How do you create relevant content for your audience?

Before I thought creating relevant content was a tale or something I couldn't crack, but after actively creating on LinkedIn for 9 months now, all I can say is it's about tapping into the unseen emotions of your audience. What makes content relevant is if it's speaking to someone, and how do you achieve this? It's by truly understanding your target audience's pain points, aspirations, and what moves them. It's about making that connection on a human level, and that's what transforms content from just information into something genuinely relevant and impactful.

A "clear and concise objective" would be included in a business plan. If you do not have one, have one done. That is your map for the near future. I believe in my competition's ads for tons of information for my business. I have many times answered the question How to "create relevant content for your audience", it's from my competition's ads again. "Interview" an employee of your competition and receive more information. If your competition does not run ads that tells you much about gathering more shares of their business.

Developing detailed audience personas representing your typical audience members especially gives you so much insight. I try to include information like what is my audience's age, gender, occupation, hobbies, and challenges. I even go a step further and sometimes give each persona a name and a backstory to make them feel real.

Like every marketing activity, this must be clearly defined from the beginning. What am I expecting to achieve with this content? Does it align with the target audience?

Always begin with the end in mind. Knowing your objectives at the start allows for crafting content that will be relatable to your audience and fulfill the key performance indicators.

I see relevant content as simply content that people can make time to read. It is the content that grabs attention at first glance. One can only create such insightful content when you know clearly who your target audience is and what their needs are. It is also important to know what kind of content will appeal to them. For instance, a Gen-Z type of audience will appreciate short videos and memes, whereas a millennial audience will prefer a photo and text. Whatever your content, good research about your audience and their needs will help. A good example I can recommend is using a good image with a great caption; this can also set the tone for engaging content. Always make sure that your caption complements your image to tell your story.

All media is different, remember. Not every format will will provide the same results across the board, so knowing how each platform operates and what content is successful on each will allow content to be tailored specifically for greatest success. As with the knowing what content to use for specific media, know when to post content according to your (already researched) target audience(s) and the platform itself. LinkedIn is different from Instagram, which is different to Twitter, for example.

This is the part that gets overlooked too often when trying to game the search engine algorithms. The best content provides value that goes beyond what's already been written. If it's just one more article restating the same thing, you have to ask whether there's lasting value that establishes your brand as an authority.

To create the best content I think you often need to know exactly who or what it is you’re dealing with. Instead of knowing exactly what is most valuable for readers, sometimes it is better to dig in another angle that is part of the person, brand story or company in question. Everyone and every situation is unique and can be viewed from different perspectives. You might end up with content not yet known to the public which can gain much more exposure than the already standard content for a particular subject.

Provide value.....we need to sing a song about providing value in content. Value driven content is actionable, your audience should be able to take action as soon as they read your post, listen to your podcast or read your interview. This means you answered a question in there minds or solved a problem.

Offering value might not be something that has not been said before but said in your own way. I mean if there is a way you carry out specific tasks that you want to share with your audience you could share and inspire someone. For instance, there is a routine that works for me on content creation if I decide to share that with my audience it is offering value to them on how I create content and by that I would have inspired them.

Adaptation is one of the most important skills in creating relevant content. Don't post and then sign off; comment and reply to your followers. To stay relevant, you can follow your competitors to see how they are reacting to changes in the industry. Social media will always be changing, so you have to adapt. Hashtags can also be helpful in reaching your audience!

It is always important to track the performance of any content created. Pay particular attention to the click-through rate, engagement, shares, saves, etc. Based on the result of this analysis, improve upon your content and focus on the ones that best resonate with your audience. For example, if you were creating educative content with a low engagement, you may want to try creating content that your clients can easily identify with. Continue to test various content until you find the one that works.