How to Create Valuable Content for Your Audience on Social Media

When you’re growing a small business online, content marketing is a really important step if you want to build an audience and nurture them to a point where they’re ready to buy from you. The problem for a lot of business owners is that creating content takes time, and if those posts aren’t actually converting into sales, it can feel like that time isn’t being well spent. It also feels like things are shifting online at the moment, with lots of business owners worried about low reach on Instagram, and experimenting with other platforms like TikTok and Pinterest. It can feel scary when the platforms we’re used to using feel like they’re constantly changing, but there’s one thing that will always work when it comes to content and that is: providing value for your audience.

It starts with this: content that is valuable to the viewer in some way, will always have more mileage in it than content that is removed from them. We hear the phrase "JUST MAKE VALUABLE CONTENT" thrown around a lot, but what exactly makes a post valuable? I would break valuable content down into six different categories, and I’m going to share those with you in this post.

  1. ACTIONABLE CONTENT

Actionable content helps the viewer improve their life in some way. After seeing your post, they’ll be able to take something away that they can action straight away. Examples of the type of posts that fall into this category are:

  • DIY videos

  • Step by step guides

  • Quick tips or hacks

  • Tutorials

2. INSPIRATIONAL CONTENT

If your content inspires someone, it makes them feel something. You could inspire excitement in someone after sharing some ideas for them, or inspire awe/wonder of your skills as a maker. Usually, inspirational content will align with your audience’s ideal lifestyle in some way. Some examples of inspirational content could be:

  • Behind the scenes videos

  • Sharing your home/workspace

  • Beautiful imagery

  • “How it’s made” or work in progress videos

3. ASPIRATIONAL CONTENT

Aspirational content is similar to inspirational content, but the difference is that it inspires someone into action for their future life. How does your business align with your ideal customer’s hopes and ambitions for their life? That’s aspiration! Some examples of this could be:

  • Styling suggestions or gift guides

  • A Day in the Life

  • Your story, how you got to where you are.

  • Your why - why do you do what you do?

4. EDUCATIONAL CONTENT

Educational content is quite simple - it answers a question, solves a problem or teaches your audience something new. Something to bear in mind with educational content is: how can you educate your audience on something that they need to know before they buy from you? Some examples of educational content are:

  • Sharing news in your industry

  • Cheat sheets

  • “Getting started with…”

  • Instructions on how to use your product or service

  • Answering FAQs

5. ENTERTAINING CONTENT

Creating entertaining content doesn’t necessarily mean you have to turn into a comedian, or dance on camera. You can entertain your audience by sharing a meme you think they’d enjoy, or share a funny story from your day. Entertaining content is all about giving your audience some escapism and joy, so some other ways to do that could be:

  • Create a meme that’s relevant to your industry

  • Behind the scenes snippets

  • Make a video trend your own

6. RELATABLE CONTENT

Relatable content makes your audience feel seen, or less alone. This could be in form of entertainment, similar to the above, where someone might comment “this is SO me” or they might tag someone else that your post reminds them of. Relatable content can also encourage heartfelt connection, and make someone feel less alone in something they’ve experienced or struggled with. Some examples could be:

  • Sharing something you’re struggling with, or your true feelings about something.

  • Sharing something that went wrong recently.

  • Sharing the “messy” behind the scenes.

  • Memes and other entertaining content can also be relatable too.

So what's the key takeaway here? Valuable content is about them, not about you. This doesn't mean that you have to take your point of view out of your content, far from it! But next time you're thinking about what to post, if you can shift your perspective away from you, and think about what the viewer will take away from what you post, it can make a big difference.

I've been having lots of conversations with business pals about this recently, and we actually dedicated a whole episode of The Business Proposal Podcast to this conversation, which you can listen to here. If you’ve been feeling a bit flat with your content recently, I’ve got a full workshop to help with that! It’s called The Content Energiser, and it’s available for instant access here.

Content Marketing, Small Business AdviceRachel Waringcontent ideas, content marketing, video content, Social Media1 Comment