3 festive reasons why people will read your content

So you're producing content for your brand. Great. But what's the best way to make sure people read it? There is an obvious answer, and an often neglected one, and we need to be aware of both.

The obvious answer is to focus on the content itself. Obvious, and absolutely right. The content needs to be relevant, which means extensive research to identify the issues that your target audience wants to know about, and it needs to be good, which means time and effort in creating something of quality.

But the often neglected reason that people read or watch content goes beyond the material itself. Sure, there is a rational part of every 'information seeker' that looks for the topics and keywords. But when presented with content, there are some rather more emotional considerations that come to mind - and these become even more important when you consider that you are probably one of many content marketers addressing the key industry issues. Why should they read your content and not someone else's?

Here are three reasons that are often overlooked, which can make a big difference to whether your target audience will bother to download/read your content: Authorship
Who wrote it? Do they have a reputation for good writing? Can the reader see a job title that suggests this person is going to have a valuable opinion? Is there an accreditation at all? Very often, companies put out anonymous content, an approach that I find astonishing in this day of personal connections. Make the name prominent, use a photo, make it clear that this is about a knowledgeable person sharing some great information with you. If they like the look of the author, chances are they will like the content.

Sponsorship
While it is important to help the reader to feel a connection with the author, it is nonetheless useful to leverage the reputation of the company behind the name. If Forrester or Gartner, for example, produce a report, people pay attention [even if they haven't heard of the author]. There is a credibility that comes from the name. And even if your brand is not as well-known, this is an opportunity to put it right.

Make it clear why the company is qualified to comment on the topic. Whether you are a vendor, a consultant or an academic, make sure you position the company clearly. Not only will it add credibility, but it will also help to raise brand-awareness. After all, what's the point of all that work if people read your content and forget who did it?

Friendship
Finally, we come to one of the most obvious reasons why people will read your content: because they know you. They don't have to be close friends. But if you have interacted with them at some point in the past and then they see that you have created some interesting-sounding content, there is a far greater chance that they will have a look at what you have done.

This underlines the point that the whole business of content marketing is inextricably linked with the wider issue of building a social media presence and getting your face seen online in the various communities where you are seeding your content. It is not a quick fix. It also demonstrates the importance of carefully selecting the people who represent your company online. Companies often have junior staff doing the day-to-day tweeting, with the senior experts contributing a twice-yearly article. This is understandable, given the time constraints of the latter, but it is missing a trick because there is no personal bond with the senior expert. [One off-the-cuff solution could be to give joint credits on content...]

The point of this post is two-fold: one, because it occurred to me that there is more to think about when planning content than the material itself - and second, because I thought it was about time I brought a seasonal twist to the Beyond Blog. Authorship, sponsorship, and friendship - the 'three ships' of content marketing!