Hi, friends! I’m excited to introduce this new blog series, Creative Content Tips. My hope is that these posts will help you better understand the importance of storytelling for your business, and offer you some ideas for jump starting your content creation process. If you have specific content-related questions you’d like addressed on the blog, please let me know in the comments. I want these posts to be a value-add for you guys, so please don’t hesitate to reach out with your questions and ideas!

Creating and sharing engaging content is a vital part of a good digital marketing strategy. Your digital content is representative of your business and your brand, so it’s important that the blog posts, videos and other content you put out there is high quality and professional. More than that, though, you want your content to be relatable and valuable to your audience, which encourages them to engage with you and to share your content. Nothing quite compares in value to having third parties share your content. Organic sharing of your content helps your SEO, and both search engines and users favor content that has been shared.

If that sounds intimidating, don’t worry. It might seem like a formidable task to produce this kind of valuable, shareable content, but I assure you it’s not as tough as it sounds. Let’s break it down into bite-sized chunks. What kind of content should you be sharing with your audience, in order to meet the requirements discussed above? I actually think the options are pretty broad, as long as you prioritize a few main concepts.

Create and Share Content that Does at Least 1 of these 3 Things:

1. Adds value for your audience: You are an expert in your space, and as such, you have valuable information to share with your audience. Think about ways your audience can benefit from your knowledge and experience. If you’re a photographer, share tips on how to dress for your session. If you’re an event coordinator, offer advice on how to avoid last-minute stress the day of an event. These are concepts that come naturally to you, so they should be fairly easy for you to put together. And while they probably seem very simple to you, that won’t usually be the case for people who aren’t in your field. This type of content provides great bang for your buck, as it comes easily to you while also providing great value to your audience.
   
2. Communicates your brand’s values: Ah, the brand again. Keeps coming up, doesn’t it? Bear with me. Think about the best brands you know, or the ones that most easily come to mind. They’ve gained traction because of their consistency and dedication to what they do best. Thus, content that communicates your brand well is invaluable. What’s your purpose and mission? What do you want your brand to stand for? What values are important to you and your team? Write those things down, and then create content from there. Your audience is more likely to buy into what you’re selling if you present a brand that embodies the things they care about.
3. Tells your truth: There’s enough phoniness out there in the world and on the internet. What we really need more of is real stories and vulnerable authenticity. If you’ve encountered struggles and failures to get to where you are, don’t be afraid to share that. The truth is that these things are common life experiences that nearly everyone can relate to. Being real with your audience levels the playing field and encourages trust in you and your brand. You don’t need to try to portray yourself as perfect in order to make your audience like you more. In an age where every image and statement seems carefully edited to reveal only the most desirable things about a person, truth is a breath of fresh air, and your audience will thank you for it.

Those are my top three criteria for creating great content that your audience will engage with and share. There are certainly more things to consider, but this covers the basics and should help you start creating valuable and engaging content for your business.

Love these concepts, but lack the time to tackle the content creation yourself? I’d love to help you create some great original content for your business. Let’s chat!