In this article, I’ll share with you 8 unique content creation tips to help engage your audience, but first of all, what is content?
Content is a high quality, useful information that conveys a story presented in a contextually relevant manner with the goal of soliciting an emotion or engagement.
More so, it is delivered using a variety of formats including text, images, video, audio and/or presentations. No matter what corner of the internet we visit, we see content.
The fact is..
There’s no other way a blogger, internet marketer/digital publisher can engage his/her audience without creating effective contents.
I’m sure you know that we live in the information age, and this means that content is Information and interestingly, people are willing to pay for it!
What if I told you that nothing else matters (marketing, sales, social media etc.) without having content on your channels.
Look at it this way, Affiliate marketing, email marketing, search engine optimization marketing and other online marketing strategies will not matter if there’s no content.
Just think about why people go online. Most of the time they are looking for information. They are actively searching for quality content.
And there is SO MUCH content out there! So much information!
If you want to be outstanding in establishing your expertise and connecting with your target audience, you’ll have to give people what they want in an appealing style.
But where to start? That may seem difficult because there are so many media channels through which to deliver your contents.
In fact, in my article on content marketing, I gave 5 types of content formats. Knowing which to use and how to ensure people receive and read it can seem overwhelming.
Content creation may seem difficult but here are 7 effective tips to creating contents that will help you engage your audience and build your brand.
8 Tips to Effective Content Creation
At Oasdom.com, we have been delivering quality content for some time now. Through this, we’ve learned the best ways to do it. And now we are going to share those methods…
You should know that your Content must achieve the following 3 things:
- Capture attention
- Engage audience and;
- Provide value
Fortunately, there are lots of ways to accomplish this. Here are 8 tips to consistently create and deliver awesome content to your target audience..
Let’s dive right in…
1. Answer the Big Question ‘WHY?’
I’m sure you’ll agree that there’s something we all experience in the internet age – information overload, isn’t it? People are already getting tired of it and to avoid your audience getting tired of your informative contents, your content must be relevant.
To make your content relevant to your audience, you should answer these 3 questions:
- Why should I care? People won’t bother with information unless they see a good reason to—unless they are shown why it is important.
- What do I need to know? People don’t want fluff. They want detailed information that tells them exactly what they need to know. Nothing more, nothing less.
- How do I put this into action? People want to know how to put this information into action. How can they use it to make a difference in their life?
Start answering these three questions right at the beginning of the content—right in the heading and introduction. This will hook people and pull them in because they will see the value in it.
Also Read: How to craft irresistible and converting content headlines
2. Give Out Your Best Contents For Free
We both know every human being loves free things (getting value for free). When you give away valuable contents (that you’ve put your time and sweat into) for free, your audience is psychologically positioned to ask “If this is so wonderful, wouldn’t I get so much more if i pay for something from this author, brand, tutor, etc.”
This has happened to me times without number. I have created all the guides, courses and problem solving posts on Oasdom.com and made it free, and more than enough people I’ve been thanking me with phrases around”
- “This has really helped me, I never thought someone could give out such information without attaching a price”
Here’s a screenshot below of a conversation I had with one of our readers on Facebook.
Of course, all of the content in our bookstore is free. It’s simple, just be sure to put out free content that is better than most people’s paid content.
This will really impress your audience and keep them coming back. It will earn their loyalty and trust, and when you intend to sell, they’ll be willing to pay for value, because they recognized it already from your free contents.
3. Don’t Stop, Consistency Matters
There’s an adage that goes thus: “If a blacksmith keeps hitting a spot over and over again, there’s definitely a sign”
We live in a world where nothing is certain, no one knows what’s on the next bend of any path we choose, we can only hope things go fine.
But unfortunately, though funny, your audience don’t care. They don’t care about the time you put in, the sleepless nights, and the efforts you put in, they just want to consume your fresh content that will impact their lives because you’re consistent and they trust your expertise!.
This is why any content that is published must be done consistently. This means a consistent niche, consistent voice, consistent method of delivery, and consistent timing.
It’s important to release new content on a regular basis. When people know to expect a blog post to come out every Sunday evening, like we send to our online community member via email, they will count on that. And they will be looking for it.
New to Oasdom? Join other online community members here
This consistency also helps with SEO. The more regularly content is published, the more readily it will be picked up by search engines.
But ultimately, the best reason to be consistent is that consistency builds trust. People know they can trust the person behind the content and this builds a brand. It builds a community around the content. It builds a relationship.
And nothing is more important than building a relationship with the consumer.
4. Avoid The Perfectionist Trap
Perfectionists have a unique problem in almost every area of their lives – they just want things to be 100% perfect. Unfortunately, we don’t live in that type of world yet.
Yes, your content has to be of high quality. But it doesn’t have to be perfect. It doesn’t need to look like Wole Shoyinka wrote it.
The key is to find a balance —high enough quality that people feel it is valuable, but not so time-consuming that it takes a month to write one piece of content.
Perfection isn’t necessary for creating great content. The important thing is to get the content out there. Make it available to the masses—NOW!
For effective content creation, you have to build the habit of taking action. All you have to do is plan your content, write/create that content and get it out where your audience will see it.
Also Read: 4 effective tips on persuasive copywriting that works
5. Mix Up Different Types of Content Formats
You definitely won’t find an article that is text all through to be engaging. Contents with no images, memes or Gifs, videos, infographics etc. all the time will get boring. And when people get bored, they leave.
There are so many different kinds of content that can be created and shared.
Written content can come in many forms, such as:
- Blog posts
- Reports and white papers
- Emails
- Mini-eBooks
Audio content is a great way to get people onboard and interested. This could come in the form of audiobooks or podcasts and guess what, podcasts are particularly hot right now.
For example, if you haven’t, you can listen to our latest audio podcast: The true path to internet entrepreneurship.
Video content can be highly effective and can include content such as:
- Webinars
- Product demonstrations
- Presentations, workshops, and seminars
- Face-to-camera videos discussing various topics
The key is to experiment and find out what works best, what the audience responds to.
Just keep things varied. This way, the audience will enjoy different ways of learning the information that is shared. It will keep them engaged and coming back for more.
6. Make Your Content Shareable
People love it when a content gets their attention, they’ll automatically want to like and share that content.
When your content is top quality, you should also make it shareable on social media because that’s where people spend a huge amount of their time.
Shareable social media content can come in the form of: Tweetable quotes, tutorials, screenshots, slideshow presentations, statistics, top 10 lists, etc.
To help make this content shareable, it has to be appealing and easy to share. This can be accomplished by doing the following:
- Have easy sharing buttons
- Make it visually appealing so it catches the eye
- Ensure it is valuable and practical
- Affirm people’s beliefs
- Offer rewards for sharing
- Allows people to gain social credibility by sharing
- Make it intriguing or shocking
- Gets people involved in some way (make them feel like they’re a part of something)
The more the content goes viral, the more people will know your brand and the person behind it. And this will generate a loyal following that will be more likely to spend money down the road.
7. Use Other Online Marketing Strategies
Creating contents isn’t enough, marketing your contents to get your word out is also important. Even if you create great content, it will be useless if no one get’s to see them.
Online marketing is anything you do on the internet to put yourself or your business right in front of people to see, or anything you do to grab their attention and hopefully, at some point, get them to buy from you.
Online marketing include search engine optimization marketing, social media marketing, affiliate marketing, blogging, etc.
Learn everything about online marketing in this comprehensive article and employ each strategy as you create your contents.
8. Look into Other Successful People’s Work
Learn from other people!
[Tweet “There are no new ideas, an idea is a combination of existing ideas @Oasdom”]
Read other people’s contents, watch their videos, subscribe to their email lists, and observe to get inspiration for your own work.
But NEVER copy another person’s work!
This cannot be stressed enough. Copying someone else’s work is unethical and illegal. It also keeps you from learning and growing as a business person.
And there you have it, 8 content creation tips to help you engage your audience.
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