Employees huddled around desk discussing branding strategy
It’s not your imagination that creating content is getting more difficult. You’re not only competing with a sea of ever-growing voices, but you’re also going up against yourself. The pieces you publish today could overshadow the ones you’re drumming up for tomorrow. Plus, audiences are increasingly challenging to captivate in the long run.
One glaringly obvious reason is they’re bombarded with digital information. When you consider the statistics on business email alone, it’s startling. A survey of U.S. adults found 67% feel overwhelmed by their email inboxes. Plus, 82% miss crucial emails because of too many messages in their inboxes. If people feel this way about their work email, imagine how they must perceive social media and all online content combined.
So, how can you carve out your unique voice amongst all the chatter? Helping your content stand out means realizing it won’t resonate with everyone. But you can make it engaging and compelling for the audiences that matter. Here are some tips on how to break through the noise.
Determine Your Niche
What’s driving the impulse when you hear a song that makes you want to stop and listen? More than likely, it’s a unique voice. There’s something different about how the singer sounds, the lyrics, or the emotional depth of the tune. The song doesn’t sound the same as the majority of what’s out there in a good way. You can tell it’s not manufactured to fit in with the crowd.
In the same way, content creators should harness what makes them different. To establish thought leadership among an audience, you need to determine what’s special about your perspective. What can you contribute to the discussion that no one else can? Usually, this contribution is rooted in your experience, particularly in your industry.
In a sense, determining your thought leadership niche isn’t so different from branding. Yes, you might be selling spaghetti sauce on a shelf full of competing jars of the same product. But chances are, there’s something distinct about your formula, recipe and history. Hone in on those characteristics, emphasizing how they relate to your audience’s needs and aspirations.
Focus On Quality And Relevance
Sometimes content creators focus too much on meeting certain metrics. They hear it’s advantageous to publish at least one blog post a week. Or, they try to fix poor-performing content with more content. But each day, around 7.5 million blog posts are published online.
It’s a ton of content for anyone to consume, and the reality is most people will cherry-pick and skim through what’s relevant to them. Only 2% of bloggers are hitting the publish button daily for good reason. When it comes to keeping an audience interested, quality matters more than quantity.
Finding your unique voice when there’s so much noise around you won’t happen if you’re simply meeting a production quota. It’s better to focus on making the content you create as satiating as possible. Putting effort into a piece with audience relevance goes further than filling in an open spot on your content calendar. When sharing this thoughtfully-crafted content out with your audience, you’ll leave a lasting social media footprint that goes beyond a standard post. With thought leadership, it’s about creating value instead of merely imitating what someone else found success with.
Tell Your Story
Storytelling can be more effective than a list of statistics. Behind the technique is more oomph than laying out the cold, hard facts. You’re using analogies, painting pictures and stirring up emotions. Saying something through metaphorical narratives often makes information stick in people’s minds.
Okay, so your company might be the number one soft drink manufacturer in the world. While this fact is impressive, what does it mean to an audience? Really nothing of substance. It’s a data point you can leverage, but it doesn’t establish an emotional connection. It’s why ads tell the story behind facts like these by showing the why.
Maybe you’re the market leader because audiences find comfort in your product. Perhaps it’s the memories they create when consuming your product during social gatherings and celebratory moments. Stories are relatable, establish an emotional connection and compel people’s desires to learn more. Telling your story also helps you highlight what makes you unique.
Creating A Unique Voice
The effects of information overload can be serious. It leads to analysis paralysis, limiting social activities, demotivation and feelings of dissatisfaction. Consequently, content creators may feel like they’re tasked with pushing a boulder up a steep hill. How do you create useful and valuable content with a distinct twist so audiences stay engaged?
The answers may take some time to figure out. However, you can develop a unique voice by determining your niche, focusing on relevance and telling your story. By leveraging the differences an audience can relate to and connect with, what you have to say will start attracting attention.