Which Content Should You Create First?

So you’ve decided that you are going to create some content for your business. But which content type should you create first? Audio? Blog post? Case study? Social media post? White paper? Video? Something else?

Now I could charge you $96.96 and present a really complex 96-step way to choose the appropriate content to create for your specific needs.

(A few of you see what I did there. That probably doesn’t help my so-called problem.)

But coming up with a complex content creation matrix is silly, because selecting a content type isn’t that hard. (This post does have a content creation matrix, but it’s easy to understand and pretty straightforward.)

The first question

What is the first question you have to answer before deciding which content to create?

First, you need to look at your online presence and see which outlets you have, and which ones you don’t have.

• Do you have a website?
• Do you have a blog?
• Do you have social media accounts? If so, which ones, and which types of content do they support? (Threads, for example, supports text, image, audio, and video content.)

If you don’t have a certain outlet, then that makes your decision a lot easier.

• For example, if you have social media outlets but don’t have a blog, then don’t worry about creating blog posts (unless you have LinkedIn and want to create LinkedIn articles). You’re not going to create blog posts on Instagram or Threads or Twitter (unless you’re a blue check person).
• Similarly, if you’re not on YouTube, TikTok, or Instagram, videos are less important. (Although a lot of services support video.)

Create content for your outlet(s)

So now that you know which content outlets you have, and which you don’t, you can create content that is supported by your outlets.

Here’s a handy-dandy table that suggests the content types you can create, depending upon your online presence. These are suggestions, not hard and fast rules.

Content Type	Website	Blog	Social Media With Audio	Social Media With Images	Social Media With Text	Social Media With Video
Audio			Yes
Blog		Yes
Case Study	Download
Social Media Post			Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Video						Yes
White Paper	Download

Some of these are fairly obvious (yes, if you have a blog you can create blog posts), but it helps to say them.

Don’t worry about the content outlets that you don’t have. If you don’t have a blog today, don’t worry about creating one just so you can write blogs. Go with what you have.

(And if you don’t have ANYTHING right now to promote your business, then the easiest thing to do is to create some type of social media account: Facebook, LinkedIn, whatever. They’re free, and it’s easy to create content for them.)

As I said above, these are suggestions, not hard and fast rules. For example, the table above says that case studies and white papers are best if you have a website from which prospects can download documents. But some social media services allow you to embed documents (such as case studies or white papers) into your social media posts.

Think about what you’ve got, and create for it.

Repurpose

And once you’ve created the content, don’t be afraid to distribute it on other channels, or even to repurpose it on other channels.

• Have you uploaded a great video to YouTube? Embed the video in a blog post.
• Did you write a great blog post? Repurpose it as a downloadable document. (That’s what I did.)

You may choose to only issue a specific piece of content using a single content type. But if you feel like repurposing the material for other content types, go for it.

Don’t be afraid to fail

Finally, don’t be afraid to create content, even if it’s not perfect. I’ve (re)committed myself to video, and spent yesterday creating multiple videos for multiple outlets. Two of the videos that I created ended up having problems…but I left them up anyway, and learned in the process.

I figure that the more content that I create, the better that I will get at it.

You will find that the same holds true for you.

Do you need help with textual content?

Now when you are ready to create content, do you need someone to help you create it?

I can help you with certain types of content.

(Not video. If you need a video pro, contact Loren Feldman at 1938 Media.)

But if you need help with the text for blog posts, case studies, white papers, and the like, I can help you. Especially if your text involves biometrics, identity, or technology. Contact me!

• Email me at john.bredehoft@bredemarket.com.
• Book a meeting with me at calendly.com/bredemarket.
• Contact me at bredemarket.com/contact/.