The first stop on your way to becoming the best is to focus on the business and not just the glossy, pretty images we often see on Instagram. Instead get deeply familiar with the numbers, the mission, vision, the people, that make up the brand you’re serving. Knowing every facet of the industry you’re in will help make you a better digital content creator.  I always talk about this when giving talks because it is SO important.

Think about it: what better way to become an exceptional online content strategist than by knowing every facet of the business which you are serving whether you are doing it from the client or the personal brand side.

For example, when I took on managing the social media account of a regional fertility clinic in the Caribbean, I made sure I understood the science being infertility, the emotional turmoil the women and couples went through, the process of undergoing fertility treatment, the joys associated with success and the pain that occurred when the process did not work out for a couple.

My team read endless articles, researched topics and got super familiar with the medical staff at the clinic. We knew the stories worth telling.  We grew the account from 0-50,000 highly engaged fans (those were the days when Zuckerberg did not make us pay to play) simply because we were hungry to know the business and never stopped learning for the four years we handled that account.

Content creation depends on your ability to communicate clearly what you know. You can do it matter-of-factly, humorously and even inspiringly. Whatever the tone, your ability to connect and engage (and isn’t that why we do what we do) begins first and with how much you know and secondly how well you can communicate.