Transforming Numbers into a Story!

The importance of data-driven content is countless. It not only adds credibility to the piece but also provides a good starting point.

While it is quite a job to initially start working with big data, it opens up numerous content opportunities once the ball gets rolling. The process of creating newsworthy content is to collect data, examine it and represent it. Let us discuss how to create compelling content out of vast technical data.

Starting with the right topic

The process of creating great content starts from finding out the right topic. To start with, we hover across several social media platforms, online groups, forums, etc., and select the most relevant topic out of all the trending ones, which paves the path for the research. 

Building narrative out of data points

While dealing with big data, the best way to build the narrative is to look for demographics. The use of comparisons, stats, etc. are data points that not only serves as the framework of the content but also makes it more crisp, comprehensive and of course interesting, while converting numbers into a story. 

Keep It Simple

While data is important for consumers, so is the necessity to consume it in a short period. This time crunch in our lives has made way for niche and short content. The key to giving our content a competitive news edge is by making it lucid by removing jargon, owing to the trend of ‘more data in less time.’ It is the same reason why video formats are gaining momentum, so is the use of podcasts and newsletters. 

Visuals for the win

The impact of visuals can be denied by none. Studies show that viewers retain 95% of content when watching a video than when they read a text. This proves videos are 100% more efficient than text or a photo. By representing complex data in visuals, one makes it more engaging. The most widely used formats are charts, presentations, and infographics, among others. The vast collected data can be structured and labelled using tools, making it one of the best ways of demonstrating data in the shortest time. 

Aesthetics 

With the content and representation of it in place, it just needs the finishing touch of a good design. The use of the right colours, shapes, elements makes any content instantly interesting. An aesthetically pleasing content not only makes conveying information easy but also contributes to brand identity. A beautifully represented data creates a closer connection with the audience, which is an essential component of branding.

Tweaking the content for a larger reach

Survey says that on both Facebook and Twitter, the largest proportion of social media news users say they are most likely to pay attention to mainstream media and journalists. So by and large, content is being pushed online to increase reach and engagement. 

Challenges of working with data

With ever-multiplying sources of data and its complexities, the most common challenge is getting relevant data and sorting it to get data that is valuable, useful and relevant. Another challenge of this emerging vast data source is to find out its authenticity. This challenge can be overcome by verifying the data by scouting across various sources.

Conclusion

It can be thus inferred that to carve a simple, beautiful and data-driven piece of customised content, the recipe for success surely comprises various steps, starting from deep-diving into vast data sets, picking a suitable topic, using various tools to build a narrative around the topic with the data, designing and customising it and distributing it properly, also considering the authenticity of the final content.