Very few consumers want to look at an advertisement. If you really want to capture the attention of your target market, content creation is the way to go.Content developed for online channels could include anything from a blog post for your website, an infographic to be shared on your social media or a video that will be uploaded to your Youtube channel. When it’s done right, content will attract more potential customers and strengthen your relationship with existing customers. Here is what you need to do before publishing content online:

Purpose and Value

Any content you produce should have both a purpose and value to the consumer. An example of a purpose for creating content could be to show your market how to use your product or service. Another purpose could be to strengthen your brand image and show your customers your voice and values to make your business more likeable.The value you offer in the content you publish could be entertainment, education or insight. Deciding your purpose behind creating the content or the value you are offering will help you decide the tone, length, style and the visual aids you will use in your content.

Plan

Now that you know why you are making the content it is time to start figuring out who will be responsible for curating information for the posts, how you will be scheduling the content and who will monitor and evaluate how the content performs.It is best to have several of your team members trained in this process as content creation can be time consuming, particularly when only one person is doing it. Designate tasks, choose a software and make a calendar to ensure your content is posted frequently and is of a high standard.

The Do’s and Don’ts

These simple rules will help you create content your target market are likely to interact with rather than actively avoid.

Do:

• Include visuals - infographics and images help you to demonstrate your point and capture your audience's attention.
• Use hyperlinks - this can help with your SEO and hopefully it will be reciprocated with other websites.
• Keep an eye out for reference material by engaging in media scanning, using programs such as Feedly and monitoring pages on social media that are relevant to your industry.

Don’t:

• Cram in keywords for SEO - using a word or phrase repeatedly particularly when it is not warranted will clutter your content and turn consumers away.
• Over complicate it - keep it short and simple and don’t use terminology no one understands. Your audience will not be impressed and will find content elsewhere that doesn’t try so hard.
• Forget to edit - have someone quickly go over the content to check if there is anything missing and ensure there are no mistakes.

In Conclusion

When you are creating content for your website and social media it is important to prepare properly beforehand to ensure it serves a purpose for your business, your audience will be interested in it, your team knows what their involvement in it will be and that you have your reference material organised. With the planning out of the way, you are ready to reach your target market and start creating content for digital platforms.For more information on creating a solid content marketing strategy for your business, contact the team at Bang Digital on 08 9328 7000 or contact us here.