In 9 mos of grounded #DevRel, I've spent a lot of time helping people create content in addition to my own. We're living in an age of content-as-a-commodity, but there's also a flight to quality.

Here's a thread on what I've been learning about creating quality content.

1. Make content tailored to the platform it's on. For example, what works on Twitch won't work on YouTube. Learn the audience, algorithm, and "mood" of the platform.

Exporting streams to YT
Using streams as inspiration for high quality YT vids

2. Great content delivers high value regardless of platform. High quality content can be a TikTok, a tweet, an email, an article, or a video. Great non-tech example is Christine's Snaps: never gimmicky & each video is a complete joke or story. https://www.tiktok.com/@christines_snaps?lang=en

3. Don't neglect beginner content just because it's not shiny & advanced. There are constantly new people learning to code. Don't ignore or disparage them; give them step-by-step instructions & encourage them. Most of the traffic on my blog right now is for articles about basics.

4. Length is less important than value. Each word in an article or minute of a video needs to earn its way there. Just look at how much value @GoodMarketingHQ crams into this thread on copywriting https://twitter.com/GoodMarketingHQ/status/1258052549246140416

5. Great content shows step-by-step instructions with no hand-waving. Show people what do & don't make them feel bad about it (don't say "this is obvious"). It's better to have a smaller more complete piece of content than an inflated piece of content without detailed steps.

6. Great content is authentic and relatable. Create the resources you wish existed when you were going through something difficult. @ceeoreo_ does an amazing job of this: https://twitter.com/ceeoreo_/status/1326893970920775681

7. Great content is scoped perfectly. This has taken me some time to learn. If you're teaching about JavaScript arrays, don't make the reader do a bunch of CSS styling. Make it as easy as possible for them to build the skill you're teaching.

8. In the beginning, move fast to define your process. The creation, editing, publication, & promotion cycle is largely the same for different sizes of content. Getting practice with those skills using small pieces of content will pay off for larger or more in depth pieces later.

I'll be sending out an expanded, deeper version of this thread to my newsletter on Friday. You can sign up here if you want to see it: http://samjulien.com