Have you ever wondered why some websites or blogs have a better audience, more engaged than yours? The reason, most of the time, is quite simple and can be summed up to only one word: content. Whatever your domain is, whatever themes you’re into, content is the one massive reason that will lead you to success on the web, let it be for your branding, to raise a community or recruit clients.
The problem today is that content can be interpreted on various ways. Is it well-written articles? Is it witty anecdotes? Is it funny images? Is it amazing videos? Content is what you publish, what you make available for your followers (not only the Twitter ones, but all those people who follow your virtual moves) and – usually – think of as a coherent chain of information. Again, those information can turn up to be as different from one another as can be, and appear as writing, images, sound (have we talked about posting sound on the web yet? No? Well, that will most surely be repaired soon), or videos, sometimes a mix of this and that.
The main issue today is to focus not on the form but on the content. You can make as many videos as you want, if the subject and the way you treat it aren’t coherent and smart (or not, it depends on your target), you might as well start another career in, say, advertising (some agencies seem definitely stuck in the stone age).
The truth is: you never can guess exactly what your audience likes and expects to see. Hence you have no choice but experimenting various styles until you find the right one. That means: subjects, tone, media. In general, you DO need to include images or some kind of visual media which will attract the eye. You also DO have to set an editorial line, old concept that’ is still a fundamental. Your editorial line is the orientation you will follow, the voice you will take and it represents you. Not you as a person – unless you’re doing personal branding and here it has to stick to your identity – but you as the brand you’re representing (i.e. your client, even if the client is yourself but not YOU as a person – do i make myself clear..?).
In the end here are the few commandments you should follow:
- set your editorial line considering the audience you expect to reach and your DNA ‘(as well as how good you master your subject – i.e. are you an expert, a connoisseur or just a padawan?)
- select your sources in order not to spread useless information that will prove to be wrong
- make research: your advice, however good and interesting it might be, isn’t the only one, so try to look around to see what other people have to say about the subject
- write/compose/draw/create/film with a minimum of skills (and please, if you do write, do so in a real language, not the sms/lol one)
- listen to your audience: that’s what stats are made for. Don’t hesitate to check which posts had the best results, which ones were shared, etc. This is the key to producing content that will find your audience and make it come back
In the end, make your blog/site/Facebook page/Twitter/Tumblr/etc. your own and not just a pale copy of what seems to work for others. If you don’t have any personal identity/voice/style, you won’t get any results and all you’ll do will only be a waste of time.