The Content Fuel Framework
by Melanie Deziel
The secret lies in knowing that a content idea is truly just the combination of two elements: a focus and a format. Questions to Consider When Creating Live Video ► Does this video benefit from being captured in real time or having live interaction? If not, would the audience be better served with a standard (non-live) video? ► Is the connection to the internet or cellular network strong enough and stable enough to support the uninterrupted streaming of live video? What can be done to improve the connection? ► Are the equipment, lighting, and sound sufficient for necessary content quality? How can the risk of interruptions, both real and digital, be minimized? ► Which platform is best to host this live video? Which platform best captures the intended audience? Which live video platform offers needed/desired features? ► How will this video be promoted or distributed to encourage live viewing? Which tools will broadcast this live content to multiple platforms at once? How could the video be promoted in advance? How could the live broadcast be distributed to drive up live viewing? ► What opportunities and tools will promote engagement with the live audience? What tools provide for engaging with live-stream viewers? What questions, prompts, or other calls to action will encourage engagement? What tools or rules will be used to moderate viewer comments or engagement? ► How will this content be repurposed once the live broadcast has ended? ► Have all the questions from the previous chapter on Format 4: Video also been taken into account?
The secret lies in knowing that a content idea is truly just the combination of two elements: a focus and a format.
A coach who uploads videos of their weekly coaching calls might also export the audio of that call, and have it transcribed, allowing his students to choose to engage with the video call by watching or listening, or by reading it. A blogger might embed an audio player on a blog post, allowing page visitors to read the blog post or listen to it being read.
You’ll often find data-focused content with headlines like these: New Study: Eating Cheese Daily Increases Your Lifespan3 You’ve Been Washing Your Face All Wrong, According to New Research New Survey Suggests Teens Are Spending Less Time Online Here’s What The Data Says About Avoiding Divorce What Science Tells Us About Low-Carb Diets
Below, I’ll share some of my favorite content multipliers—Time, Demographic, Location, and Resources—which you can use to explore the potential branches of derivative content that might grow from each of your ideas, and I’ll offer examples of how each content multiplier can turn a single content idea into several.
Questions to Consider While Creating Content in a New Format ► How does the content creation process in this format differ from others? Does the time needed to create content differ? How so? Does the cost of creating content differ? How so? ► Have there been unanticipated challenges in the creation process?
"The secret lies in knowing that a content idea is truly just the combination of two elements: a focus and a format."
"Questions to Consider When Creating Live Video ► Does this video benefit from being captured in real time or having live interaction? If not, would the audience be better served with a standard (non-live) video? ► Is the connection to the internet or cellular network strong enough and stable enough to support the uninterrupted streaming of live video? What can be done to improve the connection? ► Are the equipment, lighting, and sound sufficient for necessary content quality? How can the risk of interruptions, both real and digital, be minimized? ► Which platform is best to host this live video? Which platform best captures the intended audience? Which live video platform offers needed/desired features? ► How will this video be promoted or distributed to encourage live viewing? Which tools will broadcast this live content to multiple platforms at once? How could the video be promoted in advance? How could the live broadcast be distributed to drive up live viewing? ► What opportunities and tools will promote engagement with the live audience? What tools provide for engaging with live-stream viewers? What questions, prompts, or other calls to action will encourage engagement? What tools or rules will be used to moderate viewer comments or engagement? ► How will this content be repurposed once the live broadcast has ended? ► Have all the questions from the previous chapter on Format 4: Video also been taken into account?"
"Here are some questions to ask whenever you’re considering experimenting with a new content format. Once you’ve answered these questions, you’ll be able to evaluate the cost and benefits for your own team, company, or content projects, and see whether experimenting with a particular content format makes sense. Questions to Consider Before Creating Content in a New Format ► What does this content format offer that currently used formats do not? ► What are the strengths and limitations of this content format? ► What best practices, if any, have emerged for this format? ► Is new technology, talent, or infrastructure needed to create content in this format? What is the human and financial cost of acquiring these? How long will it take to acquire the necessary resources? ► Is the audience likely to consume content in this format? Does the audience have the ability to consume content in this format? ► How is success measured in this new content format? Are tools and technology in place to capture performance data? Have clear goals been set for performance evaluation?"
"Questions to Consider When Creating Video ► Is special talent, software, or equipment needed to capture video content? ► Is special talent, software, or equipment needed to edit video content? ► How long does the video need to be to effectively tell this story? Would several smaller videos better serve the audience? ► Should the video be shot horizontally or vertically, to best fit its intended destination? ► Have captions been added to ensure accessibility? ► Is the lighting sufficient to capture quality video in this environment? Would supplemental artificial lighting be helpful? ► Would on-screen text, charts, or other graphics add to this video? ► Would background music or sound effects add to this video? Are additional rights needed to use such audio? ► Which platform should this video be posted or hosted on? ► Which keywords should be used in the video title, description, and tags to optimize this video’s discoverability through search?"
"Questions to Consider When Creating Example-Focused Content ► Does this story reflect a common or increasingly frequent experience, situation, or trend? ► Are there individual examples that accurately represent the bigger story? Are there people with stories representative of the collective experience? Are there companies or products that illustrate the larger trend? Are there individual anecdotes that add context to an intangible concept? ► Would focusing on a smaller part of this story, for at least part of the content, make the larger trend easier to understand, contextualize, or relate to? ► Which individual story, person, or other example best represents the larger trend? ► How much detail is necessary for this example to sufficiently explain the larger issue? ► Will the individual example be used to introduce the larger trend, or to add detail and context once the larger trend has been explored?"
"► Is there an interesting way to tell this story through data, research, or studies? Could this topic be approached through the lens of numerical, financial, or other types of trends, projections, or comparisons? ► How might data be collected on this topic? ► What existing data sets could be analyzed to discover new trends or story ideas? ► Are resources available to conduct proprietary research or collect new data on this topic? Is additional or outside expertise needed to conduct this research correctly? ► What data is freely and publicly available about this topic? Is additional data available for a fee or by securing additional rights? ► What credible and qualified people or organizations can provide data on this topic? ► What best practices for data collection, validation, or analysis should be followed? ► What level of detail should be provided about how the data was collected?"
"Questions to Consider When Creating Infographics ► What data can be visualized with an infographic? ► Is there enough data to justify creating an entire infographic? Can supplementary data points add greater context? ► Can the data be easily visualized using charts, graphs, icons, or other means? ► Will this infographic contain any branding? Does the coloring, language, and iconography complement both the topic and our branding (if needed)? ► Can this infographic be cut/adapted for use elsewhere, such as on social media? ►• How can the sources of the data be made clear in the graphic? ► Is the audience likely to view this type of content on a mobile device? Can this infographic be seen and understood at such a small size? Can interactivity be triggered effectively at such a small size? Is an alternate layout or design necessary for mobile devices?"
- →The secret lies in knowing that a content idea is truly just the combination of two elements: a focus and a format.
- →You’ll often find data-focused content with headlines like these: New Study: Eating Cheese Daily Increases Your Lifespan3 You’ve Been Washing Your Face All Wrong, According to New Research New Survey Suggests Teens Are Spending Less Time Online Here’s What The Data Says About Avoiding Divorce What Science Tells Us About Low-Carb Diets
- →Below, I’ll share some of my favorite content multipliers—Time, Demographic, Location, and Resources—which you can use to explore the potential branches of derivative content that might grow from each of your ideas, and I’ll offer examples of how each content multiplier can turn a single content idea into several.
- →Focus Your content focus is the “point of concentration.” Your focus is what you are examining, discussing, illuminating, sharing, or conveying. For our purposes as content creators and storytellers, the focus of our content is our message, and the approach we take to sharing it.
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