The 4 R’s of Ridiculously Great Content

You can create as much content as you want, and use the best search engine optimization methods you can get, but if people don’t really care what you have to say, you’re not going to get far.

That’s why I wanted to give you some tips that I use when I’m creating content like blog posts, videos and more.

These tips can help capture your audience and make sure your message resonates with them.

I’m gonna’ call this “The 4 R’s of Ridiculously Great Content” and to get started creating content that will keep your audience riveted, watch the video below (note – a transcript can be found beneath the video):

Video Transcript

I’m super excited to be here today guest blogging for Matt.

Because Matt focuses a lot on content and creating great content, and getting it out there to your audience, I decided I wanted to do something talking a little bit about how to make people interested in what you have to say.

Really, you could create as much content as you want and have the best search engine optimization methods you can get but if people don’t really care what you have to say, you know you’re not getting that far.

So I want to give you some tips that I use when I’m either writing blogs, or I’m doing like what I’m doing here today for you and doing videos, that can help capture your audience and make sure your message resonates with them.

We’re gonna’ call this the 4 R’s, really simple for you to remember and it’s “The 4 R’s of Ridiculously Great Content”.

The 4 R’s of Ridiculously Great Content

Be Relatable

The first R is going to be, “Be Relatable”.

If you read any of my blogs or watch any of my videos, you’ll see that I often tell really funny stories about myself. Or, I talk about things that I suck at or mistakes I’ve made or situations that I’ve gotten in that were just like kind of ridiculous or maybe embarrassing (a lot of the times probably embarrassing).

I do that ’cause of two main reasons:

1. People love a story – they like to follow along with a story and it helps them learn because they can relate it to the real world.
2. People want to talk to someone and to read what someone has to say that’s relatable – they want you to be a real person, not just a drone throwing out advice at them. For the same reason that if you call a customer service center and you get one of those automated robot voices, it drives you nuts. Whereas if you call a customer service center and get a real person, it’s kind of like a sigh of relief.

So always makes sure that your content is relatable, whether that means bringing it on back to you, tell stories about yourself, people you know or whatnot.

Make sure it works correctly for your brand, but don’t be afraid to let your vulnerable side show because that really helps people connect with you.

Be Relevant

Number 2 is, “Be Relevant”.

If there’s an opportunity to take a current event going on in the news and really apply it to your topic in a way that people can learn from, that’s fantastic!

It also can be a really good way to boost your visibility and get your post out there since that topic is going to be trendy.

Now, one very careful warning about this: be sensitive to everything that goes on. Don’t take some sort of natural disaster or mass killing spree and try to make it work to you to sell your product.

What you want to do is only use current events if you can, especially if they are tragic, use them in a way that can teach your audience something important.

In the end, yes you want to get your content out there, but please be sensitive about these events and what goes on and realize that we’re all human and have emotion and so use common sense and basic decency when making those decisions.

But being relevant is always a great idea. People are thinking about a topic, they’re probably already processing through their head and if you are able to help further that processing through things you say in your blog or the content that you put out there, then all the better.

Be Ridiculous

The third R of Ridiculously Interesting Content is, “Be Ridiculous”.

Again, you’ll read my blogs or watch videos that I’ve done and I try to just make them sometimes over the top. I talk about really kind of strange topics that no one would ever think had anything to do with marketing and communications.

I would say in the last couple of months, I’ve written posts about Darth Vader, about toads, about the best mustaches in history. I mean, you name it, I have written about it.

So don’t be afraid to stretch outside of the box of what people normally think about your topic. Grab something that’s unpredictable, that’s not in the norm and that’s going to grab people’s attention and give them a different perspective about what you have to say.

Remember that there’s a lot of people out there creating great content and most likely, anything that you’re writing about has been written about in one way or another. So if you try to bring in some sort of oddball element to what you’re saying to get your point across, it really helps you stand out. It helps accentuate your brand and who you are as an individual.

Be Romantic

And the fourth, and final, R of great content is, “Be Romantic”.

Now, I’m not necessarily saying that you want to shower your audience with roses or chocolates or take them out to a romantic dinner, but you do want to let them know that you care about them.

Make sure that your audience realizes that it’s important to you that they’re there, that they’re reading, listening, being part of the conversation that you’re having with your content.

You can do that through asking questions at the end, or doing Q&A that you accept their questions and you respond with whole blog posts that are responses to thing that they really want to know. Make sure that if anyone leaves comments on your articles that you respond and you give them an actually thought out and good response.

People want to know they matter. They want to know you care about them and you’ll develop a much more loyal audience that will come back again and again spread the word about you if you do let them know that you care.

And after all, if you’re in a business that these are your market, you probably should care. If you don’t, you might want to look for a different business.

Laura Petrolino is Founder and Managing Director of Flying Pig Consulting, a communications and business consulting firm which focuses on the needs of startups, small business and non-profits. She is also co-host of Call a Biz Hero, a web-based, Superhero led business talk show.

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