Content is the strategic creation of information—text, images, audio, or video—designed to deliver a targeted message to a specific audience.Your content must resonate with your intended audience.
Resonating content goes beyond simply delivering information. It engages your audience, inspires action, and ultimately earns their attention. Remember, you don’t automatically deserve their time and attention—you must earn it with every piece you create.
1. Creating Compelling Content
While all content is potentially interesting to the right audience, creators must employ techniques to make it not just interesting but compelling and convincing. Addressing your audience’s pain points, incorporating humor, or sharing human stories will capture their attention. This focus should be central to every piece of content you create.
2. Content Creation: A Dynamic Process
Human experiences generate countless stories. Seek these out for your content, especially for topics often considered uninteresting.
3. The Essential Spark
Many content pieces today lack a crucial spark—the element that motivates the audience to take the next desired action. Before creating any content, ensure it possesses this spark.
4. Measuring Content Success
How do you determine if content is worth consuming? By whether people actually consume it. If people are reading, listening, watching, and sharing your content, thus expanding its reach, then it’s successful.
5. Active Promotion
Share your content where your target audience is. Before outlining your content, research where your audience congregates. Sharing without a plan will result in minimal engagement.
6. Audience Engagement
Publishing is not the end of the process. Content creation is ongoing, with post-publication steps. Monitor your content and respond to comments, both positive and negative, to engage your audience.
7. Analysis and Adaptation
Simply publishing content and hoping for the best is ineffective. Use tracking and analytics tools to monitor your content’s performance and adapt your strategy accordingly.
Real-World Example: An Airbnb Host’s Content Marketing Strategy
Creating Engaging Content: An Airbnb host creates a blog and social media profiles showcasing their property and the local area. They share high-quality photos and videos of the space, along with tips for local attractions, restaurants, and hidden gems.
Earning Attention: Instead of assuming bookings based on the listing alone, the host creates valuable content that answers common traveler questions, such as “Top 10 Things to Do in [City]” or “Experiencing [City] Like a Local.” This earns the attention of potential guests.
Motivating Action: The host shares guest testimonials and stories of memorable experiences, creating an emotional connection that encourages bookings.Finding the Spark: The host partners with a local artist to offer unique experiences, such as art classes or guided tours, creating content that showcases these experiences and adds authenticity and excitement.
Measuring Success: The host tracks engagement metrics (likes, shares, booking inquiries). They adjust their strategy based on which posts generate the most engagement.
Content marketing is the strategic creation of text, imagery, audio, or video that delivers a relevant and interesting message to a customer or prospect while paving the way for a sale. Key elements that make it effective include:
- Understanding the audience
- Earning attention
- Creating engaging and relevant content
- Measuring effectiveness
Understanding the different stages of your audience is crucial because it allows marketers to tailor content to meet the specific needs and interests of each group. This includes prospects, leads, existing customers, and those who may not be in the market but can influence others.
Strategies to earn attention include:
Creating compelling headlines
Using storytelling techniques
Incorporating humor or relatable content
Engaging with the audience through social media and interactive content
A content marketer can make boring topics interesting by:
Using storytelling to highlight real-life applications
Focusing on the audience’s frustrations and challenges
Incorporating humor or unique perspectives
Finding passionate individuals within the organization to share insights
Indicators of content worth consuming include:
Engagement metrics (likes, shares, comments)
Time spent on the page or video
Conversion rates (e.g., sign-ups, purchases)
Audience feedback and surveys
Finding someone with passion is important because they can provide valuable insights and enthusiasm that can enhance the content’s quality. Their passion can help identify the “spark” that makes the content resonate with the audience, ensuring it is engaging and authentic.