Well, well, well! What an interesting time we live in! A world driven by content everywhere we look, everywhere we go and in everything we do.
A report done by SEM rush states 89% of companies rely on organic search as their most effective Marketing channel.
So, before we jump straight into what you need to create engaging content, lets understand what organic really means?
Organic content, unlike paid content, is content you create on your different channels by yourself based on your Marketing strategy. It consists of your content strategy, SEO strategy, website, social media and so forth. This is everything you put out for people to find through search. Paid on the other hand, you pay for it to be presented in front of your ideal market but can become a costly exercise. So, it is best to have a good balance of both, but organic is much stronger and will always win.
1. Create organic or authentic content
This is probably easier said than done, because I know just the word ‘create’ alone means a lot of work! Right? Well, it doesn’t have to be the case. The organic or authentic part is also a hard one to crack, because let’s face it, sometimes when I go on Facebook I cringe at the quality of posts. Ok let me rephrase that, the graphics are beautiful, but the quality of content is poor. For example, just because it is Valentine’s Day you don’t have to be posting ‘Happy Valentines’ messages or in the event it is World Celebration Day you don’t need to also celebrate, unless it is relevant.
I believe if you have a calendar in front of you looking at the special holidays in the year to help you identify what content to create, you are doing it all wrong, because this is not authentic – why? Because everyone else is doing just that! And do you all have the same target audience, no, definitely not!
So why are you not creating your own authentic content plan that is relevant to your customer and how you can help them? Well, I probably know what you are thinking; ‘Because I don’t really know what they want to hear, and I don’t really know what else I can tell them?’. Does this resonate or sound familiar?
Well then that is your first mistake, take a step back, re examine who your customer or prospect client is, what is it is they are looking for and how can you help them! Take the control back, this is your brand and your messaging so commit to making it great! And believe me if you do this, you won’t have any problems coming up with great content again.
2. Give your readers strong valuable content
Following on from defining your audience and what it is you can share with them, once you are empowered and you have the content or topics you can now share with your customers or prospect clients, you are going to feel totally in control and possibly even a sense of relief because one of the hardest parts is done!
Now you are in the driver’s seat, equipped with a number of awesome topics that you can share with YOUR audience about how YOU can help them…so you won’t need to be pulling those wishy-washy ‘Happy Valentines’ out of the hat anymore (or occasionally but authentically).
You can now sit back and create valuable content for your reader which they are going to enjoy and engage with because it is so relevant to them. In so doing, you will confidently create organic content which you can then share across a number of different platforms to grow your reach and most of all, so the readers can get to know YOU, and YOUR business before they hit the ‘buy now’ button!
3. Show up regularly on different platforms
Growing your business organically does take time and hence people get the urge to jump onto the paid parade and that is fine, but you cannot successfully build credibility and trust without the organic content you have created (or if you outsource it because now you know what you need).
So, once the content has been defined it is important to identify on which platforms you want to show up on, again because Facebook isn’t for everyone, so where is it that your prospect client is spending time online, where are they going to seek help? Identifying the platforms on which you want to share your content is just as important because now it is time to show up and share it!
And yes, we also know, showing up is also difficult but again equipped with a content plan the showing up gets easier, and in fact, more enjoyable. But it is key, once you decide to start sharing content you must continue to do so on the platforms you have decided to share content on. Don’t think writing a blog once and loading it up on your website is good enough for the month. How are you going to get the maximum out of that blog, where else can you share it, can you make it an interview, can you create short posts from it…how can you continue to be present online, daily, or weekly?
4. Engage with your customers
Then lastly, start engaging with your customers or prospect clients, if they engage with your content, engage with them. Give them a like or reply to their comment. Or in the event connect with them because they found your content of interest, so if you did your homework, they are probably looking for someone like you to help them. So do it! What is your next step to making your content more engaging? If you need help give me a shout and I can help, put you in the right direction so you don’t become just another Facebook post statistic! ‘Happy Valentines’ 😊
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