Writing is not a talent you possess, but a skill you can learn, and who better to learn it from than from Joanna Stern. Those of you with a passion for technology might have already heard of Joanna Stern, who continuously proves that the pen is mightier than the sword. This queen of technology journalism is best known for her columns and videos on the newest technological developments and gadgets. With her approachable style of writing, Joanna Stern wrote for multiple websites, such as Engadget and The Verge. Her expertise and significant presence on Social Media led her to become a fixed journalist for The Wall Street Journal. It is not without reason that this Creator Friday article is dedicated to Joanna Stern. We’ve analyzed her work and concluded five lessons for all who wish to enhance their skills and flourish as a content creator.

#1 Combine words with videos

Striking about the work of Joanna Stern is that she supports her creative articles with short videos on the topic of the article. This is something that we recommend you to do as well, in case you frequently post written articles. Multiple studies show that people increasingly turn to visual media outlets to obtain information, rather than traditional written media forms.

In addition to this, posting short videos is a great way to boost the distribution of your content and your name as an author or creator. You can consider posting videos on Youtube containing a link in the description of the video that will redirect interested viewers to your website, blog or article. When doing so, it's important that you strategically captivate the topic of your article in an appealing way in your videos. The more you entertain or capture your audience in your videos, the more likely they will want to read more of your work. Joanna Stern’s technique is to rapidly alternate multiple visuals in her videos, infused with a good dose of humor.

#2 Collaborate on relevant platforms

Another method to promote your written work as a creator is by linking your name to relevant platforms. Joanna Stern works for renowned news websites, which enhances her personal range of influence as well. With her nearly 130.000 Twitter followers, she is fully aware of how to use her presence on Social Media to her advantage as an author. 

As an independent blogger or writer, you can also achieve this by analyzing different online platforms and deciding what platforms are relevant to your expertise. Once you have identified this, try writing articles for those platforms as well. Also, you can think of reaching out to other bloggers to set up collaborations. Allowing other creators to write articles on your page or blog (and vice versa) is a fast and effective way to add creative diversity to your content. On top of this, frequent collaborations are a great way to enhance your general reach in the online world.

#3 Write approachable

As mentioned earlier, what is striking about the work of Joanna Stern is her unique and approachable style of writing. She has the ability to engage even those without a very specific interest in technology. Writing approachable starts with thinking of a catching title to give your document. This is the eye-catcher of your piece and should serve as a rope that pulls your audience to the rest of the article.

As a journalist, Joanna Stern learned the importance of a catching title and how it is a determining factor on whether people read the rest of your article or not. In addition to this, Joanna Stern tries not to elaborate her articles too much, but rather keeps them short and inviting to read. The information she transmits in her articles is always focused and appropriately dosed. This also adds to the approachability of her writing and whether people are likely to read her articles or not. It's important to concentrate and minimize the amount of information you wish to communicate with your audience. This can be challenging, especially when you have a large amount of knowledge on a specific topic. In this case, always keep in mind what information is relevant to your topic and whether your audience would be interested in reading it. By doing so, you shine a clear spotlight on the core piece of information that you wish to convey. When leaving out or deleting parts of your work gives you certain doubts, keep the following saying in the back of your head: “Kill your darlings”. 

#4 Have a recognizable style of writing

Whether Joanna Stern writes an article on the latest technological developments or creates a video in which she provides tips on how to terminate unnecessary online subscriptions, her significant style will always be recognizable in her work. She highly values a certain amount of humor in her work, which she uses to entertain and attract her audience. It is important to analyze and identify your personal style. This does not only include your style of writing, but rather all of your unique features and characteristics as a creator. Position your name as a creator and decide how you would like to profile your personal brand in all of your online content. By structuring a clear branding strategy and style, your followers are more likely to identify themselves with your work. This will develop a stronger bond between you as a creator and your followers and it will have a significant effect on your reputation as an online creator.

#5 Decide your specialization

It is harder to build a well-constructed reputation as a content creator when people associate your name and work with multiple divergent topics. We recommend specifying your work to a certain topic or group of topics as much as possible. Repetition is an effective way to communicate a message. This means that if you continuously reflect your specialism and expertise in your content, people will be more likely to associate that certain topic with your work. In the end, this will add to your credibility as a content creator. Joanna Stern has focused a majority of her work on writing about technological developments. The Wall Street Journal describes Joanna Stern as someone “who has spent the better part of the past decade on the gadget beat, knows phones, tablets and laptops inside and out. In her weekly columns and lively videos, she helps people make smarter tech decisions. Ms. Stern previously was the technology editor at ABC News and a reviewer and editor at The Verge and Engadget. She lives in New York City and graduated from Union College in Schenectady, N.Y.” 

The work of Joanna Stern is strongly associated with a clear mission, namely to help people make smarter tech decisions. It is important to determine a personal mission for every content creator that wishes to develop its skills. Want to learn more about how to position yourself as a content creator? Check out our Creator Friday article on Gary Vee.

It's clear that there are various methods that contribute to your reputation as a blogger/writer/journalist. Once you enter the world of writing, you are never done learning new ways to flourish. We like to guide you in this process by posting a weekly blog containing tips, tricks and lessons on creative writing and content creation. Check out our Instagram page for inspiration and interesting ideas from content creators, for content creators.