Step 4: Post Great Content – How to Create Great Online Content

This week we are covering the 5 steps to creating a social media plan. Step 1 is to identify your target market. Step 2 is to match the right platforms to reach your target audiences. Step 3 is to create a social media calendar and schedule your engagements. Today we conquer step 4.

It has been very difficult to write this blog series because every day I have wanted to say this was the most important step. I couldn’t do it because I cannot honestly say that one of these steps is more important than the other. They are all critically important.

Step four is to create great content. This sounds obvious but too many companies want to post a five page website and “set it and forget it.” That just doesn’t work. The sites that web visitors visit are the ones that create valuable content and offer it to the masses. The sites that web visitors see are the ones that search engines recommend and the search engines recommend sites that provide regular content first. So it is critical for you to create and publish great content often.

Today, through our Twitter account (@BoxlessMedia), we are going to offer some other advice from industry greats (Forbes, Entrepreneur, and more). Make sure you follow us to get some amazing advice. But before that, check out these great tips from Boxless Media to creating amazing content.

1. You have 10 seconds to grab a reader’s attention. Be cognizant of that make sure when you write your title and introductory paragraph you hook the reader that they continue on with the rest of your content (or make sure they get the message in 10 seconds).
2. Visitors come to a site with a specific goal in mind. Usually it is to get a certain bit of information. Be sure to provide that information. Spend a day in their shoes (or at their mouse/keyboard) and make sure that you are providing what they are looking for. If they don’t get it from you, they are going to get it from your competitor.
3. Build a relationship with your readers. There are certain sites that I read every day. I read Forbes twitter feed every day because they provide great pertinent information. I often retweet articles from them. Become that Forbes for your customers. I know I have readers who read and repost my content all the time. Those readers will become fans and followers. One day those fans and followers will become customers.
4. Write a great title and/or use an introductory graphic. I always spend a lot of time thinking about titles and intro graphics. By doing that, you can spark interest and clicks. Titles are what Google, other search engines and customers see first. They are what determine whether someone is going to read the rest of your content. Be sure to spend a good amount of time writing a creative enough title to capture the attention of potential readers, web searchers and search engines.
5. Write for humans but remember computers are reading too. While I have a collection of amazing friends, some of my best friends online are computers. Computers (and their programmed robots) are some of your first readers and probably your most loyal evangelists (sorry raised Catholic here). They are the ones that spread the word most about your content. Follow our Twitter feed for some great articles on how to write for SEO.
6. Understand that many of your readers want info fast. Write intelligently but succinctly so that busy visitors can get what they need quickly.
7. Organize your writing and use proper grammar. Get someone to re-read your posts to make sure there are no typos. Also, write in a word processing program that automatically grammar checks (or copy and paste it before you post to double check grammar). I wrote a few great blogs on grammar and writing structure. Check them out at Grammar Tips Pt. 1 and Grammar Tips Pt. 2.
8. Don’t be afraid to uses graphics and infographics to illustrate important points. I post infographics all the time because they share information in different ways and I know people are very visual beings.

I think that one of the most important steps to any social media plan is the generation of great content. The aforementioned eight steps will get you started in the right direction. Learn them, love them and go forth and create great content.