Should you hire a professional to create content for web stories?

Modern platforms like StorifyMe offer a variety of tools to create the web stories of your dreams. Whatever design you have in mind, StorifyMe can help you make it. So, since StorifyMe is available and free, it is only natural to wonder whether you should hire a professional to create content for web stories. While professionals do come at a cost, there are certain benefits of hiring them that you should be aware of.

Benefits of hiring a professional to create content for web stories

Every type of content, be it written, images, videos or audio is at its best when designed by a professional. And, in this regard, web stories are no exception. Even if you feel that you have a knack for creating a certain type of content, know that mere talent can only take you so far. There are certain aspects of content creation that necessitate experience and knowledge, which is where professional content creators step in.

Professional design

Once we run into it, we can all appreciate a well-designed web story. The choice of colours, the font. The flow and the feeling that all the elements create. Everything simply clicks together to convey a memorable and enjoyable viewing experience. Unfortunately, such stories are few and far in between. Yes, you can check out and ideally learn from Google's examples. But those are the best of the best. They aren't what you see in everyday marketing.

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The first reason for this is that people don't appreciate the craftsmanship that goes into creating web stories. So, they go off on their own and create whatever they believe constitutes suitable content for a web story. This wouldn't be possible if there weren't plenty of templates and premade elements to combine. But, their sheer availability of them gives amateurs the false idea that there is no need to hire a professional to create content for web stories. That they can create top-level content, even without prior knowledge or training.

As it turns out, there is a good reason why designers spend years learning and why it is easily recognizable when content has been made by a professional. The feel and the knowledge of where to add elements and how to present them isn't something that you can simply pick up. It takes guidance and skill to get the feel necessary to create content that is both intriguing, and yet not overbearing. Fun, yet not trivial. Engaging, yet not pushy. Walking this fine line and finding the ideal middle ground is what professionals do best. And, if you look closely, it is precisely what defines all the good web stories out there.

Keeping in line with the brand

If you are making web stories simply for the fun of it, then you need not concern yourself with brand integration. But, if you are using web stories as promotional content, proper brand integration should be your primary concern. Every piece of content that you put into your webs story should be in line with your brand. The fonts, the colour palette, the images, the interactive elements... Everything should be made and introduced with your brand in mind. Only by doing so will your web stories effectively push your brand and help you establish it within a target demographic. Unless you have prior experience, this is not something that you'll be able to do properly.

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Well-integrated content

Unless web stories are the entirety of your online presence, you need not worry about integration. But, if you already have prior content, you will have to find ways to connect it to your web stories. If you have blog posts, you will likely use web stories to check them out. If you use email marketing, you will likely use web stories to better engage your audience. You may even include web stories as permanent elements on your website, in order to have a better rapport with your customers.

But, in all these instances, successfully integrating your web stories with prior content is a must. Doing so is not only important for branding and an overall sense of style, but also for SEO management. If you weren't aware, web stories play a significant role in SEO ranking. And you'd be smart to address the SEO aspect of them from the moment you start creating them. Fortunately, experienced designers can go a long way in helping intranet new web story content with your prior content. In certain instances, there might be a need for a complete rebranding. After all, the benefits of a fresh start are hard to overlook, especially when it comes to marketing. But, even in the case of rebranding and a complete content overhaul, you want to have a professional by your side. We, as viewers, can recognize good style both consciously and subconsciously. And if a professional content creator can help you build and establish a distinct style from the start, you'll have a much easier time marketing yourself.

Downsides of hiring a professional designer

With all this in mind, it might seem that you shouldn't lift a finger without having a professional by your side. And, while you do stand to benefit from their knowledge and experience, there are certain cases where their input may be less needed, or even redundant. So, before you rush off to hire a professional to create content for web stories, let's consider the potential downsides.

Increased cost

The biggest, and likely the most obvious downside of hiring a professional designer is their cost of service. Namely, a skilled designer can cost you anywhere between $65 to $150 per hour. Even if you have a substantial marketing budget, this isn't anything to scoff at. Especially if you don't have a clear idea of what your designer is supposed to do for you. For a more robust, personalized marketing campaign you might even need to hire multiple content creators in order to meet the need.

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The potential difficulty with communication

No matter how experienced they are, professional content creators aren't mind readers. For them to create the content that you need, you will likely have to spend ample time going over your brand and your marketing ideas. Even then, if you and the hired creator aren't on the same page, you likely won't end up with satisfactory content. This lack of communication can be costly, especially if it goes on for a while.

Final verdict on whether or not to hire a professional to create content for web stories

So, with all this in mind, should you hire a professional to create content for web stories? Well, it depends on a couple of factors. Namely, you need to consider why you are creating web stories in the first place. Along with this, you also need to have a clear idea of how important web stories are for your overall online presence.

When you should hire a professional

Essentially, any commercial use of web stories requires professional input. If you plan on marketing your brand in the hopes of gaining a decent audience, you'll be better off by hiring a professional to help you out. All the benefits of having a professional content creator on staff heavily outweigh the cost. Especially if you find one that you have an easy time working with. A good idea is to look for professionals that already have experience with companies similar to yours. That way, you will easily find common ground and enjoy a fairly smooth collaboration.

Different ways in which you can work with one

There are, essentially, two ways in which you can work with a professional in order to create better web stories. If you don't have much of a need for web stories in your online presence, you can look to temporarily hire one to create a dozen or so templates. By filling out these templates with the necessary content, you will have both a decent number and a decent variety of web stories. All while maintaining a suitable standard.

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The other option is to have a professional content creator permanently on staff. If you want one person to create all of your stories, you first need to outline what type of content they will contain. Web stories are quite open to various types of content including:

• Written content.
• Visual content.
• Audio content.
• Interactive content.

While there are people that can create all these types of content, they are few and hard to find. So, if you wish to have one, and only one content creator for web stories you need to make sure they can cover your expectations. Ideally, the professional you hire will also be familiar with the SEO aspect of web stories, and how to best integrate them.

How to hire a professional?

There are many marketplaces online where you can find the best professionals for your web stories.
Being in business for years gave us a pretty good understanding of what a professional needs to possess to be able to create great web & in-app stories:

• Creativity
• Eye for details
• Basic understanding of UI, UX and user intent
• Basic design skills 

Although you don’t need a professional designer to work on your stories or a professional marketer to create a user journey, it is advised to create a plan of how you want users to interact with a story, what is that you want to emphasize and what is the desired goal. After that, anyone with a sense of a nice-looking page can create stories.
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If you think you need help at least getting started with this new format, you can go to online marketplaces or simply head to Design Rush and find an agency that will help you out.

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