In today’s age, it’s very common for businesses to turn to producing content as an extra form of advertising. Content can be looked at as anything produced by the company, or individual, for the purpose of creating engagement via their website, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, etc. When a company is able to produce better content that consumers enjoy, that consumer is more likely to share that content with their friends, and their friends with their friends, and so on… Eventually, this will lead to a sale.
Unfortunately, there are a lot of companies that create content, but can’t figure out why their content doesn’t produce the results they’re looking for. Here are 5 questions to ask when trying to determine why your content may not as successful as you’d hoped:
Make sure that the content you’re producing is appropriate for your audience.
Let’s take kids’ clothes for an easy example. In this case, your product revolves around kids, but who is more likely to engage with your content? Parents. Once you understand that, it’s also important to understand the demographics of your audience and relate to them on a personal note. Produce content for single mothers, single fathers, married couples, and so on.
One of the reasons why this is so important is because humans crave interaction and we want to feel special and seen. When content is able to speak to us on a personal level, we’re much more likely to continue returning to that content or even make a purchase from the company.
Research is one of your most beneficial tools when dealing with content and advertising.
So, what should you be researching? Everything. If you’re just starting out, or if your current content isn’t working like you’d hoped, the first thing you should do is turn to research. There are many articles online that share the best time of day to post on social media per topic and demographic, best hashtags to use, how often keywords appear in searches, etc.
Once you have your initial research down, it’s extremely important to continue your research by researching current trends in your medium and by viewing your own content’s analytics. When reading your analytics, look for trends within your content. If you notice most people are leaving your blog post after 5 seconds on the page, then double-check that your blog follows the best format. If you notice that 90% of your viewers are leaving your video after 2 seconds, go back and watch it. Did you start your video with an ad? Is the beginning of your video an introduction? What platform is your video on?
Remember that when reading analytics the platform matters. It’s extremely common for Facebook videos to have a huge drop in views within the first few seconds, but that’s because of the automatic play feature. Once you understand how content performs on different platforms, then you’ll be able to turn to your analytics and figure out where your content might be losing your audience and produce better content.
This could perhaps be considered the most important question to ask yourself: What will my reader or viewer gain from my content?
There can be many answers to this question: knowledge, laughter, entertainment, a free e-book, entry into a raffle, feeling important, etc. It’s important to make sure your content has value to the consumer, because that’s how you’re going to encourage them to share your content. If you’re having trouble figuring out what your content offers or doesn’t offer, don’t be afraid to ask for advice from your colleagues.
If you find that you are having more customers leave your website than you want or expect, it could be that your posts aren’t consistent enough. Customers like to see fresh, exciting, and consistent content. Because of the way a lot of algorithms work, the more you post, the more people are going to see your content, but it’s not just about how much you post, it’s also about how often.
One of the best posting strategies you can have is posting content on a consistent schedule. This allows your audience to look forward to your future content and helps create a bond between content creator and content viewer.
One of the biggest keys to advertising through content is to make sure your content doesn’t feel like an advertisement. The easiest way to do this is to save branding your content until the very end. When content begins with branding, it can become difficult for the audience to believe that the content is unbiased and is for their enjoyment. By waiting until the end of your content to advertise your brand, you’re allowing the audience a chance to enjoy the content for what it is. This way, you’re giving to the audience and then asking for something in return.
Producing better content that is more engaging can be challenging, but it’s doable. When you’re content is having trouble driving an audience, remember to ask yourself these 5 questions:
- Who is my audience?
- What research did I put into my content?
- Is my content useful for my audience?
- Am I remembering to post regularly?
- Is my content pushing my brand too heavily?
