Having worked in the online content-creation space for the past 5 years, I've spent a significant amount of time doing the following three things.
- Creating content for others to consume.
- Having content created for me, so I could present it for others to consume.
- Studying how I could improve the quality of both my content and the content of those working alongside me.
What I have found, perhaps unsurprisingly, is that there is no magic recipe to creating popular or "viral" content. That much is obvious I suppose. HOWEVER, what I did realize during my online travels is that there was one fundamental commonality among every single piece of "good" content that I found and I wanted to share it with you incredible Steemit folks today. Because heck, if it can help even just one person find their voice and lead them to creating better content, we all benefit, right? But before we look at what this commonality is, allow me to clarify how I personally define "good" as it relates to this discussion.
For me, the one factor that outweighs all others (combined!) takes the form of one very simple question whose answer always reveals itself:
Do I want to read or watch this content to the very end?
That's it! That's the entire measuring stick. In this day and age of content hyperoverload and microscopic attention-spans, the ONLY measure I care about as a content producer, presenter, and consumer who values the principals of social capitalism ( @cryptogee) is, I repeat:
Do I want to read or watch this content to the very end?
If the answer is yes, regardless of anything else, book it, that's good content!
Whether you agree with me or not on that is not the important issue, only that you understand my definition of it when I reveal the fundamental commonality found within all good content.
So since we agree (I'll assume) that there is no magic recipe to viral content (or, in our case, high-paying blog posts), it seems somewhat foolish (or at the very least, high-varianced) to try to create content that will fall into this category. Since we've admitted we don't know exactly how it's done, deductive reasoning would lead us to conclude that by striving for it, we're essentially just throwing darts blindly and hoping to somehow nail a bulls-eye from across the room. Sure, that might actually work sometimes; in fact, it probably will, given enough opportunities. However, that's where the high-variance comes in. Because for every bulls-eye you manage to luckbox your way into, you'll have to put in the time to miss 100 shots first. And if you think that sounds like a lot of work, try writing 100 blogs.
So if the shot-taking strategy is not the optimal solution, what is?
Well, the answer to that question can be found within the commonality we are finally ready to discuss. Are you ready? OK. Here we go!
The single most important decider of whether I designate piece of content as being good (meaning, I remain eager to consume it until its conclusion) is...
Did its author write it from inside, or outside, the Matrix?
Wah wah! What a letdown! All that anticipation for the big reveal and now you have to read more to find out what the hell I'm talking about? You are intrigued though, aren't you? This IS the Matrix we're talking about after all, right?
OK OK, I'll stop the torture now (or titillation, as I like to think of it) and give you the goods you've been waiting for so patiently.
The strategy that I refer to as "creating from outside the Matrix" simply means the following:
showing someone something they've been looking at their entire life but have never seen before.
That's right, you, you wonderfully unique snowflake, are Morpheus (or Trinity, if you prefer) and your audience has the power to change the entire world! If only they could see what you see first. So that's your job now, your only mission, should you choose to accept it. Not to preach and force your view on your audience (sort of like I'm doing now! I'm sorry I promise it comes from a place of love!), but to present your own unique human experience in a way that will leave your reader with that distant look in their eyes that is the mark of a mind fully engaged.
Because, when you can achieve that in more posts than not, not only are you going to be much more likely to succeed consistently (monetarily in this setting, professionally in others), but you'll also likely discover that in the end, "success" means very little in comparison to the opportunity to change someone's life.
And if you don't believe me, let me ask you this...
and be honest...
Are you still reading ?