Using Content to Communicate Your Company Culture
Posted on Mon, Apr 29, 2013 @ 09:29 PM
“The secret to using free content as a business driver is to be the host of the conversation your audience cares about, not the subject of it.”
-Shane Snow, Founder of Contently
Show don’t tell. That should be your mantra when using content to communicate your company’s culture. Telling customers how cool, innovative or helpful your company is won’t help you win their trust. In fact, making yourself the subject of the conversation just makes you look like you’re self-focused. Instead, use content to communicate your company’s culture by showing that you’re customer-focused.
So, how do you do it?
1. Take the customer-focused content test.
Every time you create an article, blog post, guide, or video, ask yourself this key question: will this help my customers succeed? This is a test. Take it again and again. And never fail it. When you hold your content to this standard, you ensure that you’ll always stay true to creating customer-focused content. Remember, content marketing is all about offering no-strings attached resources to gain an audience’s trust and eventually turn them into customers.
Go here to learn three tips for creating customer-focused content for your business.
2. Establish Your Company’s Voice
How you communicate is just as important as what you communicate. That’s where voice comes into play. Whether you have an internal team creating content for your company or you tap into an agency to help create content, establish guidelines for your company’s “voice.” Even though the content you create shouldn’t selfishly shine a spotlight on yourself, it also shouldn’t be cold and boring.Your goal is to gain attention and keep readers coming back for more. In a sea of information, the only content that gets noticed is costomer-focused content that’s got personality.
Learn specifically how to establish your company’s voice HERE!
3. Identify the best channels to communicate your company’s culture.
Is your audience comprised of single-mothers looking for services that help them balance home-life with work-life? Then, lengthy white papers shared on your blog might not be best content channel. Instead, consider channels like Pinterest or Facebook to share short tips that offer immediate value. Or, is your audience comprised of school teachers, seeking solutions for their students with special needs? In that case, write well-researched blog posts outlining proven teaching techniques. Regardless of which channels you choose, make sure they’re the ones that match your customer’s content consumption habits. First, find your audience online, then craft content that can be easily shared on the channels they prefer.
Photo by Flickr User uggboy
About the Author:
Rachel LaCour Niesen is co-founder and Chief Ideation Officer of Plume & Post. Find more musings from Rachel on Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest.