As a content marketer, engagement is everything. You need a community of loyal followers who know, like and trust you.
How do you create engagement? By solving problems for your readers. But if you think about it, the problems you solve never stand alone. They’re closely related to other problems, issues and concerns that also need solving.
Are you creating content to address all your reader’s problems?
Certainly we want to go deep, offering content that thoroughly discusses our topic. We don’t want to get tunnel-visioned though. We need to go wide as well, addressing related issues, so our readers don’t start looking elsewhere when they need additional information.
Levels of Engagement
Think of engagement as target practice. Your goal is make your visitors stop whatever they’re doing and read. Hopefully you’ll connect, build relationship and inspire loyalty.
You do that by connecting on one of three levels:
Primary content. In the center of your target is the bull’s eye. This is the core problem you solve for your readers.
If you provide information about blogging, for instance, how to blog is your core idea. You talk about different types of blog posts, idea generation and increasing traffic — tips, tricks and advice related to blogging.
Secondary content. Surrounding the bull’s eye is the second ring, where you can still score big as a content marketer. In this ring are the issues that aren’t directly related to your core topic but can still keep your readers from enjoying success.
In our blogging example, secondary content relates to monetizing your blog, increasing your subscription base and putting advanced techniques to work. This is the information that takes your readers beyond the basics, making them feel confident that they know what they’re doing.
Tertiary content. The third and final ring is your “surround sound.” It adds interest, entertains, or makes the overall experience better.
For bloggers, it might be a thought piece, a how-I-got-started piece, or a post about creativity or social media. These pieces may not talk about your core topic per se. Instead they entertain, inspire or alert your readers to important side issues.
Engage your readers on every level
The best content providers go wide as well as deep. Even if you cover a narrow niche, your topic doesn’t exist in a vacuum.
Remember when you were developing expertise in your content area? You probably had to learn skills in a wide variety of areas. So don’t hold back. Share those issues with your readers.
Do you agree? Have any additional thoughts? Feel free to share in the comment box below.
