The Social Playbook - January edition: Getting started with content creation

The Social Playbook - January edition: Getting started with content creation



Social media isn’t just about posting some random content. It’s about why certain content works, how brands stand out, and what makes people pause mid-scroll.

The Social Playbook is a monthly community series where we break all of that down. Through real brand examples, creator stories, and practical insights, we’ll decode how engaging content is built, how smart marketing strategies are used, and how you can apply the same thinking to your own social media journey. Stick around — there’s a lot to unpack.

To kick things off, we’re starting with the basics: Getting started with content creation

If you’re a newbie creator, someone planning to take content creation seriously, or if “grow my social media in 2026”  is already on your vision board, this one’s for you. By the end of this post, you’ll walk away with a clear understanding of the foundational steps of content creation and how to actually get started.

Why do you want to start content creation?

Before thinking about reels, aesthetics, or algorithms, pause and ask yourself one simple question:

Why am I doing this?

Maybe you want to improve your communication skills. Or maybe you want to educate people about something you love, document your lifestyle, build a brand through social media, or open doors to new opportunities. There’s no “right” reason—what matters is clarity.

When your why is clear, your content feels more authentic. Your ideas flow better. And staying consistent feels less forced, even when growth takes time.

Who are you creating for? (Finding your niche)

One of the most important decisions in your content creation journey is to define your target audience. Your niche defines your direction, and choosing the wrong one can slow down your growth.

Start by putting yourself in your audience’s shoes and asking yourself what kind of content you would actually stop and watch.

Niche down as much as possible. Trying to appeal to everyone often means connecting with no one. When you understand your niche deeply, you naturally start positioning yourself as someone worth listening to.

Let’s look at an example.

For example, say that your passion is fitness. Instead of creating generic lifestyle content, you want to focus on this specific subject. So you share your workout routines, daily habits, and beginner-friendly guides. You know there are many young people searching for the right fitness guidance, and your content speaks directly to them.

That’s your niche: young audiences interested in fitness and healthy living. That clarity will help you create content that actually connects.

The best niches always strike a balance between what you love and what has real growth potential. When you find that balance, the right audience starts finding you.

Research your content

Once you know why you’re creating content and who you’re creating it for, this is where the real work begins, research.

Whether you’re posting a reel, writing a thread, or sharing a carousel, research helps you understand what’s already out there and, more importantly, how you can add value instead of repeating the same thing.

Research includes:
  1. Studying your niche
  2. Observing what performs well
  3. Spotting gaps
  4. Understanding what your audience actually cares about
It’s how you move from just posting to posting with intention. When you research well, your content feels thoughtful, confident, and trustworthy. 

Pro tip: Don’t get stuck in research mode forever. Watching endless “how to create content” videos won’t make you a creator—creating content will. Learn, take notes, hit record, post, repeat. Knowledge without action is just noise.

Set your own style

While researching, it’s natural to get inspired by creators you admire, and that’s a good thing. Inspiration fuels creativity. But there’s a fine line between being inspired and copying.

Instead of recreating someone else’s content frame by frame, focus on building your own style. This could be a consistent color palette, a font you always use, a familiar intro or outro, or even the way you speak on camera.
These small elements add up to a personal brand.

When your style stays consistent, people start recognizing your content without even seeing your name. Take inspiration, remix it with your personality, and make it yours.

How you say something matters more than what you say

On social media, everyone is creating content, but only a few make people stop scrolling.

Here’s the reality:
  1. On mobile, people decide whether to watch your content in under 2 seconds.
  2. If your first 3 seconds don’t grab attention, your content is already lost to the scroll.
That’s why a hook is non-negotiable. A good hook creates curiosity, delivers instant value, or makes the viewer think, “Wait… what?” Your goal isn’t to explain everything upfront, it’s to make people stay.

So if you're a fitness creator in an overcrowded feed, your hook is the difference between “just another reel” and “okay, I need to watch this.”

Relatable/beginner hooks
  1. “I started my fitness journey with zero motivation — this is what actually helped.”
  2. “If you’re new to fitness, stop making this mistake.”
  3. “I wish someone had told me this before I started working out.”
Problem–solution hooks
  1. “No gym? No problem. Here’s how I started.”
  2. “Can’t stay consistent with workouts? Try this.”
  3. “This is why your fitness routine isn’t working.”
Curiosity hooks
  1. “This small habit changed my entire fitness journey.”
  2. “I didn’t change my diet — I changed this.”
  3. “You don’t need 2 hours in the gym. Here’s proof.”

Stay consistent. Stay curious.

This might sound obvious, but it’s the most important part. Consistency is what separates creators who try from creators who grow.

Social media changes fast with new trends, new features, new tools, and so on. The creators who win are the ones who keep learning, experimenting, and adapting without losing their niche or voice.

Consistency builds trust. Staying updated keeps you relevant. Do both, and growth will follow.

Content creation isn’t about going viral overnight. It’s about showing up, learning, and evolving. Stay consistent, stay curious, and let your growth compound over time.

Let’s learn, build, and grow together.

Stay tuned for an exciting February edition of The Social Playbook.


    • Recent Topics

    • Zoho recruit's blueprint configuration is not functioning as mapped

      Current Status: Zoho Blueprint is not functioning as configured. Issue: We are moving a Candidate status in Zoho Recruit "for active file" but we encountered: "Status cannot be changed for records involved in Blueprint." This happens to various client

    • Super Admin Logging in as another User

      How can a Super Admin login as another user. For example, I have a sales rep that is having issues with their Accounts and I want to view their Zoho Account with out having to do a GTM and sharing screens. Moderation Update (8th Aug 2025): We are working

    • Blocklist candidates in Zoho Recruit

      We’re introducing Block Candidate, which helps recruiters to permanently restrict a candidate from applying to current/future job openings. Once the candidate is blocked, they will no longer be able to participate in the recruitment process. This will

    • Layout Rules Don't Apply To Blueprints

      Hi Zoho the conditional layout rules for fields and making fields required don't work well with with Blueprints if those same fields are called DURING a Blueprint. Example. I have field A that is used in layout rule. If value of field A is "1" it is supposed to show and make required field B. If the value to field A is "2" it is supposed to show and make required field C. Now I have a Blueprint that says when last stage moves to "Closed," during the transition, the agent must fill out field A. Now

    • Admin asked me for Backend Details when I wanted to verify my ZeptoMail Account

      Please provide the backend details where you will be adding the SMTP/API information of ZeptoMail Who knows what this means?

    • Zoho Desk - Upsert Ticket

      Hi Desk Team, It is common to request more information from end-users. Using forms is a great way to ensure all the required information is collected. It would be great if there were an "upsert" option on the Zoho Form -> Zoho Desk integration which would

    • All new Address Field in Zoho CRM: maintain structured and accurate address inputs

      The address field will be available exclusively for IN DC users. We'll keep you updated on the DC-specific rollout soon. It's currently available for all new sign-ups and for existing Zoho CRM orgs which are in the Professional edition. Latest update

    • Client Side Scripts for Meetings Module

      Will zoho please add client side scripting support to the meetings module? Our workflow requires most meeting details have a specific format to work with other software we have. So we rely on a custom function to auto fill certain things. We currently

    • Introducing Multiple Sandbox Types and Support for Module's Data Population

      Register here for the upcoming Focus Group webinar on Multiple Sandbox | Help documentation to learn more about the new enhancements Hello everyone,  Sandbox in CRM is a testing environment for users to create and test new configurations like workflow

    • CRM x WorkDrive: File storage for new CRM signups is now powered by WorkDrive

      Availability Editions: All DCs: All Release plan: Released for new signups in all DCs. It will be enabled for existing users in a phased manner in the upcoming months. Help documentation: Documents in Zoho CRM Manage folders in Documents tab Manage files

    • Creator Offline

      We had online access setup and working on our iphones. We have just set it up on an 'Android Tablet' and it is not downloading all the images? We use it to show customers our catalogue. Any ideas. Offline components all setup on both devices

    • Drag 'n' Drop Fields to a Sub-Form and "Move Field To" Option

      Hi, I would like to be able to move fields from the Main Page to a Sub-Form or from a Sub-Form to either the Main Page or another Sub-Form. Today if you change the design you have to delete and recreate every field, not just move them. Would be nice to

    • Enable or disable any Field Rule!

      Hello Zoho Forms Community, We are excited to announce a powerful new enhancement to Field Rules that gives you greater control and flexibility in managing your form logic! Previously, if you wanted to temporarily deactivate a field rule, you had two

    • Marketing Tip #20: Increase traffic with strong meta titles and descriptions

      Meta titles and descriptions are what people see first on search results before they ever click through to your website. If your pages use generic titles or basic descriptions, you miss the chance to stand out, and search engines may not know which page

    • Different form submission results for submitter and internal users

      I'm looking for suggestions on how to show an external submitter a few results while sending internal users all the results from the answers provided by the external user. The final page of our form has a section with detailed results and a section with

    • Kanban view on Zoho CRM mobile app!

      What is Kanban? The name doesn't sound English, right? Yes, Kanban is a Japanese word which means 'Card you can see'. As per the meaning, Kanban in CRM is a type of list view in which the records will be displayed in cards and categorized under the given

    • Not able to delete a QC nor able to revert or create a cycle of manufacturing for QC failed Jobs

      Not able to delete a QC nor able to revert or create a cycle of manufacturing for QC failed Jobs

    • Dheeraj Sudan and Meenu Hinduja-How do I customize Zoho apps to suit my needs?

      Hi Everyone, I'm Meenu Hinduja and my husband Dheeraj Sudan, run a business. I’m looking to tweak a few things to fit my needs, and I’d love to hear what customizations others have done. Any tips or examples would be super helpful! Regards Dheeraj Sudan

    • is there any way to change the "chat with us now" to custom message?

      is there any way to change the "chat with us now" to custom message? I want to change this text

    • Deprecation Notice: OpenAI Assistants API will be shut down on August 26, 2026

      I recieved this email from openAI what does it means for us that are using the integration and what should we do? Earlier this year, we shared our plan to deprecate the Assistants API once the Responses API reached feature parity. With the launch of Conversations,

    • Capture Last check-in date & days since

      I have two custom fields on my Account form, these are "Date of Last Check-In" and "Days Since Last Contact" Using a custom function how can I pull the date from the last check-in and display it in the field "Date of Last Check-In"? and then also display the number of days since last check-in in the "Days SInce Last Contact" field? I tried following a couple of examples but got myself into a bit of a muddle!

    • Any recommendations for Australian Telephony Integration providers?

      HI,  I am looking for some advice on phone providers as we are looking to upgrade our phone system, does anybody have experience with any of the Australian providers that integrate with CRM Telephony? So far we are looking at RingCentral and Amazon Connect, and would love to hear feedback on any of the other providers you might have tried.  Thank you

    • Why is the ability Customize Calls module so limited?

      Why can't I add additional sections? why can't I add other field types than the very limited subset that zoho allows? Why can I only add fields to the outbound/inbound call sections and not to the Call Information section?

    • PDF Annotation is here - Mark Up PDFs Your Way!

      Reviewing PDFs just got a whole lot easier. You can now annotate PDFs directly in Zoho Notebook. Highlight important sections, add text, insert images, apply watermarks, and mark up documents in detail without leaving your notes. No app switching. No

    • CRM gets location smart with the all new Map View: visualize records, locate records within any radius, and more

      Hello all, We've introduced a new way to work with location data in Zoho CRM: the Map View. Instead of scrolling through endless lists, your records now appear as pins on a map. Built on top of the all-new address field and powered by Mappls (MapMyIndia),

    • Enhance Appointment Buffers in Zoho Bookings

      There was previously a long-standing feature request related to enhancing the way appointment buffers work in Zoho Bookings, but it looks like the original post has been deleted. I am therefore adding a new request that Zoho Bookings adjust how appointment

    • Subscriptions for service call

      So we install products and we want to offer a service contract for the customers yearly service calls to be billed monthly. So ideally at some point we want to email them a quote for their needs. WE will choice it our end based on the equipment. It would

    • Add RTL and Hebrew Support for Candidate Portal (and Other Zoho Recruit Portals)

      Dear Zoho Recruit Team, I hope you're doing well. We would like to request the ability to set the Candidate Portal to be Right-to-Left (RTL) and in Hebrew, similar to the existing functionality for the Career Site. Currently, when we set the Career Site

    • Delay in rendering Zoho Recruit - Careers in the ZappyWorks

      I click on the Careers link (https://zappyworks.zohorecruit.com/jobs/Careers) on the ZappyWorks website expecting to see the job openings. The site redirects me to Zoho Recruit, but after the redirect, the page just stays blank for several seconds. I'm

    • How to add interviews through API

      I'm trying to add an interview without much luck. The documentation gives examples of adding just about everything except an interview. However, the issue might be the way I'm formatting it, because the documentation is unclear to me. It seems as if the xml should be passed in the url, which seems unusual. I've tried the data as both plain and character escaped, but nothing seems to work, nor do I even get an error response. https://recruit.zoho.com/recruit/private/xml/Interviews/addRecords?authtoken=***&scope=recruitapi&version=2&xmlData=<Interviews> <row

    • Connection to other user

      Zoho Cliq handles sharing of Custom OAuth Connections that require individual user logins.

    • How to invite friends on other social media platforms to one of my group chats in arattai?

      Hello, I have formed chat groups in arattai. I want to invite my friends on other social media platforms like WhatsApp/ FB to one of my groups. Different friends would be invited to different groups. How to share an invite link of one of my groups to

    • Cliq does not sync messages after Sleep on Mac

      I'm using the mac app of Cliq. When I open my mac after it was in sleep mode, Cliq does not sync the messages that I received. I always have to reload using cmd + R, which is not what I want when using a chat application.

    • Optimum CRM setup for new B2B business

      Can some advise the most common way to setup Zoho CRM to handle sales for a B2B company? Specifically in how to handle inbound/outbound emails. I have spent hours researching online and can't seem to find an accepted approach, or even a tutorial. I have

    • Facing Issues with Sites Mobile font sizes

      my page renediaz.com is facing issues mobile view, when i try to lower font sizes in home page, instead of changing the size, it changes the line space

    • Search not working!

      I have items in my notebook tagged but when I search for a tag nothing comes up! Any fix for this?

    • Set expiration date on document and send reminder

      We have many company documents( for example business registration), work VISA documents. It will be nice if we can set a expiry date and set reminders ( for example 90 days, 60 days, 30 days etc.,) Does Zoho workdrive provide that option?

    • Analytics : How to share to an external client ?

      We have a use case where a client wants a portal so that several of his users can view dashboards that we have created for them in Zoho Analytics. They are not part of our company or Zoho One account. The clients want the ability to have user specific,

    • Automatically Update Form Attachment Service with Newly added Fields

      Hi, When I have a Form Setup and connected to a 3rd Party Service such as OneDrive for Form Attachments, when I later add a new Upload Field I have to remove and redo the entire 3rd Party Setup from scratch. This needs to be improved, such as when new

    • Payroll and BAS ( Australian tax report format )

      Hello , I am evaluating Zoho Books and I find the interface very intuitive and straight forward. My company is currently using Quickbooks Premier the Australian version. Before we can consider moving the service we would need to have the following addressed : 1.Payroll 2.BAS ( business activity statement ) for tax purposes 3.Some form of local backup and possible export of data to a widely accepted format. Regards Codrin Mitin

    • Next Page