Content Writing: Exploring Different Types, Benefits and Risks

When you secure college admission to pursue a degree or diploma of your choice, what often comes to your mind? Except for those who got a chance to study in a specific university due to talent, especially sports, a significant proportion of students will want to land a well-paying job, whereas a few might opt for entrepreneurship. As you can see, you have three choices of succeeding in life during or after your higher education.

In particular, you can play soccer for your college or football club to earn a living, start a side hustle such as selling software online, or look for a part-time job. For example, when Juliath Brindak was 10 years old, she created sketched characters. Brindak actualized her dream of establishing Miss O & Friends after developing a complementary social networking site at 16. What do you learn from this innovation?

Regardless of your age, you can not only revolutionize your idea into a money-making venture but also learn a new skill, such as content marketing, before graduating. In other words, when you’re in college, you shouldn’t just concentrate on doing academic essays and exams, as the Internet has opened a myriad of income-generating opportunities for anyone.

As such, this article recommends that you try venturing into content writing, but after reading its risk-benefit assessment.

What is Content Writing?

According to MasterClass (2022), content writing refers to “composing written material for specific informational or marketing purposes.” So, what does it include? When you write scripts for videos, draft email campaigns, craft engaging social media posts, develop SEO, and get involved in copywriting, you’ll be doing copywriting.

In content writing, individuals or organizations take advantage of the Internet to promote a product or service. For example, when looking for an affordable coffee maker for college students, you’ll most likely google before even checking on e-commerce platforms. Your web search results will comprise sponsored ads and articles on the product. Considering that you’ll need to know the details of the coffee maker, such as the number of cups it can brew at a single time, the probability of you opening one or two articles is high.

When you open the article, you’ll find a detailed explanation of a product. Such information is crucial in deciding which commodity to buy.

3 Types of Content Writing You Should Try

1. Social media writing

Today, if you walk in the street, especially in an urban setting, you’ll realize that almost everyone has a mobile. Besides, tech companies such as Samsung and Apple are constantly releasing the latest series of smartphones and iPhones. What does this mean? Marketing managers see this as an opportunity to meet sales targets.

In the current tech-dependent world, it’s most unlikely to get someone with a smartphone or iPhone without a social media networking site. The 2022 statistics reveal that more than 4.59 billion use social networking sites globally, with the number likely to reach 6 billion by 2027.

As such, with this content writing, you need to develop skills for crafting creative content that will engage the audience through commenting, liking, sharing, and tagging others.

2. Web content writing

Developing a unique style of crafting information is crucial to succeeding in web content writing. For example, artists spend a lot of hours drawing or painting to communicate a specific message in an appealing way. How does this relate to web content writing? People visit websites to get the latest and most reliable information on a particular subject or issue.

For instance, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the world relied on the WHO and CDC to get information on how to curb the spread of coronavirus.

Therefore, you need to master the art of using written words to communicate. When you are a web content writer, you should be concise when sharing the information. For example, you should acquaint yourself with advanced summarize tool as people who rely on websites for news or updates often skim rather than read word by word.

You need a lot of time to become a pro in web content writing. Due to this reason, it might be challenging for some students because of classwork responsibilities such as doing assignments and preparing for exams. You don’t need to forego a dream of becoming a web content writer as you can get a pro essay writing service from CustomWritings to make your academic life easy.

3. SEO content writing

When you want a certain audience in a particular market to read your service descriptions, web pages, or blog posts, how do you go about it? To explicitly answer this question, take a look at the following hypothetical scenario that can apply in real life.

X has received an admission letter from an Ivy League college in the United States. She wants to know the items to include in her shopping list. For that reason, X Google searches “what a new student should buy before joining the college.” If the school wants to help those intending to join, it will hire an SEO content writer to craft articles on what you need to purchase. However, for the blog to rank on Google, the SEO content writer should include keywords such as “before joining the college,” “buy,” and “a new student.”

You should consider sharpening your skills in SEO content writing as opportunities are limitless, considering how many companies are outsourcing specialists in the same field.

Top 2 Benefits of Content Writing

1. Circumnavigate the limitations of ads

How many times do you click on ads when you search for a product online? Probably, when an irrelevant ad pops up when you are looking for specific information, there is a high probability you won’t click it. What’s more, some consumers have installed blocking software on their browsers. As such, a company can take advantage of content writing, specifically SEO writing, to reach an audience that avoids ads.  

2. It cost-effective

You can’t completely mention the benefits of content writing without talking about affordability. For example, if a company has a strong social media presence, it can easily introduce a new product in the market. For example, an influencer can write about the product and give a few testing samples to customers. What’s more, the company might decide to reward some clients with merchandise as long as they tag the product or share.

Are There Content Writing Risks?

Concerns about plagiarism and AI-generated content

With the advent of AI writing tools, some content writers might opt for shortcuts when crafting blog posts and webpages. Such unprofessionalism might undermine articles’ rank on the Internet. As a result, the company might not benefit from content writing as a type of online writing.

Ethical concerns

One of the risks that a company can incur is a possible risk of misuse or bias. For instance, a website responsible for offering writing services might fall victim to a lawsuit because of painting services of competitors as “bad.” So, unless the company enact strict guidelines for content writing, it might find itself addressing ethical and legal concerns rather than advertising.

Generally speaking, these types of content writing can be a savior for you in college. For example, you can work as a social media content creator for a company to earn some extra income.