There are 2 ways. If I am working as a content consultant AND content writer for a client, I come up with my own suggestions regarding what sort of content to write to engage the right audience. If I’m working just as a content writer I’ll leave it up to the client to either send me the exact titles or a rough idea of the topics and then accordingly I write content. Even if I’m working just in the capacity of a content writer I give suggestions to my clients and it’s up to them whether they want to follow those suggestions or not.
So how do I decide what to write for a particular business or industry?
The fundamentals remain the same. The content should be
- Relevant
- Well-written and well-formatted
- Error-free
- Informative and educational
- Engaging and convincing
- Scalable
Once these things are taken care of I start focusing on the audience for the specific business or industry. The audience for a company that manufactures and markets water pumps would be totally different from the audience for a company selling fashion accessories. Even the language differs. But almost all the clients want
- Better search engine rankings
- Better response on social networking websites like Facebook and Twitter
- Good conversion rate
Not every business requires a blog. Not every business requires informative articles. Some businesses require blog posts, some require informative articles, some require case studies, some require Facebook and Twitter content and some require email marketing content. The content writing differs from channel to channel.
If a business wants to target people on LinkedIn the content should be business-oriented. It should be data driven. You don’t find cute-cat and cute-dog videos on LinkedIn but you will find plenty of them on Facebook and even serious businesses find themselves indulging in such activities (done properly there is nothing wrong in it). Real-life examples are used to refer to problems and offer solutions.
Whether my clients are aware of this or not, most of the content that I write I write for engagement. I keep it interactive as much as possible. In order to achieve that, I constantly keep in mind what my client’s customers or clients would find useful, informative and if it can be helped, interesting. For instance, there is a private investigative agency for which I write content on an ongoing basis. In different blog posts I talk about different facets of investigation work, what sort of efficiency is required, how privacy is respected and what all it takes to be a competitive investigator whether it is private investigation or corporate investigation. You need to educate your customers and clients because then they feel empowered and their need to feel empowered helps me decide what sort of content I write for a particular business or industry.