EP #019: How to figure out your content "swim lanes"

Executive Summary

1. Identifying Content Pillars (Swim Lanes): CEOs often struggle to identify valuable content for LinkedIn because they take their own expertise for granted. Establishing at least three initial content pillars allows for variety and experimentation to determine what resonates best with the audience.
2. The Keynote Question: Ask yourself what you would talk about if you had to deliver a keynote address without mentioning your company or product. This question helps identify topics where you can add value and educate your audience, revealing your Zone of Genius.
3. The Venn Diagram Approach: Create a Venn Diagram with two circles: one for your expertise and one for your audience’s interests. Focus on the overlapping areas to find topics that you are knowledgeable about and that your audience wants to learn.
4. Frequent Conversations: Analyze common topics in your conversations with your team or clients. Identify stories and phrases you frequently use, as these often reflect your passions and can provide valuable content.
5. Iterative Content Strategy: Start experimenting with the identified topics and observe what resonates with your audience. Refine and focus on the topics that gain the most engagement, ensuring your content strategy evolves based on audience feedback and performance data.

Deep Dive

I’ve met with 300+ CEOs this year. One of the first things nearly all of them say is: I’m not sure what I’d talk about on LinkedIn.

To me, this is always baffling - these are incredibly accomplished leaders, most of whom I’d pay to hear their advice on entrepreneurship, thoughts on leadership, or industry expertise.

However, here’s what I’ve realized: most of us struggle to understand our own Zone of Genius. We take our knowledge for granted, and often have difficulty identifying where we can add value for those around us.

So, this week, I wanted to share a few tactics I use with our clients to determine their initial content pillars (or, as I prefer to refer to them: swim lanes).

I say initial swim lanes because the beautiful thing about LinkedIn is that your content strategy can be iterative. After 1-3 months, you’ll have sufficient data to start to refine and improve your swim lanes.

I like for our clients to have at least three initial swim lanes. This allows us to (a) have variety in their posts, and (b) have room to experiment to see what topics work best.

Here are three tactics I use to uncover a client’s swim lanes.

#1: The Keynote question

“Suppose I could fill an auditorium with 1,000 people. You have one hour to deliver a keynote address. But there’s a catch: you can’t mention your company or your product/service. What will you talk about for an hour to mesmerize the audience?”

In nearly every one of the 300 sales calls I’ve had this year, I ask that question. It forces the person to think of how they can ADD VALUE and EDUCATE an audience, rather than sell to them.

The answer is very telling:

• I’d talk about what it’s like being a CEO in your 60s
• I’d talk about how the insurance industry is ripping off consumers and what they need to know to protect themselves
• I’d explain how to build a mobile game from scratch
• I’d talk about how leaders can turn a group of individuals into a high-performing team

This answer helps us start to dig towards a leader’s Zone of Genius, and thereby discover where they can add value for their audience.

Remember - 80% of your content on LinkedIn should be about educating and adding value…NOT sharing how “humbled” you are to be featured in a publication.

#2: The Venn Diagram

Another approach that can help you uncover your swim lanes is to put together a Venn Diagram.

1. Your expertise: In what areas are you a subject matter expert? What topics do you know more about than most people? If you’re being honest, there are at least 10 areas where you’ve got a lot of knowledge.
2. Your audience’s interest: this is where empathy is key. Once you identify your target audience, you need to understand what they want to learn about. My audience is comprised of CEOs and leaders. They tend to care about (1) performance, (2) growing a company, (3) managing a team, and (4) how to build their company’s brand. The actual list is longer, but you get the point…what is your audience dying to know?

The overlap of these two areas is where you should focus your content.

To be honest, this can be a bit painful. A big part of my personal life is personal development work I do through meditation and men’s groups. I am REALLY passionate about this. However, it turns out that my audience doesn’t really care. My posts about those topics tend to fall flat.

But that’s ok… I have plenty of other topics in that Venn Diagram, so I focus there instead.

#3: What do you talk about often?

The final tactic I use in uncovering a client’s swim lane is understanding what they talk about often.

Sometimes, it is helpful to talk to their team. What are the stories they tell? What are the phrases they’re known for? All of these are clues about topics the leader is passionate about.

Similarly, it can be helpful to sit in on sales calls. If the leader is interacting with clients (or potential clients), there’s a good chance that they take on a consultative role to help the other person. These conversations are ripe with topics that seem commonplace for our clients, but that actually hold immense value for their audience.

Where to go from here

The biggest piece of advice on your swim lanes: get started experimenting. All three exercises above can be completed in under 30 minutes. But remember, this is just the starting point.

If you pay attention, you’ll start to notice trends in what topics work best with your audience. So: do more of what works.

If your audience gravitates towards a particular topic, find ways to go deeper.

A good content strategy is like good leadership: you have to say the same thing, 1,000,000 different ways.