Build Bad Content and They Won’t Come

Right now in this haymaking world of social media gurus, specialists and your tweeting Aunt Bertha, we’re getting close to someone coming up with a good joke about how many social media gurus it takes to screw in a lightbulb. While we’re waiting for that joke to appear, let’s take a step back and look at what you are creating on the Web.

If  “Content is King,” as its oft-said, then perhaps it’s most important the King understands his community will not follow, repurpose, or retweet bad content.

If you’re busy filling up your blog, your twitter profile, your status updates on LinkedIn.com with drivel then it’s really likely that your followers will be the first to win a courtly sack race, but not the first to elevate your ideas across the Web.

So how does one create good content? Here are 7 tips you can use to help your content become King.

1. Ensure that your content is engaging with a story focus. Stats, diagrams, pictures of you conducting a PowerPoint followed by straight text won’t do it.

2. Don’t be snarky. I know it’s been said before, but it’s worth saying again. Anything that you think you can be snarky around, refocus instead to being purposeful for your readership. It was the great Jung who said, “Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves.” Apply that to your content and always give your readers a deeper understanding of the issue.

3. Make your blog posts timely and future-focused. Don’t wait to hear the news, instead make the news, break the news, and explain how it will affect your community.

4. Link your content to larger ideas in your space – don’t be stingy and think you’re the only person who knows the real answer! There are always better ideas outside our own that can in turn encourage others to share their insight as well. Don’t be the person who is always right.

5. Don’t hold back your best content. Hit it out of the ballpark everytime and don’t keep the real “secrets” gated.

6. Use the comments on blog posts to start new discussions and respond to comments made through new blog posts.

7. Don’t blog poor me stories. We don’t want to know how tough it is out there, how no one really understands your ideas and how hard you work. We do want to know how you can empower us, how we can all share with one another bigger and better ideas and how much you care about everyone learning from the content.