If you’ve been producing content for a while, either on behalf of your business or brand, you might fear that your well of creative ideas is running dry. Yes, it’s difficult to be inspired all the time, but the fear of running out of ideas shouldn’t be taken too seriously. There is always a new angle, a new topic, or a new question to engage your audience with. And even if it’s already been done, who cares? Your audience hasn’t seen all of the content in the world – they are seeking your insight, after all.
If you’re struggling to access your inner wordsmith, consider the following tips to refresh your content strategy going forward.
Focus on action
If you want to stop your readers from scrolling by, your content needs to be straightforward. If you tend to be verbose and longwinded, try crafting something with brevity. If you’ve already cut it down, cut it down further. Refine your content to be as direct, exciting and action-inspiring as possible. Get into the habit of driving readers toward a specific call-to-action, whether it’s to click and read more, subscribe to a list, or make a purchase. Without any action-oriented content, your audience will scan your content and move on.
Related: How to Develop a Content Strategy and Grow Your Blog to 2 Million Readers (on the Side)
Infuse empathy
Empathy is the driving force behind successful content. When a post goes viral, you can be sure it’s because readers truly related to it. Your readers will respond to human-oriented content, or content that gives them a glimpse inside of your mind. These posts can be humorous, awe-inspiring, serious, or simply interesting, depending on your brand.
By simply employing a human element, you’re much more likely to stop the scroll and get readers’ attention. Of course, your brand needs to listen to the needs and interests of your audience. Reviewing data to see which posts perform well is a great start. But interacting directly is an even better way to get inside the heads of your typical audience member.
Reward the reader
Social media platforms are jam-packed with content and advertisements. It’s easy for users to feel as if they are being attacked and prodded from all sides (buy this, click that, sign up here, etc.) This is when introducing rewards helps you gain audience trust.
Review your content: are you just another marketer poking and prodding, or are you actually giving a fair amount of the time? Balance your content between driving readers to action and simply offering value. A good question to ask before posting content is, “What can my audience take away from this?”
Learn UX
Any successful entrepreneur has some understanding of the principles of user experience (UX). No matter how great your content is, poor design can block your audience from truly appreciating it. There are obvious issues, such as messy blog design and fonts that are too small. But it’s also the little, more intuitive factors that you might not think of.
For example, a blog post with no obvious “read more” button, or a hidden menu that isn’t easy to find. Make changes to anything that may confuse or divert readers from fully engaging with your content.
Inspire thought
Just as we need content that provides value and drives action, there is also room for content that simply inspires. Maybe this means posing thought-provoking questions to your audience, or maybe it means sharing a story. Inspiring posts interrupt the status quo.
In addition, these are the kinds of posts that make you more memorable. A potential customer will remember a thought-provoking post, which makes them far more likely to remember other things about your brand.
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Employ data
If you are aiming to persuade or influence the decisions of your audience, it’s important to be objective. Many people seek out that extra layer of certainty that research and data provide. If a potential customer is on the fence about using your product or service, a reference to a reliable study can be the factor that pushes them to buy. Rather than bombarding readers with facts and figures, carefully place a statistic from a recent study to drive home a specific point. Adding this layer of objectivity to your content will show readers that you are not simply promoting your opinion – you’re promoting what works.
Reveal your struggle
It is human nature for us to want to hide our struggles and misfortune. Especially for an entrepreneur, the last thing that sounds appealing is writing a detailed blog post about your failures in business. However, oddly enough, this is a great content strategy to employ once in a while. Revealing your challenges and failures not only makes you more human and accessible to your audience, it also builds trust.
Customers are not concerned about your past failures; they are concerned with how honest your business is. So if you’ve shied away from this topic, go out on a limb – challenge yourself to write a post about a personal struggle. Bonus points if your story aligns with your reader’s pain points and helps them solve problems.
Consider some of these angles the next time you create content. You may stumble upon a whole new writing style that resonates deeply with your audience.
