Who Do You Think You’re Talking To? Make Your Content Count

BY erdal

Updated: 11th October, 2022

Content is content, right? Not necessarily. In order to make your content work for you, you need to know who your target market is, what the purpose of your content is and you need to adjust the tone and the language that you use accordingly. This will not only help you to engage with the right people and show your target audience that you know what you’re talking about but it will help your content to have the desired effect.

When it comes down to it, compelling content is all about the English-Geek term “discourse community”. A discourse community defines a group of people who use the same language, terms and patterns that are based on an assumed level of knowledge or understanding.  Although initially the term was used to describe academic communities, in its wider sense, the term “discourse community” is important to us all. By determining which discourse community you want to connect with you can adapt your language and tone to appeal to that group of people.

This community can be anything, from a set of academics to a particular area in industry, right down to a group of school children; each group has their own special way of communicating, set words that show they are in the know, and evolving trends that soon show who is out of the loop. (Try saying “cool” to a teenager these days and you’ll soon find out that it just isn’t cool any more….)

So, Who ARE You Talking to?

Finding your target market is fairly simple. Start by looking at what you are marketing, who you are marketing to, and how you want your web content, blog and social media readers to respond to your content. Once you’ve got a good grasp on this, you need to plan your content so that it will reach the right people at the right time. You’re not going to have much luck with B2B content if it is aired out of business hours. Similarly, if you are targeting B2C, weekends or out of work hours will probably reap the best results.

Once you know when you need to post information and the right tone and language to use, you can plan what you are going to write about. It is essential that your information is accurate, compelling and up to date. Whilst there will always be a plethora of information on the Web, there will be lots of red herrings too, so weeding out the good stuff from the bad, outdated, or inaccurate is key to the success of your content.

Getting a Kick Out Of Content

Getting the content to the right audience is half the battle. Making your readers more likely to respond in the way you want is key. When deciding what to write about you need to consider not only who will be reading, but what you want the reader to do. Whether you are aware of it or not, all media has a desired response, from a piece of art, to a blockbuster movie, a novel, a blog and the more obvious adverts.

Establish the purpose of your content; it may be to increase traffic, improve online exposure, gather social media followers, to gain leads. Depending on the purpose of your content you may need to include a specific call to action, for example “follow us on Twitter”, or “contact us for a free quote”. Without establishing the purpose of your content it is likely that the finished product will fall on deaf ears; you may have delivered the right people with the right information but if they don’t know what to do with it then the exercise is futile.

Getting content right may seem like a daunting task. But when you do, it is great! By putting in the leg work you will benefit from great results from your content and, in all likelihood, once you get into it, you’ll enjoy the journey a lot more too.

If you are struggling to make your content count, get in touch with Bravr, the digital marketing agency.  (do you see what we did there….?)

 

Written by erdal

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