Google a phrase like ‘sharing content’, ‘make content be heard’, ‘share your voice’ etc. and you will be treated to wonderful stock images of children holding up megaphones, people shouting in fields without megaphones and lots of animated people holding up megaphones too. It’s what people like to envision every time they create and share content. The harsh reality though is that when you do create content, in most cases your megaphone will be a kazoo that will only be heard within a vacuum i.e. its won’t be very noticeable.
Making better content is something that does require a little push in terms of effort and a bigger push in terms of relevancy. Not relevancy in a timely sense, but relevancy to the marketplace and audience you’re trying to attract. When you’re fighting for space on someone’s Facebook or Twitter feed, and a rather mundane blog post is up against videos of cats and pugs, it will be a fight you lose time and time again. So how you do you make sure your chances of engaging an audience will work? By creating better content of course. This is easier said than done, right? WRONG.
Looking for better content? Hit Ctrl+d on your computer now and bookmark this page because these following tips are something you’re going to want to remember.
Tip No.1: Follow Your Competitors
Sitting and twiddling your thumbs over what blog post to write, what infograph to make, what Facebook post to boost or what hashtag to use can have you at your wits end if you’re trying to think like your competitor. Beat that nagging feeling by following competitors. Looking at how and what they post will give you a much better idea of what NOT to write about. Lets say for example that you run a flower shop. The florist across town just put up a nice photo of an arrangement. This is a chance to learn from it. Actions as simple as going to Like it and comment on it will draw in a few eyes.Start a competition on your profiles (yes, more than one channel) to give away a bouquet. These simple actions have just seen you squeeze a little bit of referral and social traffic from a competitor on a competitors page and all because you follow their activities.
And this kind of action doesn’t just take place on a social level. Use sites like Ahrefs to see a competitor site’s top pages. If you can create content around the pages they aren’t performing well for that you happen to have, that content will shine when promoted and given relevant content to bolster it with.
Tip No.2: Have an idea? Make sure to elaborate.
A eureka moment can come at any point. You’ll be walking down a street and all of a sudden BAM!, a great blog idea manifests in your head. Pull out your phone and don’t just write it down. Message yourself there and then or set an alarm at a seemingly random time. When that alarm goes off, you’ll be confused. Remember your grand idea and then know to act on it. That’s how this blog post came to be. I was just walking to work this morning and then BAM!, ‘you should write about content today’ popped in my head. The 10:53 alarm went off and now I’m here elaborating on an alarm going off.
Tip No.3:Start off with a breadcrumb trail, lead to a loaf
‘You won’t believe what this chicken did when it crossed the road?’ How many times a day do you see content like this all over your profiles? Commonly referred to as clickbait, it’s the type of content that relies upon you clicking through from a unique/crazy question and ending up with you looking at the answer, seeing another similar title and repeating the process ad infinitum. It’s something that a business wouldn’t need to do on a product level, but if your company blog can have interesting titles, a good hook in the intro and makes sure to leave plenty of examples of what you do, provide actionable content and show a keen interest in what you do, then potential customers will take you seriously because they can clearly see you do what you say you do.
Tip no. 4: Watch the throne
‘Content is King’ is a phrase constantly used to make you create better content. But how can your content be king when you don’t know who is on the throne? Make better content by taking time to Google similar sites, looking at their content, taking note of where the content is lacking or doesn’t make sense and then writing something that looks like a symphony in comparison.
And never forget to collaborate on ideas!
If you’re a florist and film a video of how create to an arrangement for a wedding/birthday/kitchen table, and write a thorough blog about it, linking to it with images on Pinterest and using certain flower i.e. products you sell, it will go so much further than any Wikihow article or Yahoo Answer can because you’ve created content where the end goal is achievable as long as they have the tools you’re selling. And don’t be afraid to “cross the streams” with similar companies who might have similar content. Bunch it together and you can bolster a site’s social profile.
Now these are just 4 essential tips for generating better content. Making your content fit enough to hold up a megaphone takes effort. Nail that logic in to your thought process and you’ll soon be having plenty of eureka moments for your site.