What are the best ways to create a loyal content audience?

Absolutely! Create an avatar of your ideal audience - their desires, hurdles, aspirations, and even takeout orders. You'll soon craft content that hits their sweet spot every time by comprehending their agony and ecstasy. Your content should be "painkillers" or "Vitamins." When your content can soothe their pain and fuel their ambitions, they won't just like your content. They will LOVE it! And let's be real, who wouldn't want to be loved? Spend some time on this with some deep thought. Put on your Holmesian Deerstalker and delve deep into your audience's psyche. It will help you build an amazingly loyal following; as a bonus, You'll create content that resonates, inspires, and ultimately converts.

Understanding your audience is the first pillar of content creation. Empathise with your audience. Figure out who they are, what they want to read, where their problems lie, why they’ve been unable to to solve them, since when they’ve had the problem and how you can help. Once you’ve answered these questions, start writing. That is when you create the most effective content pieces that will bring your audience back to you every single time.

Knowing your audience is really the very first thing you need to do before embarking on the content marketing journey (even before launching your business). It's all about your audience. Sorry to break this to you, but it's not about you or your business. People need to know how you can help them solve their issues / problems / pain problems / [you name it]. The better you know your audience, the more customised and targeted your content will be. As a result, your content will make a greater impact.

Consciously or Subconsciously, everyone takes their doses of content with a large glass of "W.I.I.F.M" (What's In It For Me!) Put them first. Start with a quick reminder to yourself that the piece you're crafting is a thoughtful offering for your audience. You know what it feels like to get shallow surfacing scrapings when looking for gems that don't live in topsoil. Go deep, be comprehensive, and be detailed while keeping your message in palatable portions. You understand the feeling of finding "Hope Diamond" sized nuggets while consuming content, Correct? Reflect on that and pay it forward with your content. Trust me; it feels just as good delivering value as it does receiving it.

Don't take guesses about what "value" means. Do your homework and research with your prospects/customers by aggregating qualitative insights.

I have one rule and apply it everywhere (my content, my clients and their content): content must be relevant (about your audience and their issues) and helpful (help them solve their issues). If you keep that in mind all the time, chances are you will craft content that will help your audience (and your business to grow).

I'll echo what Shawn "Doc Rock" Boyd said. I believe it is far more important to show up with quality and find the balance of consistency. HOW we show up is far more important than showing up on an arbitrary self-imposed schedule. Did you take a break to re-charge ? In a period of internal challenge / growth? Then there is to opportunity to share that with your audience when you come back. Be wiling to show the perfectly imperfect HUMAN that you are and your audience will not understand - they will appreciate and connect with you more for it.

It would be best if you also kept the consistency of quality in mind. We all get busy, and the temptation to dole out some ineffective fluff is tapping you incessantly on the shoulder like in the "Looney Toons." Don't give in! It will weigh heavy on your soul, and your audience won't like it. It is better to ask forgiveness than attempt to appease your audience with meritless content; as long as you don't make it a habit, they will forgive you. After all, it's a community. A good practice is to reserve some "evergreen" content to release when the schedule fights you. Even better, reach into the community; find someone in your ranks to create for you. Allow them to shine, and you all win. As "Fabolous" said, "If I shine, you shine!"??

I was told by digital creator mentor to avoid "drive-by livestreams" - your community shouldn't have to work to find and engage and support you. Make a consistent schedule. Show up for your community. Provide value. Then and only then will you be seen as that trusted advisor. That's where you BOTH grow (networking, business opportunities, relationships, etc).

When it comes to content marketing execution, consistency is a must. There are two types of content fatigue you need to avoid: - Content fatigue for you: If you decide to publish new content daily (or twice a day), it will likely not be sustainable. You won't be able to keep up this pace for long (unless you have a team to support you). - Content fatigue for your audience: if your audience is overwhelmed by your daily or even more frequent content, they won't respond to your message. Being consistent works but you need to balance it. Not too much, not too little (as the Swedes would say "lagom"). And at a pace, you can sustain. Showing up daily for 1 month and then disappearing for another month is not to your business's benefit.

Similarly to the above insight, the gold you're looking for may be in your community. When I engage with my community by asking for advice, questions, content submissions, ideas, insights, and more, they always deliver incredible and unexpected results. The best way to build an audience is to foster a community first. When folks feel like they belong, like your community is a second family and second home, they will not let you fail. They will be invested too. When your community is so interconnected, they will welcome and engage with newcomers and bring new audience members to the community.

Your content really should *always* be an answer to your audience's questions. What problem are they having? You facilitate the discussion of the answer.

Make the content fun! Are you enjoying making it, creating it and posting it? If you're not feeling it, probably no one else is. And don't be shy about asking for feedback once you've got something up. You can do polls in IG stories to make sure you're hitting the mark with what your audience wants to see and will keep coming back for!

What also helps is encouraging feedback, responding to comments and tailoring your content based on your audience's preferences.

Now we are getting to the good part. Recently, I concluded although we are a big family in my community, we are not one size fits all. Creating content that allows for the different echelons in your community to build stronger and tighter bonds and explore new areas of interest safely makes for a better overall community. Curation and specialized content segments enable beginners in one arena to glow as experts in another. Everyone has their strengths and areas for improvement, allowing us all to feel more human. Inviting those with expertise in skills I have not mastered to run events, guest posts, co-host workshops, or live streams with me creates a more incredible feeling of "we are all in this together." No one feels left out.

The more professional, buttoned, and put-together versions of us must learn to let go. Showing your audience the more vulnerable, human side of yourself can be intimidating. The problem is we've all been taught to "Be professional." The modern audience is looking for someone like them, a place of belonging and togetherness, not yet another guru or untouchable expert to worship. Let the fun and entertaining side out. I should say let your hair down, but I'm bald. Hosting fun events, cocktail hours, watch parties, and offer some excellent community engagement. My community loves to make fun of my bloopers and even roast me. It seems to be one of their favorite delights.

I always think of this as—"What's the lagniappe?". Lagniappe is "a small gift given to a customer at the time of a purchase" (such as a 13th doughnut on purchase of a dozen), or more broadly, "something given or obtained gratuitously or by way of good measure. It can be used more generally as meaning any extra or unexpected benefit.

As a coach and performing artist - connecting "authentically" is where I feel most alive and it's what the "audience" responds to the most. The more you can your bring your unique personality, stories of from your life, what you learned from your "failures / mistakes" , you will create meaningful engagement. Let your passion and purpose shine through and you will stand out!

Giving yourself grace and realizing that content creation is a marathon and not a sprint is critical too. Also one you come to the understanding that you're creating content for your community and not yourself - that's whe the "a-ha moment" can happen and creativity and growth typically happen. In reality - this journey isn't for everyone - you gotta be flexible, you gotta be humble, you gotta be attentive and you gotta be hungry.

The key to remember is to be human. Don't over do and over analyze things to the point where you forget the audience is comprised of human beings looking for real connections.