One of the best things to emerge from the rise of digital technology has been the way that the voiceless have been given voices. Through platforms like social media, YouTube and blogging almost anyone is able to create content and develop an audience. Where for so long it was all about big corporations and governments telling people what they thought the people needed to hear, now the landscape has changed to be lots of independent people telling the stories and experiences that are relevant to them. What is means is that if you really want to, you can start to publish your own content and develop and grow an audience of your own. What exactly do you need to do if this is a path that you want to walk? Here are a few ideas.
Have a plan
Start with a plan of some kind. If you don’t know where you want to go, then you have little chance of ever arriving there. So, in starting your quest, plan ahead in terms of what you want to cover, who you are writing for and how you want to generate revenue from the platform. Knowing what you want to cover requires a degree of self-knowledge (what are you interested in?) and some market research. Once you know that you can start to delve into data analytics to see who is reading the material. Plugging in analytics is very illuminating and it will allow you to shape and refine the offering. Remember that you are always writing for an audience, so it is important to know what they are consuming. This can only be informed via analytics so spend as much time studying and examining this as you do in creating content.
Start small
Be patient you are not going to turn into The Huffington Post overnight. It is a long voyage and one that you must be able to sustain over the long-term if it is to grow. At first, it will just be you. So, you need to play to your strengths. How are you going to differentiate yourself from the countless other online content creators? What have you got that will drive traffic to your platforms? You need to be able to answer these questions if you are to have any hope of taking it to the next level.
Work all the angles
Digital publishing is not just about writing a blog or developing a big Twitter following. It is about creating an entire ecosystem where the sum of the whole is greater than the parts. In other words, a huge Twitter base is not much use if you are not driving them to your website. But a great website is no good if there is no way for fans and users to share your content socially. So, make sure that in making your play that you are set up across all the relevant platforms. This includes social platforms, YouTube, desktop, and app. Look at sending regular newsletters as well. The more touchpoints you are able to offer the better.
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