Why Content Matters

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Why Content Matters

Everyone who’s in business looking to engage in modern-day marketing seems to be scrambling to pump out a steady stream of content for their brand. But why exactly? Why, in the current digital landscape does content reign supreme? Chances are, you probably have some clue, but when it comes to exactly why content really matters, you must look beyond the surface to understand just how powerful content really can be, and how producing quality content really makes all the difference.

Content Commands Presence

At its core, content increases a brand’s online presence. The more content a brand has on their website, the bigger the footprint that brand has a potential of having on the web. But in order to turn that potential into reality, a balance needs to be struck between quantity and quality. Ultimately, no matter how much content a brand has on its website, it all comes to nothing if that content is devoid of any redeeming qualities.

When it comes creating your presence, the larger the library of findable content with proper keywords, as well as content that inspires a high level of engagement, the more visible the brand becomes online. If content doesn’t contain relevant keywords, it will fall flat on its face and do little to nothing to increase the likelihood that anyone it’s meant for will find it. Furthermore, when consumers are engaged with (like, share, commenting, etc.) on content this increases visibility as well. Let’s face it: it’s no secret that a huge portion of content marketing is the cornerstone of any modern-day SEO strategy.

Shifting the Focus: Centering Consumers

The beauty of the world of creating content is it’s all about the audience and their needs. Instead of short, sweet, and to-the-point traditional advertising that is hyper-focused on selling a product or service, content marketing focuses on giving the reader a little taste of the value you can bring them. Truly amazing content doesn’t come off as a soulless sales pitch, but rather a genuine source of information that focuses on the audience and their needs. Who is your audience? What are they trying to accomplish? How can you help them? These are all questions any designer/creator will ask themselves when producing stellar content.

Cultivating Trust

Truly terrific content is authentic and commands believability. Without trust in the content at hand, that trust will not extend to the brand the content is written for. In order to command and inspire trust, content can’t be too complex or long to lose the reader’s attention or impede their understanding, at the same time, not so concise that it will lose its value and purpose. Supporting data is always a good idea if your content is making a claim that is either difficult to believe or not commonly known. Anyone can make a claim, but anything worth believing backs those claims up with cold, hard facts. It’s proven people don’t like to be faced with information that contradicts what they already believe, so it’s also important to strike a healthy balance between being authoritative and being receptive to alternative viewpoints. Avoiding black-and-white statements, making unbiased claims, and framing concepts with humor when possible are all ingredients of the recipe for trustworthy content.

Think of content creation like a conversation. In many cases, your content a reader engages with may be a potential customer’s first interaction with a brand. You’ve heard the saying first impressions count? The content you produce may very well be opening the door to what may be a long and fruitful relationship, so you want to make sure to nurture it from the get-go. This is also why it’s important to know that when you’re creating stellar content, it’s easily traced back or related back to the brand its intended for. The connection between the brand and the content must be abundantly clear.

Content is a Mirror

As mentioned previously: when it comes to content, quality is key. One of many reasons why this hold true is because the quality of content plays a big role in the level of trust it inspires. Returning to the consumer-centric focus of content creation: content is essentially a brand’s litmus test. If content is poorly designed, disjointed, incoherent, or riddled with errors and misspelled words, this will leave a bad taste in readers’ mouths, leaving them asking, “Don’t you care about my opinion enough to give me good context?”

Inspiration and Motivation

The trust that content imbues a brand with goes up in smoke if that content doesn’t strike a note with the consumer. Genuinely great content will inspire the consumer to take action, not simply command or demand it. The very best content will motivate the reader to do something, whether it be subscribing, signing up, reaching out, or making a purchase, by means of empowering the consumer with valuable information to reach a conclusion themselves.

Attention-Grabbing

Content catches consumers’ attention in a big way, which is why content creation isn’t going away any time soon. What’s amazing about quality content is that the attention it garners pays hefty dividends. What does this mean? Well, that attention doesn’t stop with any single member of the content’s audience if they are moved enough to share the content with others. The enthusiasm generated by content ultimately capitalizes on a consumer’s curiosity, search for information, or even a need to solve a problem. By resonating with consumer, content has the potential to set in motion a domino effect of comments, likes, and shares, all of which comprise a high level of engagement.

Content Brings Value

For all the reasons mentioned above, content is the potential to bring value to any brand. But for that potential to fully materialize and become reality, for that value to truly shine through, content has to embody all of the qualities mentioned above. Instead of producing content for content’s sake, be sure to produce quality content to improve your brand with priceless value.

Sean Orr

Founder | Chief of Strategy

206-660-0284 |  [email protected] 

AgencyRye.com