Content Creation Chaos – Don’t Shoot Yourself in the Foot

Everyone is scrambling to get a piece of the social media pie, and everyone knows that content creation is king when it comes to making that a successful endeavor. It’s too bad that most the folks splattering words all over the Web don’t realize that there is a difference between "content" (i.e. the spammy, nonsensical rubbish that is currently polluting our digital space), and Content (i.e. sincere efforts at providing useful, relevant, interesting information with the secondary benefit of building credibility and authority in your niche.) The sad thing is that for a decent percentage of those whose content efforts are failing them isn’t because they’re intentionally trying to write spammy rubbish, but rather because they skipped some crucial content creation steps before they started posting. When creating content, you must first and foremost understand your target demographic. This goes for both how you write and where you post. If you’re trying to catch the attention of business professionals, your content should use the keywords professionals are looking for and the language that professionals communicate with. You should post on a site such as your local Chamber of Commerce forum or a Web 2.0 property such as LinkedIn where the majority of members are true professionals, as opposed to say, MySpace, whose primary demographic is 13 year old girls. Seem obvious? You’d be surprised… Misguided, but well meaning content creators make another major mistake when they don’t provide information that is high quality, unique, well-written material. One of the most important benefits of creating content is its ability to help you gain credibility and authority in your niche. Despite the fact that the reading ability of the average Internet user is about that of an 8th grader, would you really trust a broker who can’t even spell “finance” correctly with your money? This poor person-who-shall-remain-anonymous has lost countless potential customers simply due to the fact that he or she didn’t take the time to make sure that the content they posted represented them well. If you’re not going to take the time to research your target demographic or ensure that what you post is error-free, high quality material you should hire someone to do it for you rather than shooting yourself in the foot by creating content that gives you a bad reputation. If you have been one of these people, don’t feel too bad. Chock the wasted time and energy up to the School of Hard Knocks and solicit the help you need to get your social marketing campaign on track!