Content Ideas
OK, so you know you need to produce content to engage your audience but you don’t know what to write?
Start with the 10 most common questions asked by your prospects or clients and answer them!
If you can’t come up with 10 start with ONE – or start with the next questions you get asked… The goal is to produce answers to as many questions as possible – 100 is NOT TOO MANY!!
Remember the more questions you provide the answers to, the more authority you command in the market, the easier you will be found in a Google search, the more content your prospects will consume before they make a purchase, and ultimately the more likely they will be to buy from you!!
e.g. Car sales – the 10 best apps released in 2016 for in-car use (NOT while driving, of course).
I want to blog and produce more content but I don’t have time, don’t have any idea what to write, can’t write or produce video, don’t have the money… Outsource it!! Get the experts in to help. It is money very well spent.
Essentially you want to get to the 3rd circle of content sharing:
1st Circle – people who will share almost anything you produce because they love you or love your product – think about the kinds of people who have bumper stickers from a fashion company or a motorbike brand or the like on their car – these will be a very small percentage of your audience and will create very little return, but will remain loyal if treated well.
2nd Circle – these are people who know you or your brand but will only share when you produce something that engages them – think retail shoppers who subscribe to your FB page but only share the content that makes them laugh, or teaches them something new like how to pack lightly for a weekend trip to the beach to ensure you have several options for beach activity, dinner and a morning run, or Broncos fans who share stories about Broncos players cooking skills videos of them playing with their kids. These are people who have some affinity with your brand but will not do much marketing for you unless you provide some extra value. BUT they are extremely important because they are going to be the core of your repeat custom if you keep them engaged!
3rd Circle – this is where things go VIRAL!! When people who aren’t engaged with your brand at all receive some content (probably from people in your 1st or 2nd circle) and find so much value in it they then share it to their connections. Think of all the cat videos – (and if you haven’t seen the cats and their aversion to cucumbers clips I highly recommend it for a laugh!!! And I’m a dog person!!). Now don’t expect this 3rd circle to be easily engaged, they won’t because you have no connection to them at all yet – but there are ways to attract them and the payoff is so well worth it.