We live in a digital age when it’s usual to spend hours on end staring at a screen. In reality, the average American adult spends 3 hours and 43 minutes every day on their mobile devices. That’s more than 24 hours in a week!
While it’s important to limit your online time, screen time isn’t always negative. Much of what we see on the internet is a digital reflection of people’s lives.
It’s a way of capturing moments with our smartphones’ cameras and staying in touch with one another via social media. And who’s to say that keeping in touch is a negative thing?
Furthermore, the increase in screen time allows companies to have more one-on-one interactions with customers and create stronger relationships with brand advocates no matter where they are on the globe.
After the pandemic, customers are spending more time indoors and online; therefore, marketers must emphasize interacting with each community member through personalized messages.
That is why community-driven content is the key to success.
What is Community-driven Content?
Creating content that connects with a specific audience is what community-driven content implies. It’s frequently motivated by what your community finds fascinating and wants to connect with.
This type of content should be unique and relevant, as well as suited to your target audience. Since all content is developed for your target audience, it only makes perfect sense to consider what they want to see.
It will boost your content marketing outcomes and deliver true value to your customers if done right. As a result, your brand will be in a lot stronger position.
Consider this: if you create content based on your community’s ‘wants,’ you have a lot better chance of keeping people interested and engaged. At the same time, an engaged and enthusiastic audience is more likely to convert.
What is the Need For Investing in Community-driven Content?
It’s time to ask the big question: is it worthwhile? YES. To begin with, community-driven content produces better outcomes. You’re not only connecting with your audience through actual discussions, but you’re also learning about their views and feelings (quantifiable data/feedback).
If your audience like your content, they will want to continue connecting with and supporting your brand. Even though it is not always a deliberate decision, people want to feel appreciated and tend to reciprocate that praise (in this case, by buying).
Other business-orientated advantages might include:
- Enhanced brand awareness
- Greater engagement
- Increasing your audience’s reliability and credibility
- Increasing the number of leads/sales
- Increasing the number of referrals
- Making it easier to find new staff
- Greater customer retention and loyalty
Furthermore, customers are becoming increasingly conscious of marketing strategies. You should not mislead anyone with salesy content; instead, you will lose trust in the eyes of your audience.
Being real as a brand (or a person) makes people like you (66% of customers rank transparency as one of the most essential brand traits).
3 Effective Ways to Create Community-driven Content
We now understand the whats and whys. The next step is to figure out how. There are several methods to this. This section will go through some of the most effective community-driven content development strategies.
1. Always Listen to Your Community
There is no better method to find out what your audience is thinking than to ask them. Participate in conversations, read the comments on your social media posts, and keep track of brand mentions. Listening is sometimes necessary before creating content.
This will provide you with a wealth of information on what your community wants. As a result, receiving valuable information about what content could be favorably accepted.
One of the best examples of this is listening to your customer’s problems, challenges, and what they’re trying to address. Once you’ve identified the issues, you can give remedies in the form of content.
Another point to note is the creation of niche content. There have been a few requests for it, and because they may be comparable to the rest of your community, why not attempt personalizing a piece of content to them?
You should, however, stay careful. Not all community suggestions will result in high-quality content. The trick is to understand how to choose.
2. Give Limelight to Your Audience
Your audience can be quite knowledgeable about the topics covered by your community. They may be specialists in similar industries or have a strong interest if they are active and constantly connect with your content.
Why not invite them to pitch in? They will very certainly be overjoyed to be recognized within the community in which they live.
Assume you are working on a blog about the top features of your fintech software. People who use it may already be specialists in the financial industry and find your product valuable in their daily lives.
So you send out a tweet soliciting feedback from your community. Once you’ve identified the most detailed responses, ask whether they’d want to be featured, and then highlight them!
However, bear in mind not to ask too much. Nobody likes to work for free, and creating content is still considered an effort. So, be aware of what you’re asking your community to give or provide money/rewards/gifts in exchange for their efforts.
3. Be Open to Communicating
If you’re establishing a community or already have one, it’s a good idea to keep an open conversation with them. Analyzing your audience’s response to gain information about your content is often perfect.
However, discovering blog content ideas only using this method might be tough at times. Particularly in smaller communities.
So, what are your options? — Ask. This principle is as straightforward as it gets: ask your audience what they want to see. A great call to action.
If you watch YouTube, you’ve certainly seen at least one video where the content producer asks, ‘What would you like to see next?’ And more often than not, the comments section is brimming with amazing content ideas. Nobody understands what your audience wants to see better than your audience, so take advantage of that!
There are several examples online, particularly by influencers/content creators, where the majority of their work is based on community input. This allows you to make an educated decision about how well the content will be accepted before even beginning to create it.
Wrapping It Up
Community is at the core of many consumer-facing companies, and for a good reason. Being open and interactive with your community is the most effective way to increase customer retention and loyalty.
Having an open conversation with your community allows people to feel valued and noticed rather than hiding behind a corporate barrier.
Remember, if you try to fake friendliness or transparency, many people will see straight through you, and it will backfire. Maintain your integrity, and your community will reward you.
