CONTENT STRATEGY:  WHY CONTENT IS THE SOUL OF YOUR SMALL BUSINESS

Now, more than ever, producing share worthy content as part of your digital marketing strategy is integral to success.  For the solopreneur, infopreneur and entrepreneur, it is even more critical to make content the foundation of your services and offerings.

Look anywhere, and the advice is to produce unique, high-quality, authentic content to either solve a problem, educate and/or entertain.  Select a social media platform (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, etc.) and a medium (video, text, podcast, info graphic, webinar, etc.) and work away producing relevant, relatable information for your target audience.

The Soul of Small Business

For the entrepreneur, content is the soul of small business.  For most small business owners, the soul of your work is manifested through the content you produce.

Especially true for infoprenuers (those of us selling information products), branding and content is created and presented as part and parcel of your business offerings.  The expression of content through an individual entrepreneur is as unique as the expression of your soul.  Everything that is produced is done so through a unique expression that is you.

Juiciness Invites Engagement

Juicy, share worthy content do not simply offer information, but also thought provoking insights and further inquiry or discussion.  This opens a conversation and dialogue with your audience, and is the foundation of the “touch and feel” of your branding presence (5 Elements To Branding Every Entrepreneur Should Know, And Implement).

For instance, in a share worthy blog, after the reader consumes the content, she might want to talk to others about it.  In any social media platform, her conversation will result in an engaged activity we term a “Like,” a “comment” and/or a “Share.”  Online conversations are the new medium of communication to best market products and services.  Word of mouth has been the medium that has the best results for a long time.  Engaged and active online communication is the next best thing, rivaling word of mouth referrals.

Engagement (Enaged, Not Married:  Social Media and the New Norm of Conversation), in this sense, will no longer necessarily result in matrimony. The word engagement in this digital age takes on an additional meaning.  Phone lines are replaced by one sentence comments, instantly conveyed and received, anywhere in the world where one may find internet access.

If your content is share worthy. your readers will pause to process the information you’ve just shared and make a split second decision to either talk to you, or talk to others about what they have just read. In internet lingo, these are “Likes” “Comments” and “shares.”  If your content is deemed not share worthy, it is glossed over and lost forever in the world of internet copy. Don’t be shy though, as the great president FDR said when he was trying to navigate the US through the Great Depression, “Do something, if that doesn’t work, do something else.”

The point here is to go for it – create content and publish it online!  Even if your content doesn’t go viral, the more content you have, the more likely search engines, potential customers, and existing clients will find you. 

To make it easy for others to share your content, it is a good practice to make it available through various social media channels (Info Graphic:  Major Social Media Channels and Whose are using them). Assuring that your content is linked to your social media accounts gives the reader explicit permission to talk about (broadcast) your content to others.

Your soul directed content is a business collateral when it comes to establishing your brand. Have you found the soul of your small business lately?  Do you have a content strategy to share your expertise?  When it comes to your content portfolio, are you intentional and consistent or shooting from the hip?  What interesting and consistent content have you created that appeals to those you serve?