3 Secrets of Great Content Creation

Three great ideas for creating content for your blog from guest author Dr. Rachna Jain...

  3 Secrets of Great Content Creation

Social media is about valuable communication. Of course, "valuable" is a subjective term, but typically refers to content which educates, engages, or entertains. Great content makes the difference between getting noticed and being ignored.

There are 3 main secrets for great content creation, especially when producing for the social web:

1) Listen to what your visitors want and need. Do you see questions coming up again and again within your area of expertise? If so, this highlights a need your visitors have. This happened a few times recently on Twitter, when a few different people asked for input on various Wordpress plugins and techniques. I was able to respond to several of these, which helped me realize more about what kinds of questions people were having with Wordpress. It also enabled me to learn something from others who responded to the requester. Great content is in the eye or experience of the user, and most often addresses a question, provides a solution, or moves the person to think differently about their current situation.

The best way to create great content using this principle is to keep track of the questions your clients ask most often, and creating content to meet this need. Another way to use this principle is to pay attention to the media and see what kinds of questions reporters are asking about. You can get reporter queries by using the free (and excellent) service at HelpAReporter.com. By monitoring what journalists are asking for, you know what kinds of questions people have and want answered.

And here's another benefit: if you track what reporters are looking for, and create content around this, it not only adds to your blog, but it can quickly position you as an expert for future requests. I routinely publish blog posts based on interviews I give, and then use these to create instant credibility to get additional interviews.

2) The second way to create great content is to keep learning. I spend several hours per week taking in new ideas, reading up on new technologies, and improving my knowledge in several key areas. Not only does this keep me inspired (which is crucial to my personal happiness and productivity), but it also helps me speak intelligently about trends and emerging technologies, which boosts my expert status even further. This has been helpful in attracting and retaining clients, as well as helping me get out in front of the media. If you're not making time each week to take in new ideas, do add this into your business development process. New ideas in means new ideas out.

3) Put parameters around your content production. I first read about this strategy in a book on thinking creatively. Basically, the process involves setting limits around an idea, and coming up with the most creative solution or outcome you can think of. So, for instance, I sometimes try and create the best blog post I can in 3 minutes or less. In this case, time is the limiting parameter. Research has shown that you come up with some of your most interesting ideas when you have two or more parameters in place.

This principle is demonstrated in the very popular "top 10 lists" and other similar content- people have asked a question: "How do I create great graphics for less than $10?"- and the two defining parameters are great graphics + low cost- and then they go searching for resources to meet these criteria. These kinds of lists and resource listings tend to be highly favored and widely repeated.

The whole goal of creating great content is to connect with your ideal market and create dialogue with them. Focus your tools, resources, and energy towards being interested and interesting.

You might just get a whole lot of people talking.

Dr. Rachna Jain is Chief Social Marketer at The Mindshare Corporation.  Rachna works with speakers, consultants, authors, and small business owners to develop and execute effective social media marketing strategies. Her proprietary persuasive social media  process (sm) focuses on building influence, credibility and visibility online. This translates into greater recognition, increased  website traffic, faster lead generation, a shorter sales cycle, and  more opportunity for her  expert clientele. She blogs regularly at The Mindshare Blog.

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Comments

[dotCOMreport.com]

Thanks for the post. It's good to see someone remind us to focus on content.

[sewa mobil]

Nice article, thanks for sharing.

[Alex Arthur]

Listening to your readers, and incorporating the things they tell you into your content is also a great strategy for marketing. Give your readers the content they want, and use the language they use. This connects the reader to your content, or if marketing, to your product or service.

[Jeannette Koczela]

I like the idea of setting parameters. That sounds like it would make it a lot easier to create content for lists. It's also a good reminder to focus on the ideal client's needs and desires.

[Engagetoday]

I like to think of it as focusing on the right level... but your idea of setting parameters is good. Either way, you end up with a focused article instead of a rambling mind dump.

We all know it is rude to dump in public, why do so many people do it?

[Mr.Ven]

Keeping the learning curve up may help to create more creative content, there are days where you go out of content. Creativity brings you the light there :-)

[Office Writer]

This article is a great reminder of the basics. Excellent content is key for maintaining a professional and knowledgeable online presence. I really liked the point about setting parameters and I completely agree with Engagetoday: focused writings are much better than someone's ramblings.

Thank you for your excellent, focused content!

[Gregory Burrus]

Excellent article , love the content and the idea of not juts following the trends but the right ones and adding value that changes the position of the reader.

Thanks for sharing. Gregory

[Richard Carter]

Good and important tips to keep in mind , specially it will help new bloggers to learn and write efficiently.

I like the idea of keeping track of the questions and help ask by our readers.

[Charlie Seymour Jr]

Listening to your site visitors will not only provide great leads to what you should write about BUT... when you start to see a pattern in what you are being asked, it looks like you have a new information product to produce as well. So - not only great content but also a way to monetize.