Everyone wants their “30-seconds-of-fame.” But a brief moment in the spotlight doesn’t necessarily equate with longterm success in content marketing.
Vanity…Vanity…All’s Vanity!
Obsession with metrics can be your undoing. Focus too much on them and you’ll miss the most important thing.
But…what could be more important than numbers?
Playing the numbers game in social media, online in general, and with your blog in particular will overwhelm you.
It’s essential that you step away from the crowd clamoring for “Likes” or “Follows.” Leverage your expertise into something that’s more sustainable and valuable…over the long-haul.
Thinking Longterm and Not About Virality
Content marketing for dentists (and everyone else) is a long game. It’s such because the longer you stay at it the smaller the number of those willing to do so will remain in competition with you. That translates into a greater opportunity for influence by sheer perseverance.
But you must persevere at the right things. Consistently uninformative or non-useful content will not keep you in the game.
Content marketing demands more than that.
“Going viral isn’t a strategy. It’s not something you can ever plan for, or even work toward. It’s not a goal, strategy, or plan. If you want to own your space, start by thinking about how you can become a true voice in that space. Give me some real value, something that enhances the lives of your audience, and I will be more inclined to click “Like” on your page and retweet your tweets. Multiply that by a million people and you’ll get your viral hit–but your focus should be value, not virality.” 1
Your Biggest Competition Isn’t Your Competitor
Frankly, not everyone is willing to invest time, resources, or energy into content creation. And if you did it wouldn’t necessarily mean you’re reaching your audience.
What keeps your audience engaged with you is your ability to compete for the one thing they have in short supply.
Attention!
Vanity metrics, if anything, reveal captured attention spans for a brief moment. Enough to get a click, a “Like,” a one-time share.
It’s intoxicating because the ticker-total increases and it appears audience engagement is growing.
But what about five minutes later, an hour later, a day, week, or month later?
”The problem with high page views – People live for the immediate, the now. But here’s the deal: people also want substance. They want solid solutions to their problems.”
Your ability to strategically and consistently capture their attention is what’s worth measuring. Listen, research, curate, and create content that informs, intuitively connects, and instills trust. Then you’ll accomplish something way more valuable than a high follower count.
Content Creation Strategies That Work Instead of Obsessing Over Going Viral
Listen to your intuition
This is your ability to dial-in to your audience. Intuitive listening begins from a common sense position.
Content creation can easily lose its “humanity.” This happens when strategic thinking replaces emotional connection.
Intuitive listening gives you the pause to turn an ear to what’s driving your audience in the moment. It starts with trends but it goes beyond that.
- Know your audience well enough to create content that speaks their language.
- Apply the “golden rule” to your content creation. Simply communicate with them as you would want to be communicated with.
- Feel their “pain” before you assume how to solve their problem. This is empathy at a content level.
Research to curate and create
Epic content starts with research. The initial goal of research is curation.
To curate is to find, evaluate, extract, and expand.
Finding, evaluating, extracting, and expanding useful and engaging content energizes your own content creation. It’s an essential step in the process of audience engagement.
- Find your go-to content sources and routinely read with your audience in mind.
- File your research for easy access when you need content ideas or content to share.
- Focus your research on what you intuitively understand to be relevant and useful to your audience.
Create content to inform
Again the primary goal of dental content creation is to inform before it compels and/or promotes. Informative content is rich in solutions to problems and answers to questions your audience is experiencing.
- Informative content shows you’re listening. Content that reflects the real issues your audience is facing will improve your engagement.
- Informative content gives you an advantage over otherwise salesy, overly technical, or self-serving content.
- Informative content sets you up as a go-to thought leader. Your audience will invest their resources as they trust your expertise.
Publish and share content to build longterm trust (not momentary fame)
This gets back to the essence of content marketing for dentists and others.
Focus on going-viral and you’ll feel the pressure to impress, one-up, and stay in the spotlight. Focus on content that resonates with your audience and you’ll build longterm trust – something that’s not sustainable where mere vanity is concerned.
- Build longterm trust by consistently curating, sharing, and creating content that serves your audience. Take the focus off you and place it on the “story” your audience is experiencing.
- Give before you take. In fact, view content creation as a give-give-give endeavor. What you give will return when it’s perceived that your motivation is to be useful.
There has to be more to content creation than your 30-seconds-of-fame. The glory of that half-minute in the spotlight will fade…but taking the road-less-traveled will make all the difference for your audience…and you!
