How to make creating digital content "worth it" for creative businesses

Jennie Savage, an alum of our Arts Administration Program at University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and Programs Coordinator at The Forge, a community maker space in Greensboro that is a gem in our community, responded to a recent post of mine advocating for creative organizations to continue to create digital content as smart strategy with the question: “It's a priority for us, but man is it resource-intensive. We're learning Premiere Pro as a staff to get more efficient with the editing process. Do you have any suggestions for best practices?”

I feel you, Jennie. The resource-intensity of creating digital content is real and the content monster is hungry. Posting several times a week on multiple platforms and having a robust library for users to access is an incredible, unrelenting task. I am choosing to be in this game myself, with my blog, Row X on ArtsJournal.com and spreading the word about my research activity.

Here are four ideas I hope are helpful to Jennie and others:

IDEA #1: Efficiencies DO exist

There are some ways of getting more efficient at creating content. Such as:

• Using templates (which will also help you to stay consistent with your branding and help your audience to recognize your content quicker as they’re scrolling).
• Blocking out time for content creation, then scheduling it to post using software like Hootsuite, rather than creating *everyday* and wrecking your flow for the other tasks of your job.
• Growing your own proficiency at using the tools through training and/or practice (aka repetition) so you get faster.

There are some people who give great advice to content creators who offer a lot of tips on saving time and sanity on content creation. (I recommend following Media Kit Girl on Instagram.)

IDEA #2: But Laws of Time and Space Also Exist

I don’t think there’s really any way around the "triple constraint" truth of project management which says “Time-Money-Quality: Pick Two”. Ask yourself:

• How important is it that we do it ourselves? Could someone else do it just as well or better? And would we be comfortable with someone else doing it?
• Does the staff member creating the content enjoy the work of creating content?
• Is the content we’re currently producing at the level of quality that we want to be putting out? (Ahem…even if the staff member likes this part of their job, are they good at it? Are they efficient at this work? Be honest…)

SPEND REAL MONEY, INCREASE QUALITY, SAVE TIME: One way to gain efficiency is to pay a professional to create content for you. I can see your jaw clenching at the idea of letting someone else create content. Yes, this can be outsourced and done well. Experienced freelancers or agencies have a process of getting to know your organization and your brand so that they can create work that fits with your mission and values and remain unique. There will be some time investment up front, and you won’t be able to outsource content creation 100%, but you will save time.

INCREASE QUALITY, SPEND SOME MONEY, SAVE TIME BY INVESTING TIME: Another way to gain efficiency is to really allow the staff member creating content to develop their skills. Set aside (and pay for) time for training. Allow them to experiment. Acquire equipment that really works and isn’t held together with spit and duct tape.  Make it an official part of their job responsibilities, not something they have to squeeze in between other duties. It’s an investment in that staff member and in the organization. You may not have money to pay someone else, so you pay in time of existing staff members. Nothing is created out of nothing.

DON’T CUT QUALITY: Perhaps you weren’t even considering this, but don’t just decide to skimp on quality so you don’t have to spend more time or money. Lowering quality of your content is a bad idea because it will lower the audience's opinion of your brand, your services, your staff, and reduce your sales/donations/participation. Even spontaneous-looking content is the result of skill, such as knowing how to frame a shot using an iPhone, choosing a spot with good lighting and editing the footage just so.

IDEA #3: Wherein I Dodge the Question But Offer My Most Helpful Idea

Ask yourself this question: does your content creation feel like too much work because it isn't working hard enough for you? In other words, are you not getting a result that matches the amount of time you've put in?

For example: I can see an organization like The Forge or any number of creative businesses creating an hour-long recorded class or lesson. It's smartly edited, with music and graphics. It’s polished. It’s on brand. Your staff and Board and volunteers see it and tell you it’s great. It took a looonnnng time to create. You post it and…five people watch it. “What’s the point?!”, you scream, “I thought digital content was supposed to bring in allll these new people and democratize creativity!” I understand your frustration. I, too, have spent hours and hours creating content for students, academic conferences, and professional trainings for them only to be seen by fewer people than I have fingers and toes.

Turn long content into bite-sized content so it works harder for you.

My answer to this is to repurpose and reframe your content to get the most out of it. Specifically, find ways to make long content more bite-sized. That hour-long class could turn into multiples of the following:

• 30 second clips from the class of key moments that can stand alone
• one to three minute clips on your website or video hosting channel
• infographics of tips or processes
• quotes or checklists that can be turned into static social media content (scroll through the templates on Canva or Adobe Spark for ideas)
• audio clips that can be posted with or without animation such as an audio waveform to catch the eye
• outtakes clips or photos

Now those hours that you spent creating the one beautiful piece doesn’t feel like it was all poured into one piece of hit-or-miss. Yes, it takes some more time investment to create these derivative pieces. But here are the benefits of stretching and repurposing your content:

1.      Each of these new pieces IS valuable content in its own right. There are many people who would never tune into an hour-long class but would find a checklist or a two minute video super helpful.

2.      All this new content feeds the hungry content monster and lowers the burden of coming up with new ideas or a clever way to say the same thing again.

3.      This content is highly shareable and will help your audience do your marketing for you in a genuine way because you’re giving them something of value that they can share with others (thereby increasing their social capital, which we all love to do and is a real human connection).

4.      These short pieces are a pathway right to your core services. It won’t happen all the time, but someone will see this bite-sized content then decide to engage more fully online or in person.

Content does not have to be long to be valuable.

In fact, I could use this tactic on this 1,200 word post and perhaps I will!

IDEA #4: Wherein I Reframe the Question

The foundational shift is to fully embrace digital content as core content. Not as a stopgap until the COVID-19 pandemic is over, but as core. It’s absolutely a legitimate way of pursuing the mission of your creative organization and the audience that shows up for your digital content is absolutely a real audience. Try to catch yourself (or your staff or your Board or your volunteers or your audience) overtly or covertly framing in-person content as the only real content, or as the default position. Try to expand your conception of your service or product or value or mission to include delivering digitally. And yes, I recognize that I’m saying this in response to a question from someone who works at a makerspace where the core function is people coming in to use the equipment to make physical objects.

Audiences and participants know full well the difference between in-person and digital. They know the trade-offs as well as you do. So don’t limit your organization’s potential – especially it’s reach – by holding back on digital content. Consider the time spent climbing the learning curve and the money spent on equipment, training, and support to be an investment in the future. If organizations don’t do this, it will be like they purposefully and willfully kept themselves from growing and moving forward.

Good luck to Jennie and everyone at The Forge, and everyone creating digital creative content – your audience and future audience thanks you!