Tag: Content Marketing

Goldfish are said to have an attention span of 5 seconds, which is apparently 2 seconds more than your website visitor! We are surrounded by so much content and information that we nowadays just skim through whatever is put in front of us. People will only pause at something if it is of interest, serves their purpose, solves their query, or finds it relevant to their needs.

“Being relevant means meeting your customer where they are and providing them with the right content at the right time.” Your customers want useful information that can help them make informed decisions and not random bombarding of irrelevant content. 

On the other hand, search bots are becoming smarter by the day (thanks to the emerging tech) and can now understand the search intent and its relevance to the reader. Google and other search engines have developed an algorithm that goes beyond keywords. Gone are the days when stuffing direct keywords was enough to rank higher. Today, content quality is measured based on thousands of attributes, and relevance is among the key ones.

Producing relevant content not only helps you win customers, but it can also help you build authority, gain a competitive edge, and rank better to be found by the right kind of audience. On that note, let’s learn how to find the content ideas that not only captivate but also convert.

8 Ways To Find Relevant Content That Captivates Your Audience

When it comes to content, no one size fits all; it all circles back to relevance and how well the content is curated and created to fit the needs of the reader. We are here with some proven tactics to help you create relevant content for your audience. Let’s get started with the tactics.

1. Set your content objectives

When you aim for the bullseye, you don’t shoot darts to the wall. Similarly, when creating content, make sure to define the objectives well in advance. You can only be relevant if your content is purpose-driven and follows a standard operating procedure.

There are numerous content types ranging from blogs, website content, infographics, videos, slides, and a lot more. You need to define the objectives and set realistic goals for any content type. Create content with purpose with objectives such as:

• To provide information
• To sell a product/service
• To educate audience
• To build authority and improve search ranking
• To create brand awareness
• To entertain and engage
• To generate leads
• To instigate; to take an action
• To retain customers and boost brand loyalty, and more.

Define your objective before producing your content to stay true to the purpose and adjust the tone, and type accordingly. This is certainly the first step towards being and staying relevant.

2. Find relevant keywords for your niche

Keyword research, prioritisation, and targeting are a few of the time-tested techniques to indicate the search bots the overall context of an article. But today, these bots run on technologies like NLP (Natural Language Processing) and AI (Artificial Intelligence) algorithms. These techs make search engines smart enough to process types of keywords such as:

• Synonyms
• Similar words
• Long-tail keywords
• Broad match keywords
• Transactional and navigational keywords
• Intent-match keywords, and many more.  

The search engines today are user-centric and fetch content that is relevant, useful, and reader-friendly. Search intent is the major turning point for producing user-friendly content, and keyword research is vital to understanding how the audience is searching. 

To determine the right keywords for your niche, use specialised tools like:

• Google Search Console
• Google Keyword Planner
• Google Trends
• BuzzSumo
• SEMrush
• Ahrefs

3. Follow popular publications within your industry

Staying updated with whatever new is going around in your industry is one of the most trusted ways to remain relevant. Follow industry leaders, experts, publications, and reliable sources to stay up-to-date. Keep an eye on what’s fresh in the market and how the changes are making a difference in terms of user experience.

Providing your readers with the latest information keeps them engaged with your offerings. Moreover, this creates a credible source for your audience to turn to when in need. To do so, take part in community gatherings, visit forums, follow influential people in your niche, and inculcate tips and tricks in your content.

Create content that educates your readers with helpful information and offers niche content updates that your users can rely on.

4. Explore different social media platforms

In 2021, there were 4.48 billion people actively using social media globally, increasing 13.13% year-to-year from 3.69 billion in 2020. 

Social platforms are no longer just a place to connect. People learn, earn, browse, shop, market, and sell on social media platforms like never before. It is highly profitable to have a social media content strategy that aligns with your target audience and caters to their needs.

Engaging with your social media followers, connecting with your audience organically, listening to their stories, asking for feedback, keeping up with the trends, and planning your campaigns accordingly to increase reach are a few of the things you can work on stay as relevant as possible.

Social media platforms also offer analytics dashboards where you can measure the outcomes of your content and make lucrative changes. Leverage social platforms as per your offerings and define a well-rounded content strategy to make the most out of it.

You don’t have to go all-in and target every platform. Pick and choose your relevant audience. For example, if you are a B2B service, most of your audience will be tech-savvy and available on platforms like LinkedIn. If you reach out to people on Instagram for your B2B segment, you would be irrelevant.

Utilize audience intelligence tools to:

• Make informed decisions based on data analytics 
• Read your audience and create a custom content strategy
• Keep your hashtag game strong, and influential marketing on point
• Align your strategy as per the buyer journey stages to offer what your users expect

5. Perform content gap analysis

Content Gap Analysis or CGA is referred to a thorough evaluation of your content and finding any ‘gaps’, errors, and/or shortcomings that may hamper the performance of your content. In other words, CGA means to identify loopholes present in your existing content in order to improve it and make it more useful and comprehensive for the readers.

Performing content gap analysis helps you discover and tighten any loose ends, such as:

• Keyword opportunities 
• Getting an edge over competitors’ content
• Creating comprehensive and inclusive content
• Improving SEO for better SERP ranking, and more.

A standard CGA process includes:

i) A thorough audit of your website content and targeting relevant keywords to tap into search intent

ii) Mapping our buyer journey and examining the content relevance at each stage

iii) Doing thorough market research, especially similar articles ranking on Google’s first page, to identify the missing points, and

iv) Keeping an eye on competitors’ content pieces to offer well-targeted, all-inclusive content to your users.

To do so, there are numerous analytics tools available such as:

• Google Analytics
• SimilarWeb
• SEMrush
• Ahrefs

 To understand and perform CGA better, check out a detailed guide by Search Engine Journal.

6. Identify your audience’s raw nerve

Keep it real to keep it relevant; it is a phrase that stands true when producing the content that your audience needs and admires. The best way to do it is by asking your users what they want, interacting with them at regular intervals to understand where they stand and what they seek, and being active via comment sections.

You can also rely on third-party platforms like Reddit and Quora to participate in discussions where real-time queries and questions are discussed. Another way to identify what people want is via the ‘people also ask’ section and public forums like Answer The Public.

7. Conduct Interviews on HARO

HARO: Help A Reporter Out – is a popular link-building source network where journalists often connect with industry experts for the latest news and insights. Staying active on the HARO network creates ample opportunities to get backlinks for your content and identify ideas that match your target audience. 

As we are aware of the benefits of relevant link building in the world of SEO, HARO serves another purpose of keeping you updated with the industry trends and readers’ pain points. For an in-depth understanding, refer to linkbuilder.io’s article on HARO link building.

8. Try your hands on creating seasonal content

Trending isn’t a tiny word anymore. Be it a trending Instagram reel or meme marketing on the latest scoops, people are engaging with seasonal content.

Be a part of these movements and provide your audience with content. It is all about keeping up with whatever is happening in your niche market and following it. Creating a buzz around festivals and holidays is another way to attract and convert users. 

Take It All

Gone are the days when people were ready to consume anything thrown at them. Now is the time to go audience-centric and produce content that is expected from you. To strive in this highly competitive, experience-driven content space, content creators need to pull their socks to curate mindfully before creating anything and everything. 

From understanding the search intent to analyzing the keyword opportunity via CGA. From trying new tactics to build authority around your content via HARO to keeping tabs on social trends, finding the right path to create relevant content that excites not only bots but your target audience is how you can win big.

User-friendly content wins over random keyword stuffing any day. And, with AI search bots taking the digital space by storm, being relevant with data-driven insights is the key to ranking higher and finding better. Hope these actionable tactics to stay relevant helps you in crafting better content ideas.

May relevancy hail in all our content forms!