The 3-Step Test for Creating Content People Love

You’re forging your way into the world of social media, content marketing, inbound marketing, or whatever you want to call it. And you’ve heard that content is king and whatever you publish has to be worth your audience’s time, and good enough for them to share.

But you’re not really sure what that means.

If only there was a basic test you could perform to findout if content is worth posting and sharing.

You’re in luck. Now there is.

STEP ONE

Ask yourself: What’s the outlet?

The type of content you should create depends on where you’ll be releasing it:

• Your Facebook and Twitter fans are mostly looking for deals, sneak peaks and customer service
• Your blog or video audiences are mostly lookingfor answers and entertainment

STEP TWO

Ask yourself: Is it about you, orabout them?

Be sure that even when you do post about your company, products or services, it’s still ultimately about your audience. Why it matters to them. How they can get the most out ofit. What they think of it.

STEP THREE

Make sure the content does one or more of the following:

• Solves their problems. Your customers are searching the web for answers – be the one who has them. If you can’t provide the only solution to a particular problem, make sure your solution is either the fastest to understand (like this six-second tip from Lowes) or the most thorough (“Everything You Need to Know About X”).
• Arrests their attention. This content has to entice even the busiest people tostop and click. Check out the article titles on the BuzzFeed homepage – I dare you not to click one. Few of them are useful, but most of them are fascinating. And from bizarre creatures to exotic lifestyles, to funny observations about everyday life, they share this common thread: they are all story-driven and highly visual.
• Moves their faces. Anything that makes your face move – i.e., makes you laugh, cry or raise your eyebrows. This content is also usually story-driven, and can be anything from a single image with a hilariously relatable observation to a 1300-word blog post containing somebody's inspiring life story. 

As you create that video, pin, gif or blog post – or before you share something someone else has created – put it through the three-step test, and if it doesn’t pass, change something.

Photo credit: Anthony Kelly