The 5 Pillars of Great Content
Every now and then, I come across a piece of content that makes me think, damn, that was awesome. I’m sure you’ve had those moments too.
It happened to me recently when I read a tutorial on some niche AI image generation topic. While reading the article, I thought, wouldn't it be great if I could make content just like that?
So, in this post, I want to share my thoughts on the question: What makes content great?
The result is a list of 5 pillars that make content great, along with some actionable advice.
The Five Pillars
Craft Great Packaging
If you've ever purchased an iPhone from Apple, you know how the packaging exudes quality. You haven't opened the box, but you can already tell that what’s inside is going to be great.
Unboxing the phone and peeling off the plastic from the screen is a beautiful part of the experience. And there's something we can learn from this when it comes to creating content.
If you want people to love your content, make sure the packaging is top notch. The title, thumbnail, and description need to be crafted with purpose and quality.
Deliver the Expected Value
Imagine you're browsing the web, and a compelling headline with a great thumbnail catches your eye, and you click on it. In that moment, you already have an expectation about what you want to see.
If the content doesn't meet your expectation, you'll click away, give it a dislike, or write a negative comment. These negative signals will reduce the extent to which the algorithms distributes the content.
It is essential to deliver the value you promise on the packaging. Or, using the iPhone analogy, the greatest unboxing experience won't matter if the phone inside is broken.
Targeted Distribution
Imagine you're at the best steak house in the world, but you're a vegetarian. You probably won't care about the steak or all the praise it’s getting.
The same principle applies to content: there needs to be a match between product and audience. So, make sure to share your content in the right groups, communities, and platforms.
By distributing, repurposing, and redistributing old content, you're already far ahead of the game - most people just hit 'post' and wait for luck to happen.
Signal Domain Authority
The extent to which the author's expertise matters depends on the type of content. For example, I'll gladly watch a coding tutorial if it solves my problem, regardless of who’s delivering it.
However, there are some topics, where I prefer to listen to people who can signal their expertise. This is especially true for topics like health, finance, and entrepreneurship.
If the content you publish falls into the second category, then signal why you're the right person to listen to.
Provide Actionable Advice
Great value unfolds when you can act immediately on the advice from the content you consume. That's especially true for educational content.
Actionable advice can take many forms here are some specific examples:
- A framework to save time managing an e-mail inbox
- A strategy to invest your money in the stock market
- A method to save taxes on your income
- A project to learn a new programming language
The key takeaway here is that your content should provide value that can be acted on.
In a Nutshell
Since the last pillar I covered was actionable advice, it's only fitting to end this with a bullet summary of action items.
- Be deliberate about the packaging of your content
- Deliver the value that you promise on the packaging
- Understand where your audience is and distribute it accordingly
- Publish within your zone of genius and signal domain authority
- Provide actionable advice that can be acted on immediately
That's all for today. Feel free to share your thoughts with me via my socials linked below.
