I often get asked for advice on how to write content that is relevant. I’ve been writing professionally for nearly 20 years, and my mentors for far longer than that. In fact, content marketing wasn’t even a buzzword when I started my career, and newsletters were all the rage (although they never really went away, they just evolved with the times).
Relevant content is both useful and engaging, creating a sense of craving from your readers that leaves them wanting more. However, to create relevant content, you need to establish the right foundation. Without it, your content will be lost in the shuffle.
The foundation of all relevant content consists of:
Knowing your audience.
Identifying a strategy.
Tracking engagement metrics.
This blog will cover the first of the three pillars.
Knowing Your Audience
I’m sure you’ve heard this before, “Content is king.” I humbly disagree. Your audience is. In fact, your audience is the supreme ruler of all things to be ruled. Why? Because no matter how great your content is, if it’s not crafted with your audience in mind, well, it’s not relevant. In other words, if you write something, post it and hit “publish,” but you’re not reaching the right person, does your content matter? Sadly, no. Content relevancy, like an object’s intrinsic value, is granted by someone. The right someone.
Identifying your audience, however, is more than just a five-minute task in your to-do list. At a minimum, you should be able to answer this one question (in as much detail as possible, backed by as much data as you can gather):
Who are you trying to talk to?
For example: If you work as a business writer or content marketer, what is your company’s niche market? Have you taken a look at your company’s CRM tool to review customer profiles? What about customer satisfaction surveys? Do you know who your most valuable customers are? Who brings 20 percent of your company’s revenue? Is it:
Stay-at-home moms who drive a specific type of vehicle, but enjoy the occasional Starbucks latte, say 2 to 3 times per week?
Conservative philanthropists who are patrons of the arts and also love fly fishing?
33.3 percent of your Facebook followers?
As you can see, there are many types of content consumers, and the more you know about them, the more relevant you need to be to address their needs. Below are two tips to help you be on the path toward creating relevant content, even if you only have basic audience information at your immediate disposal.
Tip 1: Observe
It is always a good idea to observe the organizations that have been successful at engaging your dream content consumer. Depending on your network, you can reach out to professional trade associations or your connections on LinkedIn to get insights on how they have served your dream audience in the past. Some questions to keep in mind as you partake in your content espionage efforts include:
What kinds of content are best-in-class organizations or thought leaders distributing to this particular audience? Is it:
Videos?
Digital newsletters?
Blogs?
Articles?
Infographics?
SlideShares?
Podcasts?
Webcasts?
White papers?
eBooks?
All, none or a combination of the above?
What topics are these organizations or thought leaders covering?
If you are able to connect with someone:
Can they share their content challenges?
Can they share their top three most engaging topics?
What type of content has proven to be the most engaging and why?
What channel seems to resonate most with your audience?
Tip 2: Listen
Successful writers are avid listeners. One of the best ways to create relevant content is to follow industry thought leaders on social media and subscribe to their news feeds. In addition to learning more about the kinds of content others are making available to your target audience, you will get free content advice without even asking. For instance:
What is the tone of their writing (casual, professional but conversational or technical)?
What seems to be the content’s reading level?
Which key words seem to make their way more often than not in their published content (this is a must-know if you are writing for the web to enhance your site’s SEO)?
Who’s writing this content? Is it:
A ghostwriter?
An advocate or subject-matter expert that may or may not be affiliated with the business?
A customer?
A company executive?
Bottom Line
By now you are probably thinking, “I just want to write a successful blog entry. Do I need to do all this?” Maybe; it all depends on how much you know about your audience already. With that said, you are never quite done knowing your audience. The more data you can gather, the more you know about them. And because your audience is human, their content needs will evolve with time. However, by observing and listening to others who are successful at reaching your dream audience, you can be on your way to knowing how to best share the love with your content’s supreme ruler.
Comments