment section” in social media conversations for instance. Is it not surprising to observe that one interesting conversation started by an individual can ignite a sustained engagement? That is the power of creativity and community. Continuity is work! I for one believe that the emergence of artificial intelligence is apparently going to ensure continuity of the works created by humans. Time-consuming and labour-intensive works are taken care of by artificial intelligence and its deliverables. AI enhances creativity, efficiency, productivity, and innovation in content creation. The big questions are:
6. Is artificial intelligence really artificial?
7. Can AI put credibility above creativity?
8. What flavour does AI add to a community?
9. Can artificial intelligence help create clarity of purpose?
10. What is Artificial intelligence? Let’s think!

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