How to share the right content

As a business owner, it can be challenging to know what kind of content to share about yourself and your business. I’m talking about content for social media, ezines, videos, and more. I hear from clients who struggle because they are afraid of making it all about them. They get stuck because they don’t want to put too much of the focus on themselves.

I also know some business owners who experience the opposite situation and find that they are talking too much about themselves. Perhaps you don’t fall into either of these categories and you simply don’t know what kind of content to share. Don’t worry, here is the answer. 

“Make it about them, not about you.” ~ Simon Sinek

Make it about the people you serve and what they need. Focus on content that will help them reach the goals they have.

“Smart marketing is about HELP not HYPE.” ~ Jay Baer

And yes, if you have a personal story that will help your people then, of course, you can share it. Here is how to make sure you’re sharing the right content.

Identify your filter areas

Grab a pen and write down the main areas you focus on with your clients. Try not to go over ten, and once you have your list, narrow it down to three to five areas. Use these three areas as the filters that you run all of your content ideas through. If you have an idea for a piece of content, ask yourself if it falls under one of these areas. If it does, then use it.

Now, write down words that describe how you want your clients to feel when they are succeeding in the areas you selected. These words are additional filters that will help you choose the best content. Keep these focus areas and keywords in a place you can easily access them. Create a note in Evernote (a tool I use every day) or write them down on a small piece of paper and put it in your wallet.

Reference your filter mini content guide / cheat-sheet, until it becomes second nature. By checking your content in this way, you’ll know you’re delivering on your brand promise and being helpful to your community.

An example

In my business, I focus mainly on three areas:

1. Business models (how you design your business and how it makes money)
2. Marketing messages (how you talk about your business, what you call yourself, and more) 
3. Marketing strategies (how you connect with potential clients and partners)

For my additional filters, I want my clients to feel capable (which means sharing tips that are practical), confident, empowered, inspired, and motivated to take action. These are additional filters I use to select my content. Once you figure out what kind of content to share, you can think about the different ways and places to share it.

What to share

When choosing the format for your content, the same rule applies. Make sure the format resonates with the people in your community. Also, it’s always a good idea to share content in a variety of formats because different people like different things.

And remember, repetition is a good thing. It can take several encounters with a concept before it sinks in and sticks. Sometimes, confirmation is exactly what we need. Getting the right message, at just the right time.

Types of content

Here are some ideas about what you can share:

• Quotes (with author attribution, always) 
• Blog posts
• Tools
• Assessments
• Exercises
• Podcasts
• Books
• Videos created from your blog posts (using Lumen5)
• How-to-videos
• Behind the scenes videos
• Live videos (on Facebook or Instagram)

You don’t have to do them all, choose a few that fit your audience and focus on those.

Leverage your content

Please make sure you are leveraging the content you create versus only creating more content. Because what good does more content do if no one sees any of it? 

“Content is king, but distribution is queen. And she wears the pants.” ~ Jonathan Perelman

Share other people’s content

The good news is that you don’t have to create all of your content yourself. In fact, it’s good to share other people’s content so that you can provide multiple perspectives.

Lack of information isn’t the issue, in fact, the problem is that there is too much data and it’s overwhelming. This is an act of generosity, to be able to identify the gems amongst the rubble that are the most interesting for your community. They trust you and value your judgement. Your audience welcomes carefully chosen (curated) content because they are curious about what you think is relevant.

Where to share

You don’t have to be on every platform, choose the ones where your clients are and put your energy there. If you use various channels, you may find that one type of content may lend itself more to one channel than another. Marketing is a continuous experiment to see what works, have fun with it.

I hope you’re starting to see the value of identifying your content filters and keeping them within an arm’s reach, so you can be sure you’re sharing content that is the most effective for your people.