Creating valuable content is vital in marketing online today. But when you’re putting all this content out there without substantial feedback, how do you know if it’s valuable?

We believe that valuable content has three characteristics:

• High Quality – Execution meets expectations of audience for the channel
• Relevant – Focuses on the needs of your audience
• Frequent – Is distributed on a regular schedule

Valuable Content Defined

But in order to create content that fits right in the middle of the chart above, you must be able to relate properly to yourself and your expertise, your audience, and whatever distribution channel you are using.

Know Yourself

Knowing yourself means being insightful, being honest and open, and staying focused on the topic at hand.

Be insightful – stick to your core competency and take a position on trends and projections.  If you want to influence your market, you must demonstrate expertise and build people’s trust in your knowledge.

Be transparent and own your point of view. It will lend credibility to your content and also personalize your unique message and voice within channels.

Be focused on one message at a time to offer a depth of knowledge that meets your audience’s needs.

Know Your Audience

Creating content is about relationship building.  To build good relationships, you need to speak to the needs of your audience. That is why it is crucial to have a well-defined audience. Don’t try to cast a wide net. The more focused your content, the more relevant it will be to your audience.

Being focused in this way will also increase interaction with your audience through things like comments, blog replies, tweets and retweets.

Know Your Distribution Channels

Knowing the nuances of your distribution channel is very closely related to knowing your audience.  People use specific sites and media in vastly different ways. Meeting user/audience expectations is the key to effective communication.

Two areas that may require some learning and experimentation are voice and frequency.

Voice

Valuable content speaks the right language and uses the appropriate tools. It can really turn an audience off when you dabble in a channel and “just don’t get it.”

The only way to understand the subtleties of a community is to join in and be a part of it. The same is true of creating in any media. When you tailor your unique voice and message to a channel, you will get genuine interaction.

Frequency

Post your content at intervals that will engage and not annoy your audiences in each channel. Experiment with publishing frequency for a channel and get a feel for what works. Then start a content creation and distribution schedule, and consistently deliver on that schedule.

Think like a pre-Tivo (or pre-Hulu) television network and set up appointment viewing with your audience. (Cosby Show/Family Ties every Thursday night anyone?) If your blog comes out every Monday, people will come to expect it and look forward to it.

Use this technique across all channels to keep a steady, multi-faceted flow of interaction.

Takeaway Message

You can create valuable content if you know yourself, know your audience, and know your distribution channels.

My Questions to You

What do you think makes valuable content? Have you experienced people posting content too much until you were fed up?