Coming up with content marketing that doesn't bore an audience to tears can be a little difficult for a lot of industries. There are some things that are just plain hard to make "sexy." Don't forget though...If you wouldn't stop, click on it, and read it...Why would they? Then again, something that's fascinating to you on a personal level might be completely uninteresting to one chunk of your audience! Another portion of your audience could even have a strong opinion against it! It may sound silly, but trust me. There are always people out there who want to find flaws in any and everything no matter how seemingly neutral or common.
The strategy that has worked the best for me has been to remain extremely flexible in content writing. Watch trends. Look at the news in the morning before doing your posts. We all will probably use automation/post-scheduling at times, but steer away from that as much as possible. There may be a video that is going viral in your feed. Maybe it doesn't relate to what you do, but people want to see it. Take that video, and think of a way to make a little headline or sentence that somehow makes the video relevant, without using it to try to advertise.
This way, people are engaging with you. You might be thinking, "How does sharing a random video help my business?" Well, it's a bit of a trickle-down effect. They see engaging content that makes them happy, and they see this content with your name next to it. This will begin a positive association. Over time, this positive association will grow into recognition, and often trust.
Social media is not always about landing a hard sale. It's about connecting and communicating with your base, building and nurturing relationships, and about giving your business a favorable personality. It should be used in a way that makes your own clients actually want to be your biggest advocates.
Tying In Social Media With Content Marketing
This brings me to another glaring issue with so many business' content. Social media is not the place for shameless plugs 24/7! This is one of the best ways to ensure that you'll have little-to-no following. People have ads shoved in their faces everywhere they turn these days. If your business has nothing to offer other than reasons why people should give you their money, you'll lose their attention quickly. Your content needs to offer or provide them with something they want. Try all kinds of things! Try humor...Many people would love a laugh. Try weird/interesting facts. Try asking questions. This is a big one. Many people love to have the opportunity for their voice to be heard. Not only this, but they enjoy being heard, taken seriously, and responded to.
Know What Your Audience Wants To See
Be original with your content marketing, but pull from hot topics. Experiment and find out what YOUR audience responds to the best. Some of my clients have audiences that LOVE pictures. Pictures of work, before/after pictures, inspirational images, photos of staff, photos that ask opinions/questions (i.e. two images with a text headline of, "Which look do you prefer?").
I have other clients whose audiences all but ignore such posts. Somebody’s following might LOVE to be asked tons of opinion questions. Other followings might want to be visually stimulated. Creating your content marketing strategy will take some trial and error, but it’s better to try different things out than to make the same types of posts every day and never gauge the interaction you get versus what you could be getting.
I find that people don’t want to be talked at. They don’t want you to tell them day in and day out why you’re the best at what you do and they shouldn't go to anybody else. They want you to show them how and why you’re the best, and let them make that call. Many people hit a plateau on social media with how many followers they’ll get and how much interaction they’ll drive when they decide to stick to one way of posting. Be funny some days. Be informative other days. Ask lots of questions. Offer advice. Most importantly, BE SOCIAL! All of these play a role in today's concept of content marketing.