At Hunterlodge, we consistently encourage clients to define their goals before diving into the creative process of content creation. Start by asking the right questions: Why do you want to produce this content? Is it something we know our audience are interested in? Is it interesting and entertaining enough? What tone are you aiming for? Is there a clear and obvious opportunity for the audience to engage? Get these fundamentals in place and the process of producing exceptional content becomes considerably easier. With this in mind, here are five key components for laying robust foundations for your content in 2024.
- Establish Your Voice
One of the best ways to set the rules for all content production is with a tone of voice guide—it might seem like an extravagance, but it’ll save you time in the long run. A good Tone of Voice guide is built around a single, central message and provides guidance on word usage and language, headlines, video, socials, and any emotions you’re trying to evoke.
For the University of Surrey we produced a Tone of Voice guide as part of a wider rebrand. The goal? To help the university produce a sense of wonder from all its content production no matter who was working on it.
- Maximise Content
Consider this scenario: you are thinking about conducting an interview for an article. But instead of producing a single blog piece from your efforts, what if you also recorded that interview then used the audio to transcribe a second, longer-form Q&A article, or better still, started a vodcast on YouTube as well as creating several short video edits across social media.
You might also consider bringing all those elements together to produce a multimedia article, a piece of content that combines photography, video, audio and graphics or any mixture. Latest research suggests that 79% of marketers have seen a marked increase in message retention when content used multimedia.
A good example of this is this the work we did for Queen Mary, Malta. This piece, entitled “Embracing Maltese culture with lecturer Adam Harvey,” combines video, copy, professional photography, with a call-to-action and pull quotes to boot.
- Optimise
Search engine optimisation (SEO) is undoubtedly important for increasing the visibility of content. It is reported that 68% of online experiences begin with a search engine. In order to rise the ranks in 2024, Google says three factors determine success: quality content, backlinks (links from external sources), and search intent or relevance.
Searching for high-volume keywords can be a great way to identify gaps in your content but remember not to let SEO drive your decision making; it’s quality that matters most.
- Be Authentic
Rapidly emerging as one of Hunterlodge’s most valuable platforms for driving client success is TikTok, which continues to both challenge and teach us what makes great content in 2024. TikTok proudly calls itself the ‘edu-tainment’ platform. Excellent content creation tools are certainly part of its success story, but TikTok’s true strength lies in its ability to champion authenticity. What advise does the platform have for creating content? First, utilise real people who are sharing authentic experiences. Also, incorporate creative transitions between edits to maintain viewer interest. Finally, enhance your content with text overlays and graphics to emphasise your key points.
Below you can see some of the user-generated content (UGC) we produced for the University of Winchester. Packed with ideas centred in platform trends (at the time of publishing) we worked closely with Winchester students in concepting, creation and production of a series of assets for both organic and paid promotion.
- Creating Content which Provokes a Two-Way Conversation
Always look for opportunities to make your content a conversation. By encouraging conversation, you’re building relationships (do not be afraid of negative comments, unfortunately par for the course in social media, just ensure you have a great community manager and a robust moderation process). Comments, direct messages, interactive features and simply asking questions are all great ways to stimulate a conversation. All social platforms utilise live video, Q&A sessions, and interactive stories. Also, look to capitalise on personal stories, insights, or behind-the-scenes moments, and don’t be afraid to create content that is a bit rough and ready – just make sure you have something to say and that’s entertaining!
So, shall we begin…?
With these five key components, you’ll be able to set the stage for successful content creation for the rest of 2024. If you need any assistance Hunterlodge’s content department are here to help, whether that be consultancy, workshops, strategy or crafting and producing content we have you covered. Just drop us a note at marketing@hunterlodge.co.uk
