Content, the power of a POV

The result is you being more consistent, explicit, upfront, and candid in sharing what matters to you

POV. Short for ‘point of view.’ You’ve seen it popping up all over socials in the last year.

Mostly used by content creators to indicate that the viewer (that’s you) must watch the video from the creator’s (their) perspective.
Or they use the POV to indicate that he or she is entitled to his or her opinion.

However, there’s more to the POV than meets the eye.

It’s like putting your mission, vision, and value glasses on, especially when you produce content.

The result is you being more consistent, explicit, upfront, and candid in sharing what matters to you. And that, in return, helps you to build your brand.

Your POV is your mission, vision, and values translated into human simple language. It serves as a final check to see if your content is in line with your brand.

Why it matters

Being outspoken and clear in what you stand for and how you envision the world matters. Not only because of who you are, it also helps you to be distinctive and recognizable. There’s already more than enough stuck-in-the-middle beige content.

Stating your vision from your POV ensures you always tell the same underlying story with corresponding values.

First, I’ll explain the origin and deeper meaning of the POV. Then I’ll give three examples to bring it to life: Dove, Ironclad Pan, and my own.

Traditional meaning of POV

As said, POV is short for Point Of View. It determines who’s telling the story and how the events and information are presented to the audience.

In order of usage

First-person POV: ‘from me’, the ‘I’.
Third-person limited POV: ‘from he or she’, limited to the thoughts and feelings of a single character. The reader has no access to thoughts of the other characters.
Third-person omniscient POV: also ‘from he or she’ with access to the thoughts and feelings of multiple characters. It gives the reader a broader perspective of the story.
Second-person POV: less common, and refers to ‘you,’ to address the reader directly and make the reader a character in the story. It creates a sense of deep involvement, as if the events are happening to the reader themselves.

Modern meaning of POV

The POV is much used on social by creators, and the trend looks to stay. It means that the video has to be watched as if the viewer (you) were present or the viewer is in that specific situation.

Most commonly used as a first-person POV; through the eyes of the creator, as if you, the viewer, were there.

Sometimes used as the ‘my’ (the creator’s) POV, ‘how I see things’; I am entitled to this opinion to express thoughts and feelings.

How to apply POV to your content

As a brand, it is useful to define your POV. How do you, the brand, see the world?

Sure, you have your mission and vision statement. And some very corporate-formulated values. All of that is worth nothing if not made tangible.

Having a clear, no-nonsense, in human language written POV helps you to understand who you are and be consistent with your content and tone.

Let me explain with three examples, from big to small.

Example ‘Dove’

Mission
‘We want to redefine beauty standards and help everyone experience beauty and body image positively. We care about the future generation: helping girls build positive self-esteem through the Dove Self-Esteem Project, ensuring the world they enter is removed of toxic beauty standards.’

Vision
‘We believe beauty should be a source of confidence, and not anxiety. That’s why we are here to help women everywhere develop a positive relationship with the way they look, helping them raise their self-esteem and realise their full potential.’

Values
Believe, confidence, beauty

My suggestion for their POV
‘You’re already amazing as you are. Don’t compare yourself to others.’

With that POV in mind, Dove’s content can kick against the toxic social pressure, especially for young girls. So if you keep the ‘beauty is a source of confidence, not anxiety’ in mind with every post you make, you’ll become even more consistent in your content.

Dovebeauty

Example ‘Ironclad Pan’

Mission
‘Create a global community who care about the food that they eat, how they cook it and the planet that they live on.’

Vision
‘To create a sustainable product that would mean a return to beautiful craft and traditional techniques. In an era of disposable stuff and low-quality imports, they wanted to create a product that would last for generations. Not to mention also reducing the millions of Teflon pans being sent to landfill every year, leaching potentially harmful chemicals into our soil.’

Values
‘We try to make every decision based on three pillars - sustainability, quality, and family.’

My suggestion for their POV
‘Value good food and share the love in preparing it.’

With that in mind, you can see all of Ironclad’s content breaths joy and passion for food while being sustainable and embracing health. No matter if it’s their .com content, socials, or a LinkedIn post by Joe, one of their founders.

Example ‘All things content’ (that's me!)

Honestly, I don’t have a polished mission or vision. I’m just a freelancer who’s really passionate about storytelling and content—and annoyed by the marketing sh*t and beige content produced by them.

I firmly believe that you have to take content out of the marketing department and give it its place in the hierarchy with a mandate to really be customer-centric. Produce content that adds value to them, and if they like it, they will add value to you by buying your products.

My values
Upfront, honest, clear, and simple. No BS. Do good.

My POV
‘Produce and publish content that adds value to others, not you.’

With my POV in mind, I evaluate everything I create and publish. Hardly ever you’ll find me posting some humble bragging sh*t about a promotion of a shiny selfie with a look-at-me post.

Why did I choose Dove and Ironclad Pan as examples? That’s also due to my POV; I value sustainable brands that do good and want to change the world, big or small.