Am I the only one who has frequent stare downs with my computer screen hoping that my desire for brilliant content will be enough to manifest it?
Maybe like me, you’ve even imagined who your ideal avatar is and even given said avatar a name but still find it hard to develop content for them. I used to imagine what my avatar (the “Irises” of the world) wanted or needed when launching their own online business but it wasn’t until I started listening in on social conversations that I was able to really discover what was on my avatar’s mind. Unless you have a mind-reading superpower or your avatar is eerily identical to you, you’re going to have to go through the process of content discovery.
When you put yourself in your avatar or audience’s world you discover what kind of content would serve them best. For example, what are they saying in the passion-filled threads of Reddit or what burning questions are being asked in Quora?
Find your audience; listen to what they’re saying then answer their questions and address their concerns (not your own) through content.
Here are a few action steps you can take to get a better understanding of your audience.
Content Discovery Checklist
- Go to social media watering holes and listen in on the conversations already happening in your niche.
- Do a search in Reddit or Quora to get a feel for the pain points of your audience.
- Join FB Groups in your niche and get an inside look at the questions being asked or the feedback produced from polls.
- Send out a survey, even if it’s just to family and friends, it can be surprisingly insightful.
- Do a keyword search on Google or Pinterest to see what words or phrases people are using in your niche. You can also plug those phrases into a keyword research tool like KWFinder or UberSuggeset to see what the search volume and difficulty score is for those keywords.
- Find people who you look up to, who are doing what you want to do. See what questions are being asked or what comments are being left on their YouTube videos, podcasts, blogs, FB Groups, etc.
Discover content by identifying your avatar’s problems
As you listen to online conversations, can you identify a recurring problem or an area of confusion in your niche? Once you have a grasp (progress over perfection here) on what’s taking up space in your audience’s mind; write down five specific questions as it relates to that main problem or concern.
For further insight, use a tool such as answerthepublic.com for an aggregated view of the questions behind search queries. You can then turn these questions into content for blog posts, videos, podcasts.
How can you help them solve their problem?
What unique experience do you have that you can use to serve your audience? Think about what you excel at, what is it that you’re a 7, 8, or 9, at? What naturally comes up in conversation or what do people seek you out for?
Use your unique positioning in life to answer your avatar’s questions and ultimately, guide them to solve their problem.
Now, let’s turn that inspiration into perspiration!
Ready for the next step in your content marketing journey? Read my post on Content Development to get a step-by-step plan for creating consistent content.
Get a head start on your content development plans with my free content calendar template.
