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Video Summary
When you create good content, you create value for your audience. And that value can come in the form of education, or inspiration, or entertainment.
But it’s not just about creating value for your audience. No one will purchase from your business unless they are first aware that you exist. So your content must first serve to drive awareness. Sometimes this is referred to as getting their attention.
Now that you have their attention, how do you keep them interested? Yes, good content! Your business doesn’t go by itself. You have to make something happen! And in the context of what I am sharing with you today, that means you must use content to drive that awareness.
Video Transcript
Hey, it’s Jeff here.
Today I’m going to continue talking about content to help your business online.
When you create good content, you create value for your audience. And that value can come in the form of education, or inspiration, or entertainment. But it’s not just about creating value for your audience.
Creating valuable content also helps you create the audience! And that’s because people gravitate towards valuable information, inspiration, and entertainment. So good content builds your audience while also helping to keep your existing audience. And it’s this ever-expanding audience that gets to learn more about your products and services.
Keep in mind that the reverse scenario is also true. When you create poor content, you won’t gain an audience. And, you might even lose the audience you have. That means you will not be able to promote your products and services with any success. And, therefore, you will not generate any sales.
So, the key here is to create good content! This is true online and offline, but my focus is online so that’s what you’re going to get from me, types of valuable online content.
Before I get into the types of content, let’s consider the process…
Content That Drives Awareness
No one will purchase from your business unless they are first aware that you exist. So your content must first serve to drive awareness. Sometimes this is referred to as getting their attention. It’s a noisy world so getting the attention of your audience can be difficult. But without it, you’re not going anywhere.
Once you get that awareness, or attention, you ideally want to get some kind of engagement. You want your ideal prospects to take some form of action. But there are steps between awareness and action. And your content is responsible for moving your audience through these stages. Now that you have their attention, how do you keep them interested? Yes, good content! And how do you increase their interest, maybe getting them to a point where they want to interact with you, they want to engage in some way? This is also managed with content.
Beyond passively reading or watching your content, your next step, or should I say their next step in the journey, might be to sign up for something, perhaps subscribing to your email list. That’s a key consideration because once someone does that, she has identified herself. She is no longer a mysterious visitor; she is a person who has expressed interest in what you offer.
In order for your content to drive this level of engagement, you must provide a good user experience throughout the process. When someone has a poor experience, they are likely to lose interest and disappear because there are many options available to choose from. Now consider this… Do you think you’ve got a good product or service? Of course, you do! If people knew it existed your business would be quite successful, right? The truth is that most people don’t know you exist. And that’s why solving the awareness problem is an important problem to solve.
Content That Drives Engagement
As Albert Einstein once said, “Nothing happens until something moves”. But in business, I think maybe it’s the other way around, “Nothing moves, until something happens!”
Your business doesn’t go by itself. You have to make something happen! And in the context of what I am sharing with you today, that means, you must use content to drive that awareness. If you’re using social media, your goals might be to have content that increases social shares, likes, mentions, and comments.
For your website, you might want to work to increase the number of pages your visitors view, or the time they spend on your site, or how often they download something, or the number of opt-ins to your mailing list. Whether it’s your website or your social media, the key factor is time. People demonstrate their interest by committing their time to something. When your content interests them, they take their time to browse and learn more, absorbing more of what you have to say, and increasing their trust in you and your business.
For me, I watch my YouTube numbers. How many people are watching my videos? How much time are people dedicating to watching my stuff? How many subscribers do I have? Am I getting any comments that might help me decide on future topics? The fact that you are watching my video right now, that makes me happy. Are you the type of person that learns from videos? If so, I hope you watch until the end and click the little subscribe button. Because that would make my day!
But enough of me, let’s look at a different business example…
What can we assume about a person spending their time reading a chocolate article? At a minimum, we can say she is interested in chocolate. Maybe she loves chocolate! And therefore, the business can follow up with the right offer. They can provide a free recipe in their blog or videos, and they can provide a chocolate recipe book offer. These are ways to move the reader along their journey.
I often mention how effective blogs can be. But whether you create a blog post or a social post or some other forms of content, here are 3 questions for you to consider…
Number 1. What is your target customer searching for before they would possibly buy your product or service?
Number 2. What is the main problem your target customer is facing now?
And, number 3, How can your business solve that problem?
If you want to go a little deeper, here’s a bonus question to consider. What reasons might your ideal customer say “no” to doing business with you? That final question can help you anticipate their objections so you can overcome them at some point before you get there. The answers to these questions become some of the topics you’re going to turn into good content.
Different Content Types
Now we can get to some of the different types of content you can use. I have five of them for you today…
First is “The List”. People love lists, and you can create a list for almost any kind of business.
You can create lists of resources like books, events, or tools that are relevant for those in your target audience. You can also create a list of tips or give instructions about your specific services. Or provide a list of statistics or top people or brands in your industry. You can create a list about any topic. As long as it fits your business and your target audience, it can be effective. You can write a blog about it, or make a video, or publish a podcast. It’s a very simple yet effective content idea.
For each of the five content types I’m talking about today, I have an example in video form. If you’d like to watch any of these, I have included the links below. The “list” video is called “5 Ways to Get Better Search Rank”.
The second idea is the “How To” content. “How To” content is useful for establishing authority and trust in your field.
A characteristic of “How To” content is showing how to execute a process from end to end. By showing how a process is performed, you create good content that provides instructive value for your users. A good video example of this is “How to Write SEO Friendly Blog Posts for More Traffic”.
The third content idea could be called, “The Answer”. This type of content literally answers a question, or questions, that your target audience is asking. If you are not sure what questions they have, do a little research. You can even look at search results to see what type of questions people are asking. An example of “The Answer” is shown in my video called, “Why is My Website Invisible?”
The fourth content idea is “The Interview”. In this type of content, you conduct interviews with experts in your field, or possibly customers or vendors.
When you are the interviewer, you gain credibility for bringing access to people your audience might not be able to reach on their own. If you are the interviewee, you gain credibility through your own expertise. The example I have for this is called, “How to Make Your Website Work! You Need More Than Professional Design”. In this video I am interviewed about my book.
And the fifth content idea for you today is called, “The News”. To use this one, just think about what is going on in your business or industry. Can you say something about trends or issues that you have experienced which may have an impact on your audience in the days or months ahead? You can also create content around product reviews or events that are happening now or in the near future. The key is that the information must be interesting for your target audience. It’s not helpful to publish content that is only interesting to those in your business or industry.
Here is an example of a news type post in the product review category. I did a review of Meetn, a new video conference service which you can use as an alternative to Zoom for meetings and webinars. Of course, this is very timely as many companies have more work from home arrangements than ever before. And others like to stay in the office instead of travel, now that this is a viable option. Along with the review, I provide a link so that my audience can use Meetn completely free for up to 100 attendees and no time limits! Try doing that with Zoom!
Different Content Media
Now that you have some ideas on what type of content to create, let’s talk about different content media…
If you want traffic coming from Google, and who doesn’t since this is the biggest source of traffic on the planet, a very effective medium is the blog post.
Blogs are simple because they are mostly written content. To attract your ideal customer, write a post that is creative and entertaining, or very informational. This can expand your audience while keeping your existing audience happy. At the same time, you can feature your products and services in your blog to guide your users to the next step of the process, which could be getting on your mailing list or making a purchase.
Another mainstream content medium is podcasts. Many people love this medium, and it’s actually an easy way to publish content. Brands often use podcasts to feature “How To” and “Interview” type content.
Another medium for content that continues to grow every day is video. When you’re creating a video, you can create something that involves high-end production, or, these days, you can just get out your phone and start recording! The key to good video is good audio. People don’t seem to care too much whether the video came from your phone or an HD camera or a production crew, as long as they can hear you clearly. So always make sure you have good audio recording.
Videos are excellent for engaging with your users and building trust. All of the types of content I mentioned earlier can be used in video. That’s why I gave you examples, so you can see these things in use. And since you’re still watching this, you know firsthand that what I’m telling you about video is true.
Of course, videos can be used to promote your products and services as well. But promotions don’t make great content. People don’t want to be sold to. That’s not why they watch your videos. But at the end of your content, if appropriate, you can include something about your business that makes sense. What’s the next step for the viewer?
Another medium for your content is social media. With social media you can drive awareness and engagement by giving updates to those who are interested. Now I hear business people complain from time to time about social media giants controlling the way posts are seen, or that they can ban you from using their platforms, and that you really don’t have much control. And really that’s all true, but the way I see it right now, in this moment, social media provides a way for you to post content and leverage very large audiences.
The number of likes, shares, or comments in these social media sites will translate to awareness and people knowing about your brand. And that creates a chance for engagement and sales. But likes and followers should not be your goal. Get those people to your website, to the platform you own, and that you do control. And get them to opt-in to your mailing list. No one can take that from you.
Now that we’ve talked about different content types, and different media, the question is how do you move your customer onto the next step? The answer is simple. Tell them what you want them to do. Use calls-to-action. Ask them to do things like comment, share, like your posts, and subscribe. Just because you ask, doesn’t mean they will, but it’s certainly more likely than if you ignore them.
With that in mind, would you please like this video, and subscribe to my channel? I would appreciate your help getting to my first 100 YouTube subscribers. And comment below, what’s your favorite type of content? Something I included here? Or something else? Let me know.
Your business deserves to be seen online, and I will help you get there.
Thanks for watching and have a great day!
