Content creation is easy, right? Not really. Our dopamine-filled brains love going viral, and chasing it is something everyone’s done at least once. But let’s face it, there’s a real separation between the pages that actually do well (and go viral) and the pages that are a waste of space online. Crossing that gap is what drives long-term growth, and it’s essential that any sports content creator starting out knows how to do that. It takes work, but it’s worth it down the road. Here’s my 10-step guide to get you started as a content creator.

Step 1 – Make a Brand

This seems obvious, but it’s not just picking a fun name. So many pages lose opportunity for growth because no one knows what they do. Besides your friends and family, the only way you’ll really gain followers is if you have a purpose, a brand that they want to be a part of. For a sports creator, choose the following:

• What sport(s) am I creating in?
• Am I tied to a specific player/team?
• What KIND of content do I want to make?
  • Daily highlights
  • Reaction videos
  • Sports memes
  • Sparking discussions
• What tone do I want to have in my content?

Feel stuck? Go to some of your favorite sports pages and study what they do. Ask the questions above and notice how they stay consistent across their content. And it’s a good idea to make sure no one else is doing what you want to do. If they are, pick something else, you don’t want to copy anyone’s work.

Step 2 – Choose Software

To make content, you’ll need a couple kinds of software. Choose the one you’re most familiar with from the following:

• Canva – Great for beginners, free w/ a pro option that is worth it
• Adobe Suite – Good for full-time creators, expensive but worth it if you’re full-time
• Capcut/Mematic – Ideal mobile setup, free but very easy to learn & implement right away
• Instagram Edits/TikTok – Useful if you don’t have much time, completely free

I have never used Apple’s Creator Studio, but it’s really cheap for students and if you’re a Mac user it’s a good option.

Don’t feel like any software will keep you from doing well, I grew CNF to 5K off of Capcut/Mematic, and have sustained growth to 11K using Canva. Use whatever’s best for you.

For more detailed guides to content creation software, make sure you’re subscribed to the Casual NFL Fan newsletter, and check out the content creation section!

Step 3 – Design Your Brand

This is where Canva takes the cake, its branding tools are great and save me so much time every day. But your brand should have the following:

• A color scheme – don’t worry too much about this, you don’t use it a ton. I just used a combination of the Panthers and NFL colors for CNF.
• A headline font – this is essential and elevates your post, go through font websites and find a good headline font that you can use on all your posts. You can download the font and put it in Canva / Adobe Suite. If you use generic fonts, you lose some uniqueness and look less professional.
• A logo – Make a logo using AI. Don’t toss it a generic prompt, but you should only spend ~10 minutes making your logo. Don’t include your face, the NFL logo, or any team logos if possible. Again, your brand is unique to your page.
• Post templates – I use post templates for my daily posts. It saves time and creates a unique, recognizable feature of your posts. What I did is I slapped the logo and some generic graphics on the bottom in Canva, then I put the text on the bottom half. Works great and looks great when you post it consistently. You can see it below ⬇️

Step 4 – Create Social Media Accounts

Don’t reuse an old account!!! Make a fresh account for every platform you want to be on. You might not need reminding, but here’s the best social media platforms for beginner creators:

• Instagram (what I’m experienced in)
• TikTok
• YouTube
• Facebook (especially Facebook groups)
• X (use for research & creation)

Another rule: don’t spam a new account!!! Take the time to follow bigger accounts and start to engage with your feed. One of the biggest roadblocks for new creators is sending out too much content and being flagged as a bot. Ease your way into a new account.

Be clever with your profile, use the text and highlights to create a clean aesthetic. Researching other pages is a great way to see what looks good, again don’t copy anything. Train yourself on what looks good and be creative with your own version.

Step 5 – Create Your First Post

It doesn’t have to be perfect, but putting an on-brand piece of content out there can boost your confidence a TON. I had a good start: my first comment challenge post hit 100K views and gained 100 followers. That’s not likely what you’re going to see, but get your first post out within a few days of creating your account. Here’s my recommendations for first posts:

• Start things off with a challenge (like I did) but don’t just farm engagement, tie it to something real!
• Make a Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 post, so you can push something solid out early
• Don’t post “Hello World” but you can make an “About Me” or “About (Brand Name)” post and pin it to your profile
• Make sure you share the first post with family & friends to boost your following right off the bat and get some early engagement!

My first post 🙂

Step 6 – Setting a Content Creation Daily Workflow

While you’re still enthusiastic about your first ten followers, make a plan for what you’ll do every day for the next ten years. That’s seriously the mindset you have to have as a creator. I recommend posting every day, and things will come up that break your resolve and you will make excuses. The better established your daily routine is, the better content you push out. Here’s my daily routine:

• 5 minutes – Check yesterday’s posts & engage in the comments.
• 5 minutes – Scroll through my feed for ~5 minutes (following the 5-3-1 engagement rule in step 7)
• 5 minutes – Brainstorm a post idea for the day
• 20 minutes – Research & write X post, screenshot X post, add to graphics
• 10 minutes – Post graphics to Facebook/Instagram
• 5 minutes – Edit & post challenge reel
• 5 minutes – Share to story, share to channel, engage with comments.

In 65 minutes (bare minimum) I can make two Instagram posts and a Facebook post. And need be, I can cut that down to 40 minutes if I’m busy. And I can split it up across the day if I don’t have chunks of time readily available. This model works at school and at home doing full-time work.

Having a daily workflow takes away a lot of excuses, enabling you to post daily without as much trouble.

Step 7 – Cultivating Engagement

The 5-3-1 rule is a good rule to grow through organic engagement. I apply it to non-NFL/team creators, and it’s worked great and helped me build relationships in the sports content creation world. 5-3-1 means:

• 5 likes
• 3 comments
• 1 follow

With your brand’s account, like five posts similar to yours. Leave three comments (not just emojis, comments that contribute and get noticed), and follow another small creator. What does this do? It builds something called brand awareness (if people recognize you) and it gives you connections for collabs.

Brand awareness is key for getting follows. Research shows that it takes 7-20 “touchpoints” for someone to trust you enough to follow you. What does that mean for you? It means you want to get your username and logo out in front of as many people as possible. 5-3-1 is a great way to do this. You won’t blow up, but cultivating engagement at an early stage helps you grow.

Step 8 – Stay Patient

I got 100 followers in my first day as a content creator. I did not sustain that growth. Some days recently my follower count has gone down. So have my views. Content creation is all about patience. No patience, no growth.

Patience in content creation means three things:

• You do not base your success off of follower counts. This shouldn’t be your benchmark. Base your success off your content’s quality. Base it off of how you’ve grown as a creator. Base it off of smaller interactions, and the impact you have on your community.

• Don’t attempt to revive your page by injecting more content. More content doesn’t mean more views, it means less quality. Keep the same quality, stay patient, and wait for your views to go back up.

• Learn from your mistakes as much as you do from your successes. Take the time to see what works and what doesn’t and apply that to the future. The keyword there is future, don’t apply the changes now, but gradually.

Step 9 – When to make “New” Content

You should never change the purpose of your page, but you can always make new content. You can upgrade your templates, get a new logo, start a new challenge. Some things I’ve done recently are experimenting with “series” of posts, like Top-10 lists and posts focused on a players career.

New content keeps your page fresh for your old followers and can attract new ones as well. Make sure your page never stagnates, for your sake and for the sake of your community.

Step 10 – Celebrate Growth & Always Improve

My very professional recognition of 10K

Congrats! You’ve read this whole article and if you’ve already done everything up to this point, you are now a successful content creator! But seriously, every content creator is always improving. A key part of surviving, both mentally and socially is to celebrate growth. You should be proud of what you’ve done, whether you just got your first or your 10,000th follower. Use that motivation to improve and continue on in the future.

Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed the tips I had in here, make sure you subscribe to my newsletter! I’ll have more content coming out every day and I’m building a library of resources for creators just like us!