3 Simple yet Effective Steps to create Content that Converts

Are you sure you’re on the right track with your Content Strategy?

I have come across a lot of people who are so concerned about their number of followers on social media that in the process forget the most important aspect of it - “Creating content that adds value to their audience.”

It’s not just about how much you produce, but the how much quality you can provide through your content.

Your job is to deliver content which feeds the interest, desire and inquisitivity of your audience. And when this is done, they will themselves be compelled to follow your page, engage with your content and ultimately buy your service or product.

My motto is this famous dialogue from the film ‘3 Idiots’— “Kamyab nahi kabil bano. Kamyabi jhak maarke tumhare peeche bhagegi.” which literally translates to “Don’t run after Success. Choose Excellence over Success and nothing can stop you from being successful.”

In the same way, “Make your content worthy, not just promotional. Followers aur clients toh jhak maar ke peeche bhagenge.”

By this, I mean to tell you that you should create content that is worthwhile. People who know it’s worth will appreciate your work and will surely be willing to learn and work with you.

Never, I repeat, NEVER put yourself in a position where you have to deceive or force people to buy your product/service or consume your content. This is only a short term method for engagenent which may put you under a false notion of sucess but never helps in the long run.

Still confused on how to go about it? Well, I have a simple way for you to get on track with your content game:

Ask yourself these three questions-

1. Does my content speak to my audience and is successful in making them feel more knowledgeable?

Let’s say you are a Freelance Writer who helps people start and scale their Freelance Business.

Your target audience will primarily be a community of other freelancers looking to learn from you and your potential clients, right?

If you are simply posting just for the sake of promoting your brand or your services, this will neither help you gain the trust of your audience, nor will it make you credible enough for them to buy from you.

The real power lies in finding the intersectional point where your content is relatable for your audience, imparts some knowledge to them and also positions you as a thought leader in your industry.

In this case, you can post 3 types of content:

• Learnings from your personal experiences as a freelance writer to which your freelance community will be able to relate to.
• Content that acts as a guide to the budding freelancers, helps them to build their brand and eventually accomplish their particular goals.
• Content through which you can position yourself as an expert in your domain of work, tells people you know what you’re doing and consequently attract quality inbound leads.

So figure out your purpose, your audience’s challenges or pain points and position your content and services as the medium and solution to their problems!

The second question you need to ask yourself is:

2. Does my content align with my audience’s interests and compel them to take action?

Along with imparting knowledge to your viewers about a specific topic, the impact it creates on them is a very important aspect which should not be neglected at any cost.

Following the above directions, you have started posting valuable content for your viewers, spot on!

But wait — Is it actually creating the impact that you intend to create through your content?

Yes I’ve spoken about how value added content is the most important aspect of content creation and that it can help you grow your business, but here’s the catch —

If you put out content that ONLY adds value to your audience, you are only catering to others’ purpose of being on the platform, which is to learn. But what about your purpose? You are doing nothing which adds to your credibility an eventually makes you stand out. It’s human tendancy that they will eventually get bored and not engage with your content anymore because there is nothing they are gaining practically from it. They may find another source which provides better and more interesting content in the same niche as yours and switch to that. And this is the last thing you would want.

The question here is that what is it that you can do to retain your audience as well as attract more people towards your services?

Don’t worry. I’ve got you covered!

What you’re missing here is adding that one element in your post that compels your viewers to take action.

The kind of content that not only gives the viewer more knowledge but also challenges them to make use of that learning in a productive way.

If you compel them to implement the lesson learnt practically and achieve something worthwhile from your content, it will be something they will want to keep coming back to and extract the maximum knowledge they can, each time they are there.

Here’s how you can ensure that this element is implemented in your content:

You need to read from a completely unbiased reader’s perspective and notice if you feel the urge to take the particular action as that piece of content intends or directs you to take.

I will not sugarcoat and tell you that you’ll master this overnight or within a few days. No, it’s easier said, than done.

You’re going to have to experiment and try new, different methods till you find the one that works for you. In the process you’ll fail, succeed, struggle to cope up, have self-doubts and a lot more down the road, but with a couple of hit and trials, you’re going to get a hang of it, and then it’ll be easy-peasy!

Now, the third and the final question you need to ask yourself:

3. Is my content in line with the trends and is keeping my audience entertained?

Honestly, not many businesses or entrepreneurs give much attention to this aspect, which is quite surprising. But hear me out, implementing this is definitely is a cherry on top for your content strategy.

Today, trends change faster than humans change clothes. If you use social media, you must be aware that every other day there is a new trend that goes viral, a new challenge that people are doing, viral tik-tok dances and what not.

Why I stress so much upon the need to keep up with trends is because they have immense potential to go viral considering the massive presence of users online.

Apart from posting value-adding and action-oriented content, putting out content which is light-hearted or has a tinge of humour can make it entertaining for your audience and can serve two purposes:

• You can connect with your audience through an emotion; humour — which will consequently help you in building a positive relationship with them. Moreover, researchers have found out that content goes viral when it sparks an emotional response amongst the viewers.
• People tend to relate to it and share it with their friends, thus spreading the word organically about your venture.

According to research, “Virality is closely connected to content’s ability to trigger specific emotional responses.”

In a study on emotions and virality, researchers examined how certain emotions encourage massive shares. Thus, keeping up with trends increases the chances of your content blowing up too.

A perfect balance of trends and entertainment is ‘Meme Marketing.’

It cracks you up. It builds a positive brand image. It makes you want to know more.

Why else do you think big companies like Amazon, Zomato, Gucci, Tinder and many more have been using this form of Marketing and Advertising?

It not only helps them be on top of their Social Media Marketing game, which by the way, costs almost nothing as compared to their annual marketing budget but ironically plays the greatest role in helping them to be in the limelight simply because it’s ‘trendy.’

So what are you waiting for? Go put on your humour hat and get start levelling up your marketing game!

WOW (Read: Word of Wisdom)- If you’re able to master these three aspects, step by step as I have mentioned above, then take my word, all you require is consistency in implementing them and nothing can stop your indomitable growth!