These days, internet users (your target audience inclusive) are bombarded with a lot of content every time they are online. Whether on their favourite social media platform or in their inbox, there’s just so much content of different forms screaming for their attention. As a content creator for a brand/business, you must acknowledge this competition for attention and ensure that you put your best foot forward every time you put a piece of content out there. Simply put, sending out high-quality content is not a choice – it’s a must!
In this article, I will discuss four criteria you must consider when creating your content to ensure that they are of the highest quality.
1. Clarity
This describes the quality of being easily understood. That is, you are getting your points across to your audience in a clear and succinct way. Your content should explain complex ideas in a simple and easy-to-digest manner.
A common mistake businesses make is to forget that they are not the target audience and so when communicating they use technical terms only experts understand.
You should also realise that you might be communicating with users at different stages of your buyer’s journey. For example, a customer at the awareness stage may not be familiar with some terms that a repeat customer already knows. You shouldn’t assume that they understand what you are trying to communicate.
2. Depth
While creating content that is clear and concise, you also need to make sure you go deep into the topic. Deep here refers to providing answers to questions your customers might have regarding the subject matter. Your content should fully arm the reader with just enough information to be able to complete the desired action.
For example, if you’re offering a course programme, you would want to provide information on the course modules, facilitators, how to make payment, next steps, etc. Basic questions that the intended audience might have.
Going deep does not mean you should go overboard with information. Remember, your target audience is already dealing with an information overload. You don’t want to lose them after you have gotten their attention.
The general rule is to go as deep as possible without compromising on clarity
3. Usefulness
The usefulness of content refers to its ability to solve the problem of the intended audience. What is the goal of the content? What customer needs does the goal connect to? Does it sufficiently address the reason the user is visiting your page?
4. Presentation
Now you’ve done all the hard work of creating useful content with clarity and the right depth, you don’t want to sabotage all that effort with a poor presentation. As humans, we make a lot of assumptions based on the appearance of a thing. This is quite crucial because the first impression people have when they come in contact with your brand will determine how they will continue to interact with you. Here are a few tips to consider:
- Pay attention to the layout.
- Use clear and readable fonts
- Make sentences short with short paragraphs instead of a wall of text.
- Use headings and subheadings to make the content easier to read.
- Use images and video that enhance your content
You would notice that the focus of the criteria we have covered is enhancing the user experience. If you want to create content that stands you out from your competitors, you must put the interest of the customer at the forefront of your content creation efforts.