How to create VALUABLE content for your community.

Creating content regularly is still a widely recommended marketing activity. Fresh new content posted regularly in front of your target audience, community and tribe is one of the best ways to stay top of mind.  Of course, the content you produce has to be valuable to your community. But, this is also the dilemma. What exactly is valuable content? Valuable content is information you share that is relevant, useful and actionable to the reader. Ask yourself, would the person on the other side reading this gain something from applying the information you are sharing? This information should work for them even if they decide never to buy from you. That is valuable content.

Now you don't have to guess what this information should be exactly. There are ways to figure out what your specific community finds valuable.

One place that this is very easy to do is on social media. Here are some ways to discover what information is of value to your community.

#1 = Engage– Behind every tweet, post, or question is a customer, and it is your job to engage with them.  Create conversations with your connections, ask them questions, find out what they are interested in, or what they want to learn about.

#2 - Mentions - Keep an eye on what blogs, posts, and articles of yours are being re-posted, liked, and commented on the most.  This is a great way to see what you are doing right and what your connections want to learn more about. 

#3 - Questions – Watch for questions on social media platforms, and answer the ones you can answer immediately, then take those questions and write articles or blogs discussing those topics. You can also ask your own questions, and see how it is responded to.

#4 - Competitions Success – Pay attention to what is working for your competitors and use those topics to create your own content.  If a competitor is getting a lot of responses, retweets, and comments on a topic, you know it is a topic of interest.  Think about collaborating with your competitors in a friendly way regarding the topics of interest. 

Take just 15 minutes out of every day to listen to your community. It will make a real difference in the number of followers you have and the level of commitment they have to you.  These followers eventually turn into customers so don’t miss out on the opportunity to communicate with them. 

Does this article resonate with you? What content strategy do you use or do you struggle with it?
As always, if you have questions about what you just read,  or about anything else marketing related, I would be happy to answer them and/or help in any way that I can.
To your Illumination,