At this point, you know how important it is to create quality content not just to impress your site visitors, but to gain traction with the search engines. Google likes and gives precedence to content that’s actually going to be useful to the people who read it. But as all content creators know, that’s hard to do!
It takes time and resources to craft the “perfect” blog post, YouTube video, or infographic, and creating something that’s going to go viral takes as much luck as it does skill. But here are three general, but inspirational tips to get you going on creating content that will do two important things:
- Increase leads
- Earn links
Increase Leads and Earn Links
There are three types of content that will effectively persuade customers to become fans of your message and brand, to buy your product or service, or to share your content with others. This content will:
- Tell a story.
- Persuade with testimonials.
- Relate directly to the reader.
Storytelling
Stories with compelling, relatable characters and beginnings, middles, and ends will forever captivate us and hold our interest. Wait, isn’t that exactly what you want your content to do?!
Pay attention to the next commercial you watch: note the main character, the conflict, and the resolution or solution. Whatever the medium you’re working with, consider how you can weave a story around your product or service.
For example, there’s a new Bud Light ad out that shows an everyday bar-goer randomly picked to play a live action game of Pacman to an audience of vibrant, Bud Light-drinking partiers. The slogan is #upforwhatever. This is fun, active, storytelling marketing, and the story is spontaneity, the main character is anyone, maybe even you.
The key is to look out for story opportunities that will strike an emotional chord with your audience.
Leveraging Testimonials
A little different from creating compelling or entertaining content with stories, this has to do with taking actual testimonials and relating that customer’s experience in an engaging way, allowing the reader or consumer to imagine the same or similar solutions to their own dilemmas.
Make sure this case study is shareable and well-crafted so that they have a real reason to believe that your product or service is going to benefit them in a significant way, such as:
- Saving them time and money.
- Making them look good to their peers and friends.
- Protecting their interests.
- Making them feel good physically, emotionally, or spiritually.
- Making their lives more comfortable, pain-free, and less stressful.
Relating to the Reader
If you are intimately familiar with your demographic, you will know what will move them in specific, deliberate ways. Make sure your content addresses the interests you know they have. For example, if you sell fashionable women’s purses, your blog should have pieces on accessorizing, or tips on knowing what to wear and when.
Think of it this way, if you know your customers well enough to know that your product or service is “just right” for them, you know what their side interests are and how to apply those to what you’re trying to sell. Consider this: your blog should have pictures of your products on models as examples of appropriate accessorizing.
Conclusion
Get creative! That’s the only way to be original, unique, and most importantly, effective. Using these three tips to guide you along, you should be able to come up with a list of content creation ideas. Let us know how it goes in the comments!
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