People of content: all lost souls swimming in a fish bowl
I’ve been thinking to write this for a long time but there were too many ‘maybe it’s too early, let me get there first’ moments that stopped me to type it down. ‘Where were you trying to reach?’ one may ask. That’s an answer I never knew.
It was at the age of thirteen that I realized that words matter to me, be it reading or writing, and I want to dedicate my professional life to it. When I was at school, to be in the business of words, the choice known to me was either be an author or a journalist. I chose the latter and few years into it, there was something amiss. I wanted to do something that becomes my vocation as well as evocation. Fortunately, the digital age came to the rescue and for people of words, it opened Pandora’s box of career opportunities.
However, a writer landing in the digital space was not the end of the struggle. Rather it was a starting point of a maze. And where there’s a labyrinth, there’s a Minotaur.
In today’s information age, content roles are vast and diverse and everyone have their own definition for it. Today, if you search ‘Content’ on any job portal, you’ll rarely find two job descriptions that are similar. Thus, most content professionals often dabble with the question — what are the requisite skills necessary to land a job? Unfortunately, the career path for content folks aren’t that well defined and need a lot of digging.
Also, with the advent of Social Media and the urge to share one’s views and thoughts, each one of us in the world wide web have become “content” creators. Then where can people of content find their own little space?
Most of my peers that I have interacted with have discovered their job profiles by accident. Some of them started with content writing and then diversified into Social Media, SEO writing, video marketing, product content, based on their stakeholder requirements. When talking about content roles within tech, most are skeptical about the subject matter and find it very niche.
There needs to be a lot of community work and awareness required around the specialism of content.
In newspapers, a term often used at the editorial desk is ‘back-of-the-paper’ editions. It refers to pages that are not news but cater to the interest of the readers (for instance, sports, health, lifestyle). There have been behavioral research findings that show that a large section of readers who read these pages first, before getting to the news of the day. One of the reasons is that readers like to go through the sections in their own favorite order and read stories that interest them more. Hence, newspapers eventually had to give equal weightage to these pages as the rest of the paper.
Similarly, content in few companies is perceived to be ‘back-of-the-edition’ work that may not bring a lot of value to the business and is a mere add-on to their product and marketing teams. But may be good content is the reason that their customers might be engaging with the business.
Due to the subjective and qualitative nature of content, it is a challenge for a content person to quantify these factors. They might have to push hard to show the value that they are bringing to the table. There’s a lot of hard work and perseverance (been there, done that!).
But hey, this should not let you down. Content folks, you are way more worth it!
Those passionate about content have a considerable advantage over other professions. Our roles are fluid which might be frustrating when finding our ground. But this is what eventually makes us adaptable.
Our ability to articulate and gather information are our weapons. The work we do naturally makes us think from a consumer point-of-view which, gives us an edge over other business functions. Put that into use at your workplace — it’s going to help you in the long run.
For content professionals, nothing works better than looking inwards with a microscopic view of the outside world.
If you are in content, you need to have a hunger for learning and a natural urge to know the unknown. Read and observe — that’s what will help you in discovering what your true calling is. Be aware of the work you do and how you respond to external stimuli. It’ll help you realize which field of content you ultimately want to be in. Be aware of the things that excite you and how you can connect your interests and aptitude to the work you are doing.
While working at a newspaper publication, I always loved designing pages with the designer — discuss how the words will flow over the image, what images should go with a specific article and how to structure text in a readable format. When I shifted to e-commerce, I discovered that I love solving customer problems and conveying complex messages clearly and concisely. It gave my writing a purpose.
I would look at the work of UXers and often wondered why isn’t there any design thinking in content? Only to find out (as recent as a little over two years ago) that there are job profiles that bring all these into one (Content Design). I certainly felt like Archimedes finding his ‘Eureka’ moment!
There was no stopping after that. I tumbled down a rabbit hole and for good. It helped me be more focused, hone my craft, convince and negotiate better with stakeholders at business meetings, and search relevant jobs.
So, answering the question that one may ask in the beginning of this piece, where am I trying to reach? I would say, it’s still a long way to go and I’m discovering myself with each passing day.
Every day I learn something new and that’s what keeps me going. It makes me hopeful that I would ultimately pave my career path, successful or not — only time will tell.
Do you have a story to tell? Pop it in the comments section. Eager to hear all about it!
