(an excerpt from FOUNDFriday with Erin Robbins O’Brien and Steve Farnsworth)

define:GOODCONTENT/go͝od/

kənˈtent/

Content Marketing: Just the Facts

Forbes recently listed Content Marketing as the

of consumers say they feel better about, and are more likely to buy from, a company that delivers custom content. -Content Marketing Institute & Marketing Profs

of business decision makers prefer to get company information in a series of articles versus an advertisement. -Content Marketing Institute

Content creation is ranked as the single most effective SEO and organic marketing technique. -Marketing Sherpa 2013

61%

80%

item on their Top 7 Online Marketing Trends for 2014 list. #1

Defining good contentOften, marketers are looking for ideas for content that bring people to their brand, instead of what their brand can do to be where people that need answers already are.

A few things that make for good content from a marketing perspective:

“We know what we want to read.” - Steve Farnsworth

TRUSTWORTHY

INTERESTING

SOLVES A PROBLEM

CLEAR & SIMPLE

UNIQUE

Defining good content: TrustworthyWhat makes content trustworthy?

A known site / domain that the user already trusts or has been recommended by a

respected friend / colleague / family member.

A writer or contributor that has established credibility in the field or has been preivously

viewed by the consumer.

Facts and figures that are backed up by research, sited sources, and legitimate

authority.

A reputable source

Cited materials

A known author

Defining good content: Interesting

An opinion

Getting beyond the ho-hum format of giant blocks of text and bad graphics will do wonders for making your content interesting.

Even if you aren’t going to animate it, fill it with awesome graphs, etc., I’d at least implore you to work on making your text as clean and enticing as possible, for the sake of everyone’s eyes!

What makes content interesting?

The facts are great, and necessary. But telling them without any color or personal perspective should be left to news crews and research reporters.

Give us your thoughts and enjoy the debates that are stirred up when people want to express their thoughts on the subject.

It doesn’t necessarily have to be breaking news, it just needs to be something your viewers didn’t already know.

Nothing stimulates the brain and gets people’s attention like fresh input.

A truly consumable format New information

Defining good content: Solve a problem

Checking out what questions people ask in forums and communities, what keywords / topics are driving traffic to your site, and what your help desk or support team answer most are probably good places to start. Knowing what your audience’s actual problems are, versus perceived problems, can be eye-opening.

Know what the problem is

How do you solve a problem?

If most of your questions come to your Twitter handle, have links to content readily available for posting there. If you have the ability to write blog posts, make short videos / screencast tutorials, or one-pagers on your most frequent questions - do that. Get the answers to where the problems are, don’t make people hunt them down.

Put the answer somewhere

useful

Get beyond only answering questions about your product and instead address the industry as a whole. Most people have a bigger problem to address and whoever is there as a guide wins leads. Use content to talk about your unique stance on the issues, how you plan to solve bigger picture problems, and listen to the full scope of audience issues.

Answer bigger questions

Defining good content: Clear and simpleHow do you create clear and simple content?

Formatting Don’t cobble together a bunch of technical language and call it an post to solve a problem. Try to put things together in a logical way that a reader will easily understand.

Shoot for the middle Know where your lowest experienced audience is, and your most expert users - then create content for somewhere in the middle. It will be understood by experts and reachable by novices.

Images The reason safety cards in planes, road signs and instruction manuals are often pictoral is because it’s an international, universally understood way to explain something to the widest audience. Whenever possible, allow an image to accompany text to make your point clear.

Defining good content: UniqueHow do you create unique content?

Know the history Not that I don’t love how-to guides, but if there are more than 500 pieces of content on a particular subject, it’s good to at least know what your’e up against and how they approached the subject before you start reinventing that wheel.

Find an angle Just because a subject has already been covered doesn’t mean you should steer clear, it may just mean you need a new angle. Try approaching it from a different vertical or format to liven things up.

Share your story If someone is going to choose your piece of content over all the others, be sure to leave them with a lasting impression of your brand. You want the content to be memorable but you also want them to remember who created it.

Ready to take it to the next step? We won’t bite...

Watch our Google Hangout on Content Marketing by advancing to the next slide..

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