Why your content strategy needs to be customer focused

Where does your content inspiration come from?

As a business owner – or as the operator of a website – creating content can be a seriously exciting endeavour.

After all, this is your area of expertise. This is your passion and a big part of your life. You have so much to say and so much to share with your audience. Why shouldn’t you go a little wild?

Well, let’s slow down a little. All of this passion and drive is important, and your authority and love for what you do will really help you craft engaging content, but you need more than this.

When creating content, it is imperative that you keep in mind what your customer wants to see and what they want to know.

This customer-focus needs to be the foundation that you build your content strategy upon.

Here are a few areas of focus to get you started.

1. Understanding customer interest

So, how do you find this out? The most obvious answer is simply to ask. Seek feedback through comments on your page or through direct emails and interaction. Engage in dialogue across your social media channels to discover which topics are at the forefront of your audience’s mind. In fact, social media is a rich resource in its own right. Head to platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn, and use search terms and hashtags to discover more about the kind of discourse and conversation that is surrounding your industry. This will give you a good idea of what you need to be talking about.

2. Examining analytics

Website analytics also provide important data. Which content pieces have your audience reacted positively to in the past? Can these topics be expanded upon or explored in more depth for maximum impact?

Don’t forget user behaviour when examining your analytics — popular purchases and service requests can let you know which topics are most important to your audience.

You can target your content with increasing accuracy by using analytics data to create customer segments. These segments will give you a better idea of which customers you are focusing on with each piece of content.

3. Answering the right questions

And then there are search engines and question platforms. Google’s Rich Snippet search results provide answers to questions commonly asked by users. Meanwhile, platforms like Quora provide crucial insight into the questions on everyone’s lips. Search for your industry via these channels and seek out inspiration for customer-focused content.

4. A long-term strategy

Remember also to be smart when crafting your long-term strategy. Do you stock any seasonal-specific products or services? If so, you need to support this with a content strategy that drives interest and understanding at key points throughout the year. A considered long-term strategy delivers big rewards.