1-Degree View
One of the biggest mistakes people make when writing a post or an article is trying to cover the entire ground. More often than not, this is impossible; more importantly, no one expects you to. One can rarely cover a subject as a whole, even in a full-featured book, let alone in a single piece of content designed for your blog or social feed.
We tend to think that to provide value, we have to cover a topic end-to-end, but often (especially in shorter-form content), this can do more harm than good. Your audience will get better value if you provide them with a deeper look into a slice of the broader topic. When you zoom into a concrete area, a specific case, or a particular aspect of the subject, you can bring more nuance into the discussion and ultimately gain and share a better and deeper understanding.
But what about the other aspects which affect the subject you are writing about? Well, that’s the beauty of the 1-degree view: you can always find new slices to write about and share with your audience. With each piece of content, you cover an additional area. Realizing the value and richness of your insights, your audience will come back for more.
360-Degree Perspective
So, covering a topic 360-degree is rarely possible, nor is it effective. But this does not mean the 360-degree perspective is not important. Its value is in providing context.
Providing a broader context to your 1-degree perspective offers a better understanding of the topic, as well as continuity. The 360-degree view will help the audience tie everything together when you zoom into the next aspect. With time, your subject coverage becomes more comprehensive, and the audience gets a sense of the complete picture.
A New Dimension
One of the best things you can do as a professional sharing knowledge with your audience is to explore a non-trivial perspective of the topic you are writing about. When you add a new dimension to a circle, it becomes a sphere, or… you discover it is something entirely different and surprising.
While the transition from 2D to 3D is easy to imagine, adding a new dimension in content writing is not that common. Approaching the subject you write about from a fresh perspective, turning it into something new and unexpected, is rare. When you manage to do that, you don’t just share your professional knowledge. You share your unique wisdom.
