Content power: a superpower that everyone from office workers, slash youths to freelancers should have

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Today is January 4th. On behalf of all members of the Content Hacking Team, Vista would like to first say to readers and friends: “Happy New Year!” I wish everyone will be safe and healthy in 2018 and all their wishes will come true!

In early December 2017, LinkedIn, a well-known workplace networking website, released a “[LinkedIn’s 2017 U.S. Emerging Careers Report](https://economicgraph.linkedin.com/research/LinkedIns-2017-US-Emerging -Jobs-Report)”, the report quoted [data] (https://www.bls.gov/news.release/ecopro.nr0.htm) from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, stating that the employment growth rate in the next 10 years is expected to exceed that of the past 10 years, and 11.5 million jobs will be created by 2026.

There is no doubt that Tech is king. According to a survey on the LinkedIn website, the occupations with the highest growth potential are still mainly in the technology industry, but the demand for technology talents is not limited to technology companies, which means that traditional industries also need the injection of technology power. Among them, machine learning engineers, data scientists and big data engineers are among the most popular emerging professions. Companies from all walks of life are actively looking for high-end talents with these skills.

It is true that many jobs of the future will require the help of engineers, but I also find the importance of soft skills. This report also specifically mentions that traditional soft skills, such as communication and management, will lay the foundation for all emerging careers.

Soft skills refers to communication skills, listening skills, persuasion skills, self-motivation skills, influence, team building skills, etc. Soft skills are a combination of behaviors, including the attitudes and motivations that drive visible behaviors.

After reading this report, it also confirmed my speculation and imagination about career development. In the face of highly uncertain workplace challenges, it is actually crucial to have future-oriented skills.

Just like I would encourage young friends to learn programming (in fact, I also took an [iOS App programming class] (http://learniosfromzero.strikingly.com/) a while ago). Even if you cannot write a fairly mature programming system immediately, you can at least understand the data structure and the operation of logical thinking, which will also help find a way to talk to and connect with the future world.

Of course, writing programs is still difficult for ordinary people. Although everyone knows that the job of software engineer is hot, not everyone can make a living by writing programs. Naturally, there is a certain threshold for learning technical skills such as programming and big data. Perhaps we can start with soft skills - practicing “content power” that combines communication, listening, persuasion and influence is also a good goal worth setting for yourself during the New Year!

In this social era, “content power” is an ability that everyone needs to possess:

• The new generation who have just entered the marketing, public relations, planning or business fields need to add points to their profession through well-organized business plans and presentations.

• Workplace veterans who have worked on countless projects need to strengthen the connection with products through content, thereby creating deeper and broader marketing synergies.

• Entrepreneurs and brand operators who want to build a comprehensive corporate brand must use the power of content to effectively convey the concept of their products or services to domestic and overseas markets.

• Freelance or professional workers who want to use their personal brand to demonstrate professionalism and influence and create new career possibilities naturally need the help and communication of content.

Recently, there is also a group of young friends who aspire to become “slash youth”. This is a brand-new concept derived from the English word “Slash”. The original concept comes from the book “Dual Careers” written by New York Times columnist Merrick Alber. She said that now more and more young people are no longer satisfied with the “career-specific” lifestyle, but choose a diverse life that allows them to have multiple careers and identities.

But whether you are in love with a specific career, or you want to have enough room to travel and switch between different fields, one thing is really crucial, and that is-”content power” is really important! “Content power” is really important! “Content power” is really important! (Well, important things need to be said three times.)

The famous writer Stephen King said that when a child writes not for grades, but for himself, he will be fearless; the best thing is to tell students that writing from the heart is more important than grammar. He often talks about “the Truth is always eloquent”.

[Stephen King] (https://news.readmoo.com/2014/09/25/stephen-king/), who has turned writing into a family business, tells us that writing should start from the specific and small things in life, and reading more is the key! However, if you want to cultivate “content power”, reading is only the most basic “homework”! In order to help more friends improve their “content power”, starting from this year, I will often write articles about training content production skills on the content hacker website, and I will also hold [lectures every month] ](https://www.contenthacker.today/p/lecture.html) and physical course. Interested friends are welcome to join us!

Having someone to guide you can save you a lot of fumbling time, and you don’t have to go down the wrong path in vain. But the more important thing is the “unity of knowledge and action”. In the process of practice, you need to do a lot of [input and output] (http://www.workhack.today/2017/04/input-vs-output.html). Don’t worry about your writing skills. The key thing is whether you can express your unique point of view? Can the articles you write bring meaningful core values ​​to people?

In recent years, I have taught a lot of [copywriting classes] (https://www.vistaschool.today/) at organizations such as TeSA, ALPHACamp, or Tiandiren. The students come from industry and academia, and I have gained a more diversified understanding of the supply and demand of content production. Through interactions with students, I understand how urgently many emerging professions require “content power”, but I also deeply understand how many people feel helpless and hesitant about writing - it’s not that they don’t want to write, but that they can’t write.

Because I understand the bottlenecks and pain points that everyone encounters in learning to write, I launched the “[Content Power: The Super Power of Building a Brand] (https://goo.gl/5fqBk5)” online course from January 3 this year (a 30-day fundraising campaign started at noon on January 3, [Special Offer] (https://goo.gl/5fqBk5)), hoping to help more friends regain the confidence and fun of writing.

In the new year, let’s exercise “content power” together!

★ Photo Credit: Kelly Sikkema

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Further reading

• Learn three passwords and three sets of logic, allowing you to write articles that resonate
• Life in a Foreign Country and Self-Media: Teacher Li Sixuan’s Experience Sharing Meeting on Social Media Strategies for Traveling to the Netherlands
• Writing good copy starts with understanding the target audience

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