NOBODY GIVES A F*CK ABOUT YOUR CONTENT
Isn’t it time for a reality check?
Content, content, content.
You’ve seen the videos of Gary Vee in front of dumpsters, you know the drill.
It’s all about volume, bro.
All you need is a phone, press record and you’re off.
You write blog posts, you create videos.
You participate in social media.
And yet, crickets.
Eek…
In the rush to jump on the content marketing bandwagon, you forgot -
Content does not equal success.
Content that people WANT equals success.
Small distinction, massive difference, let me elaborate.
When I was younger a lot of my mates used to go fishing. Me on the other hand, I didn’t enjoy it as much — I used to get bored.
So I’d throw the lure in the water, and the bait would fly away as I cracked open another cold one and hung out with my friends,
Was I fishing? Sure was. But was I going to catch anything? Not a chance.
I wasn’t giving the fish anything they wanted, if anything I was scaring them away.
But hey I was fishing, right?
Stop throwing crap out there.
You’re wasting precious time and money.
A study cited in The Drum stated that 60% of content produced by the world’s top 1,500 brands is “just clutter” that doesn’t add value to people’s lives.
But this doesn’t mean content marketing is ineffective.
20% of business owners believe content marketing will have the largest impact on their business in 2018. If you’re not getting results from the content you’re creating, it typically means you’re doing something wrong.
If you want to market your business successfully, you need to find your errors. Shape up and start adding value.
Here are the 4 biggest mistakes you might be making and what you can do to turn your results around.
1. You have no strategy
Are you posting whatever you want, whenever you want?
A lot of marketers do this.
In fact, only 37% of B2B marketers have a documented content marketing strategy.
This means the majority of marketers aren’t thinking strategically about the content they’re creating.
This makes it easy for your audience to ignore whatever you’re sharing.
A content marketing strategy helps you identify what you’d like to accomplish.
In other words, it forces you to put intention behind your content.
2. It’s all about you
Now before you dismiss this with, “I do it for the fans” let’s do a quick reality check — is it you saying this, or your audience?
Let’s be super honest with ourselves, fellow creators, is our content actually helpful?
You can’t afford not to research what is of interest to your customers.
Posting content that you think is interesting won’t necessarily draw the same appeal to your customer or visitor base.
Here’s the thing — your audience care about themselves first and foremost, not about you.
Don’t ask, “What does my reader need?”
Ask instead, “If I were my reader, what would I need?”
If you can’t answer that question, or if you find yourself spewing product features and company jargon, then you’re not your audience. Not yet.
Don’t automatically assume that you need to talk about yourself all day to build your personal brand, you don’t. Be subtle about it.
3. You’re not consistent
Content isn’t a once-and-done tactic or some kind of Frankenstein strategy that works with a bunch of parts you throw together.
One-off pieces of content usually arise from spur-of-the-moment inspiration: You see a need, create some content that addresses it, and post it on social.
Audience members who share that need appreciate it, but that touchpoint on its own isn’t enough to create a better relationship between your brand and your audience.
No brand wants to be a one-hit wonder with its audience.
By consistently surrounding yourself with lots of high-quality content that shares a uniform message, you’ll be ready to engage audience members whenever they come across your content.
4. You’re in your own head
No content creator is an island.
A single person doesn’t have enough knowledge (not to mention time) to drive content creation for your whole company.
Reach out to people in complimentary fields to create content with.
You can choose people with a different or larger audience to you or people that you are confident will add value to your audience.
This is a great way to grow your reach.
Summary
Producing content does not make you a successful content creator. Not by a long shot.
I’ll leave you with this…
If you want people to give a f*ck about your content, try giving a f*ck about them first.
Thank you for your attention.
Don’t forget to let me know your comments below and let’s connect on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube & Twitter.
