I read many blog posts, heard lots of podcast episodes and watched dozens of videos (especially webinars) where content marketing specialists were talking about valuable content. What almost nobody explained was what a valuable content represents.
I believe that this term, ‘valuable content’, is very unclear, reason why people just can’t understand it. Because what is valuable for me can’t be valuable for your. Because what is valuable for me today can lose its value tomorrow. It’s a matter of perception.
So, what is this ‘valuable content’?
Valuable content is that one type of content that will solve a problem, at a specific time, for a specific person with a specific reason.
Now let’s get more deeper in this definition.
1. Solve a Problem
Valuable content always solves a problem. And when I say problem I think about giving a real solution.
For example, lately I’ve started watching almost every episode of Rand’s Whiteboard Friday videos. And what Rand is doing is trying to solve a problem of the industry, through his videos. If you look closely to them, you will understand how to create compelling content that can be 10x better than your competitions or you can understand better what is a great SEO for your website.
Every business has a problem and every problem has a solution.
And it doesn’t matter if you are a butcher, a basketball coach, a dentist or a marketer. Your industry has a problem and you can create content that can solve that problem.
Ohhh, wait… and what about time-cost efficiency? Well, my friends, don’t be disappointed if you start creating valuable content and you don’t get your client tomorrow. They will come to you later. And I am the living example of this.
2. At a specific time
Every now and then, when I’m talking about the importance of time, I remember Linkin’ Park’s lyrics “Time is a valuable thing”. Every Marketing and Business University should have a time management course. It’s important to know how to organize our time.
A valuable content knows when it’s the right time to be published.
This is why every marketing specialist should not only look in his box, but also look at what is trending now, what people are talking about and what are they struggling with.
For example, when we designed the infographic about the Instagram ad, we looked at the social media community. We found out that everybody was talking about the Instagram ads, but there were only a few people who actually explained the ads very superficially.
So, we’ve created an infographic about how to design a great Instagram ad that can be converted. And guess what, there were lots and lots of publications who published our infographic and we still gain some social media traction on that piece of content.
This is what I mean about creating a valuable content at a specific time. Time is important. Yes, it’s important to create a valuable content, but you need to know when is the best time at which to publish it.
Maybe you have some old articles you wrote a year ago that weren’t so popular, but if you look at that content again and you see that it has more potential today, then just re-share it and boost it on social media. Why not?
3. For a specific persona
Not every piece of valuable content is valuable for everyone.
And when I say ‘everyone’ I don’t need think about that person that is now taking his coffee in a coffee shop and he is walking his dog.
Now think about that, let’s say that you have a product where your main audience is divided in 2: web designers and web developers. I recommend you to create a valuable content not for the both of this audience but for only one. The traction will be more significant if you create only for the web designers instead if you want to get into the game the web developers too.
So every time when you create valuable content and you want to share it at a specific time, you should firstly think about a exact group of people.
4. With a specific reason
What is the reason you want to create content? Do you want to get more shares? Do you want to get some e-mail leads? Do you want more subscribers? Do you want more traffic?
I recommend you to read my piece of content about the 8 goals you can achieve while you write a blog post. This will help you understand what do you want to do with your content and why you want to create it.
A piece of valuable content always has a specific reason.
Let’s say that you want to create a series of videos for teaching your audience how to use your tool. But what is the reasoning behind your action? Did you find out that your tool is not so intuitive so they need a little help? Did you realize that people are searching the keywords that you can create some videos?
Great! Now tell me. Why do you want to create these videos? To have more subscribers to your YouTube channel? Then ask them to subscribe to it. To help teach them how to use your app? Then don’t tell them to subscribe to your YouTube channel but you can ask them to let you a comment at that certain video if they want any other answers to questions they have.
Your customers can help you create that valuable content
Conclusion
Here is my short take-away blog post you can take a look at when you have doubts about creating valuable content.
Let me know in the comments section below what are your biggest struggles when you want to create valuable content for your community!
Photo © Sensay | Dreamstime.com
Leave a Reply