If you search online for advice, every person and their dog has likely written ten blog posts on it. Or written a thoughtful Facebook status.Or uploaded a YouTube video on any topic you can imagine. We truly do live in the information age. This overload of digital content is great when you need help getting a soy sauce stain out of taffeta or when you’re trying to teach yourself a new language.
However when you want to create content, it can be pretty disheartening. Let’s say you want to write website content for your small business only do find your competitors have already written it. Except ten times better. Or let’s say you wanted to make a name for yourself through a YouTube video series. Good luck competing against the 300 hours of video content being uploaded every minute!
Standing out isn’t easy. Suddenly you feel like you’re no longer the special snowflake you thought you were. However it doesn’t have to be this way. As content marketers, there are ways to make your content shine.
Firstly decide what you need to address. Do you want to educate visitors about a new security system your company offers? While the new high security commercial alarm system with hardwired and wireless component systems may excite you, it likely bores some people to tears. But that’s okay! You don’t need everyone’s attention. In fact, a smart would be to not aim to get everyones attention. Segment and segment well.
Next you need to decide how you’re going to deliver your content. Research how others have addressed your topic. What do you think worked well? What do you think could’ve been done better? Keep in mind, your opinion isn’t the only one that matters. Think about how your target audience wants to receive your content. Are they academics who like reading theoretical essays on the perceived benefit of your product? Or are they time poor mothers who would much rather scroll through an infographic?
Keep in mind the importance of imagery. In fact, infographics are 30 times more likely to be read than plain text articles. But once again, you don’t always want to target the general population.
This should come as a given, but it helps to be passionate about the topic of your content. Passion usually turns into knowledge which translates into thoughtful and knowledgeable content. Does your target audience really want to read sewing tips from a person who can’t tell the difference between a thimble and a needle?
The final piece of advice I have is to give it time. Often you find the highest ranked content creators have been in it for years. There are very few one hit wonders in content creation who come out of the dust. Rather, it involves chipping away at the content block for a while.