22/04/2022
CONTENT WRITING: ITS PREREQUISITES AND IMPORTANCE.
Being the text of a lecture delivered by Mr. Sam Akinwale, (Founder Samak Media & Communications) today 21st April 2022, at Adeyemi University of Education, Ondo, Ondo State
Great Nigeria Students, all protocols dully observed. Let's me quickly appreciate the organiser of this program for the unique opportunity given to me to stand before you this afternoon as I speak on the topic "Content Writing". In order to accord more meaning to this topic and make it sink deeply into the minds of the audience, I've decided to reframe it as follows, "Content Writing: Its Prerequisite and Importance"
Before I go into the nitty gritty of this lecture, I would love to digress a little. I'm sure we are familiar with the phrase "digital world"? it's term used to refer to the world wide web, the space that has levelled up the ground and has created a global territory, bringing and connecting the whole world together via the internet. As a result billions of people connect on a daily basis, sharing media files, communicating, networking, advertising, and selling diverse products and services.
Today, the larger percentage of the younger generation, especially the Gen-Zs, spend most of their time online. Also, the dynamic nature of the digital space has created an opportunity for SMEs and bigger enterprise to increase revenue, scale performance and results, and ultimately, build businesses especially for the younger populate across the globe.
I decided to make this little diversion because there is no how we are going to talk about content writing in today's world without mentioning the internet, and all that we read about or search for as we browse and surf through the internet on daily basis are digital contents, written by other people and made available either on the social media platforms or through other media channel.
I would love to add that, Content Writing is a very broad topic, as a matter of fact, we may spend a whole week discussing this very important topic, but as beginners, we shall limit the scope of this lecture to some basic knowledge on Content Writing which are very fundamental.
Now, let's go to the main topic as we define content writing, by definition, Content Writing is a purposeful writing.
To begin as a Content Writer, you must have a purpose, that is, what you intend to write about, this could also mean your theme and it will set the tone and the plot of your writing. This purposeful writing can be for the purpose of : giving Information to educate or create awareness, Entertainment, Persuasion, or Convincing your readers.
In the digital space, Content Writing is a type of content creation/ curation. It is a process of writing, editing and publishing Content in a digital format. This can be blog posts, video or podcast script, ebooks, press release, products or services descriptions, etc.
THE PREREQUISITES FOR CONTENT WRITING.
1. To begin Content Writing, you must have a broad scope and knowledge of what you are about to write.
2. You should have a background story, which can inspire you to write on your personal experience, this is because your experience is unique .
3. You can create your content based on research.
4. You can also generate your content through website, Wikipedia, encyclopedia, etc. This is what we call "Content Curation"- creating a new content from an existing content.
5. You can interview people on your chosen topic in other to generate idea on the particular topic you are going to write about.
6. One of the most important keys in content writing is that, you must always stay true to yourself, it inspires your originality as a content writer. And at the same time, you must be able to master your words and communicate your emotions via your words, the idea is to carry your readers on a journey. You decide to large extent, what you want your reader to feel and the action you want them to perform.
In writing content you must learn the skill to arrange your words logically and arouse your readers interest to take action.
7. In addition, your Content could be short or long depending on how you want it. But understand this fact, when you are writing a short content, your points could be placed within the middle of your write up, but when you are writing a long content, you must be able to drive your points to the end of your write up and keep your readers in suspense so that they will not be bored.
8. In order to become a professional content writer, you must choose a niche (A particular area of Interest) and build on it professionally. Also;
You also must be consistent.
Always get ready to learn new skills.
You must learn, learn and re-learn.
IMPORTANCE OF CONTENT WRITING
Content Writing has become an in-demand profession and thanks to the digital space, it has created job opportunities for numerous people who possessed different special skills at different times and in different places (location is not a barrier anymore). According to reports, In a day, almost two million contents are uploaded into the net which have turned the internet into a huge market place. (The amount of data we produce every day is truly mind-boggling. There are 2.5 quintillion bytes of data created each day at our current pace, but that pace is only accelerating with the growth of the Internet of Things (IoT). Over the last two years alone 90 percent of the data in the world was generated.)
What Job Can you do as a Content Writer?
As a content writer, you can work as a blogger, owning your blog or creating contents for other blog owners.
You can also write ebook, format it and upload them on Amazon, Sellah to make money.
You can work for brand advertisment
You can also create content for products or services and run ads, etc
Conclusion.
Great Nigeria students, let me remind you this as I conclude, the world does not reward or pay you for the certificate you obtained in schools, the world is ready to pay you for the skill you possess and utilize for productive purpose. Therefore, you must understand that, content writing is a digital skill, just like Software Development, and if you're able to develop your skills and capabilities in it, you will be positioning yourself for one of the most lucrative profession of all time irrespective of your area of interest.
You can exchange your skills and experience for money in the digital world. An adage says, 'the only way a dog can stop to grow old is by learning a new skill. I challenge you today to be curious to learn a new thing. With the internet, there is an endless opportunities for you to explore. And this has leveled up the ground of play, in this space there is no rich or poor, there is also no old or young. There is only "the skilled" and "the unskilled". Which do you want to be?
Thanks you all for listen and God bless!
