How many times have you shied away from sharing content on social media because you don’t know what type of content to share? Finding content your audience will love is a lot more difficult than you may think.

Take a look at the below image. In 2015, 54% of marketers said they struggled to produce engaging content and as we move into 2016, this has risen to 60% and I’m sure this number will keep rising until business owners start understanding their audience, and make a change to the content they share.

Content

Why is content creation so difficult?

Every business is looking to create content that is either the “next best thing” or “viral”. This isn’t entirely realistic and is the wrong approach to content creation. 16% of B2B marketers publish new content daily, and a further 26% publish new content multiple times a week. This can be draining (I know first hand, as I share unique content twice a week via my blog) and sometimes… ideas are few and far between.

It takes a lot of time and effort to come up with content that engages with an audience but it’s just as important to feel confident in your content otherwise the effectiveness of what you share, will decrease as your audience will know you’re not supporting your own work.

So, how can you create content your audience will love?

  1. Create a questionnaire

This is something I do with my audience when I need their feedback and it allows you to get true, and honest answers. Make sure you know what you want to achieve with your questionnaire and position the questions to reflect this. To get more responses, I would suggest offering something for completing the questionnaire. If you want a free, professional looking questionnaire that allows you to track results, check out Google Forms.

  1. Talk to your friends, colleagues and family

One of the best ways to get the creative juices flowing is to speak to the people closest to you. Even if they aren’t invested in your business, they may be able to give you some great content ideas that you hadn’t already thought of. If your friends or family happen to be your typical target customer; even better. Don’t be afraid to ask for their input.

  1. Repurpose

There is nothing wrong with repurposing content if you know it will benefit your audience. Don’t share the exact same content; change it and repurpose it. Just because you’ve used a piece of content once, doesn’t mean it can’t be used again.

  1. Do your research online

Find out where your target audience hang out e.g. Facebook groups, online forums and reach out to them. Go directly to your target market so you know that if they approve of your content ideas, those you engage with online will too.

A great tool I use called Feedly, allows me to research my specific industry online, and bring together hundreds of great pieces of content that I can get inspiration from when it comes to creating my own content.

  1. Look at your competitors

If you follow your competitors online (which I recommend you do) then what works for them, may work for you. Don’t copy their ideas or content, but do find inspiration for your own content.

  1. Trending topics

Tuning into what’s currently trending in real time is a great way to find new, inspiring content. Make sure, if you are going to base your content on real-time trends, they are related to your business and suitable for your target audience.

What type of content does your audience love?

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