Developing Content Catered to Your Community

When it comes to developing real, engaging content you have to be hyper focused on who your customer is. If you don’t understand your customers and their likes and dislikes, you will never be able to create things they want to engage with. Today, we are going to break down what engaging content looks like, different areas to focus content, and specific content ideas that you can take action on.

First, we have to define what engagement is. In the age of social media marketing, online sales, and fast paced communication, engagement has taken on a number of different definitions and meanings, depending on the industry you are in. For the purpose of this blog we are going to keep the definition of engagement simple and straightforward. Engaging content has to produce a measurable response in people as it relates to your work. In other words, your content needs to make a meaningful impact on those that consume it.

Engagement is all about how you manage communication to your audience. If you are communicating a consistent message, clients will create an association to you based on that message. If you are inconsistent with the things you are communicating to consumers, they will have a difficult time remembering you and have a hard time engaging with your content.

A great way to ensure that you are consistently generating quality content is by first thinking of the intent of said content. Is the content you are putting out there intended for educational purposes? What are your goals with this content? These types of questions allow you to really narrow down the reasons you are creating. If the content you have doesn’t fall into one of these categories, it makes it easier for you to forget about it.

Creating goals is more than a method of measuring the efficacy of your content. It also helps you to improve your marketing strategy one way or the other. Experimenting is the only way you can truly find what is valuable to your market. If something you have recently tried doesn’t work, don’t do it anymore; if something you didn’t expect to work is now working, do more of it! It really is that simple.

When trying to find what areas to focus your content on there are a few important things to remember. First, there are things in life that all people have to do. Everyone has to eat, have a place to live, purchase goods, sleep, and find entertainment. If you can focus your content around things that people HAVE to do, then you are more likely to be seen. Second, people like to make deals with others that have similar interests, likes, and dislikes. If you cater your content around the things in your area that your ideal customer would like, you again have a better chance of your content being seen and engaged.

Three specific areas that I like to focus my content around are:

1. Food
2. Shopping
3. Local Hangouts

First, find the restaurants in your area that your target market likes to eat at. If you create content based around these places, those customers are more likely to find it engaging. You can interview the owner of a restaurant, create a giveaway for a free meal, or host a happy hour event that you film. The possibilities are nearly endless in terms of the type of content you can create.

Shopping is another area that can really help you generate content. If your community has a large mall where locals shop, create a video centered around that area and why it makes the community so special. If there is a really popular boutique in your area, setup an interview with the owner. This will give the owner of the boutique a free advertisement that also promotes your work. Developing content around a community is all about generating social currency, that turns into referrals and business.

Finally, find the spots that your customers like to hangout. Whether it be a golf course, local brewery, family entertainment center, or whatever, you should be hanging out there yourself and creating content around it. Your ideal customer is going to be focused on these areas and know them well, which will create an association to you every time they go there.

Here are a few of the exact content ideas that I use in my area:

1. Interviews (Interview the owner of a restaurant, shop, or hangout spot)
2. Giveaways (Give away a free meal or gift card to a local spot)
3. Testimonials (Interview customers about local areas)
4. Events (Host an event at a local venue and create an ad around the event)

These aren’t the only types of content that you can produce and you need to alter them to best fit your market, but they are a great starting point if you aren’t sure what to create.

Basically, you need to be aware of what your ideal customer likes and dislikes, and build your content around those things. Don’t create content without a plan, that will only lead to wasted time and wasted money.