Cute kittens.
Celebrities not ageing well.
Aliens in Area 51.
We’ve all seen them, there’s pictures like this all over the web. And then there’s the headlines:
- 5 shocking facts about Brad and Angelina’s relationship
- Man found in jungle after 40 years stuns police
- Why this £39 box has supermarkets worried
Which all count as content, but they are not exactly the sort of content that you want to produce to tell your brand’s story, to build your influence and expertise.
Unless your expertise is in aliens.
So, what should your content be about?
I’m going to do that typical management consultant thing (even though I’ve not been one of those in a very long time) and answer a question with a question.
Which is, who is your content for?
And the reason this is important is simple. If you don’t know who is it for, how will you know what they want? There isn’t necessarily one answer either as you probably have several customer groups to cover.
Knowing your customers drives your content choices
You’ll begin to know which customers want information, and which want inspiration and entertainment. And don’t get me wrong, information still needs to be delivered in an inspiring and entertaining way, otherwise they may as well just get it from Wikipedia.
It helps you get the balance right between stories around your areas of expertise, and stories about you and your business. Both are equally valid, though may not be equally interesting to every customer.
It’s not about covering every base
Not everyone will like you. Even if you’re not Marmite, there will be some people who just don’t appreciate or like what you do. For example, you can be the best local butcher in the world *, but your business and content is unlikely to be appreciated by the vegan up the road.
And that’s okay.
Don’t create content for them.
Don’t worry about posting photos of the meat counter, or the carcasses hanging in the cold store. Because the people you want, the tribe you’re trying to develop, the people who’ll turn out for you, they want to see those things.
The danger of creating for everyone is blandness. You see it all the time with big businesses. Completely dull. They spend millions writing this stuff and yet it lacks heart, spirit and, god forbid, opinion.
But you’re not one of those businesses, and the reason people will choose a business like yours is precisely because you have heart, spirit and opinion. So don’t let your content disappear into beige, bullshit blandness.
That is what content isn’t.
Well, not if you want to do it well anyway! And don’t overthink it once you know what and who you’re aiming at. As X Factor reminds us every year, everyone loves a journey. It doesn’t have to be perfect. It just has to be your view, told in a way that will make other people go “yes, they get me”.
When you get that, then you’ve got them.
And that’s when you can answer, for now, what your content should be about.
* In case you need one, then the best local butcher in the world is Dickies in the Vale of Belvoir.
