Why is Everyone Talking About “Content?”

The word “content” is everywhere – we see it in marketing plans, social media strategies, and even job descriptions. “Content Creator” is now a job, or at the very least, a coveted skill. We’ve all heard the phrase “content is king,” but what does that mean?

Defining Content

Content is everywhere. It’s the blog posts that come up on Google. It’s the aesthetically pleasing graphics on your Instagram feed. It’s the TikToks that your teenager spends hours carefully crafting.

“Content” has become a buzzword with the rise of social media and email marketing. Through content, your brand can have a presence everywhere online at free or low-cost to your target audience.

At Local Social Media, we’ve been developing content and helping our clients work with content creators for years. A content plan focuses on creating and distributing relevant, informative, interesting, and exciting content to your ideal audience. A content creator is someone who develops pieces of content for your brand or business. Content creators can include influencers or even highly skilled copywriters.

Why Do I Need to Think About Content?

You may be thinking, why do I want to invest in content? Content keeps people interested in your business, even if they’re not ready to buy yet. People want connection. Content helps build trust in the relationship between you and your ideal customer by showing them the personality and knowledge behind your brand.

For example, imagine you’re looking to adopt a dog. You search on the internet for dog tips so you can be well-informed before you adopt your dog, and you stumble across a local veterinary practice’s website with a blog. The blog is full of helpful posts about what fruits dogs can eat, how to leash-train, and how to crate-train. You use these pieces of content to prepare for getting your dog. When it’s time to pick out a veterinarian for your new pet, you decide to call the veterinary practice you found because you’ve already developed a relationship with them. You’ve trusted their tips on their website, so it makes sense that you’d trust them with your pet’s care.

Types of Content

The amount of content that is available and that you could create is limitless. You're really only bound by the limitations of your mind (and of course, your budget). You could hire a web designer to build an online game to promote your business - that's content. You could produce a web series on YouTube or a podcast that is tied to your business - that's content.

To start, there are a few key places small businesses should focus:

· Lead Magnets – This is a free offering that you offer in exchange for email addresses to create sales leads. Lead magnets can be a free consultation, a trial subscription, e-book, or an informational guide.

· Blog Posts – Blog posts show that you and your business are informed. Because a blog is something that needs to be added to regularly, you’ll show that you’re considering recent industry news that may affect your customers and providing them with helpful tips.

· Social Media – There are so many different social media platforms now that you can create content for. Content types can include static posts and short-form videos. When creating social media content, you should make sure you are also creating interesting captions that encourage your customers to engage with your posts.

What Makes Good Content?

Good content helps achieve its specific goal, so it’s important to sit down and consider the goals you have for your business before planning. For example, do you want to grow your email list? Retain current clients? This will help you develop a call to action for your content, like directing people to sign up for your email list.

Good content is also created with your target customer in mind. What do they want to know? What kinds of concerns or questions might they have about your products and offerings? How can you educate and entertain them to provide value?