Create Content That Gets You Noticed

Have you ever created something that you thought was really good, you spent time on it, you put your thought into it, maybe you even thought, “This is really going to be helpful to people,” and then you posted it and nothing happened? A few likes, maybe a comment from your mom, and you’re sitting there thinking, “What happened?”

Today we’re going to talk about that because if you’re an author, a speaker, or a coach, your content isn’t really about you. It’s about the people that you’re trying to reach, and sometimes the reason our content doesn’t get noticed isn’t because we’re creating bad content or we’re bad at creating content.

It’s because we’re talking about the wrong things, or we’re talking about the right things in a way that doesn’t make people stop and pay attention. We’ve already talked about choosing the right places to show up and making sure that you’re actually reaching the right people, but today we’re going to talk about what you say once you get there.

What to say

Because the goal isn’t simply to post something. The goal is to create something that makes the right person stop and say, “That’s me.” So let’s start with something that may sound obvious, but it is easy to forget. Your audience doesn’t care that you need to post three times a week. They don’t care that you have a content calendar to fill.

They don’t care if you haven’t posted since Tuesday. They are out there living their lives, dealing with problems, thinking about their families, their jobs, their relationships, their grief, their health, their dreams, their fears, and their questions, and then they sit down, and they open their phone. Your content appears in front of them, and the question you want to ask yourself isn’t, “What do I need to post today?”

It’s, “Why does that person, or what does that person that I’m trying to reach really need when they sit down?” And that’s where your good content begins. So let’s say you’re a speaker, and you work with parents. You could create a post that says, “Three things I’ve learned about parenting.” That’s fine, but I think that the parent you’re trying to reach is more specific than that.

Details

Maybe they’re exhausted. Maybe they’re struggling with a teenager, or they’re feeling that they’ve lost connection with their child. Maybe they’re wondering if they’re doing something wrong or if they’re not doing anything right. What if your post began, “If your teenager barely talks to you anymore, here’s something I want you to remember”?

That’s going down a different path to a parent who is sitting on the other side of that phone, and it’s going to feel different. Or let’s give you another example. Maybe you’re a grief coach. You could post, “Five things you should know about grief,” or—You can dig a little deeper. What if you said, “Nobody warned me that grief could make me angry with the people that I love”?

Now, you’ve created a moment of recognition. Someone who’s grieving might stop and think I’m not the only one who feels that way, and that is powerful content. So one of the best ways to get someone’s attention is to make them feel seen, and you don’t do that by talking about yourself. You do it by understanding.

Connection through understanding

So if you’re a marriage speaker, maybe your audience is full of couples who feel like they’re roommates instead of spouses. So you could write five ways to improve your marriage, or you could say, “When was the last time that you and your spouse had a conversation that wasn’t about your kids, the bills, or what’s happening tomorrow?”

So that’s more specific, and it’s real, and it’s something that someone can recognize in themselves. So if you’re a Christian speaker who encourages women through the difficult seasons, let’s think about what you could say. You could say you love God and still … You can love God and still be exhausted by what you’re walking through.

Now, someone who has been feeling guilty because they’re struggling may stop because you’ve put into words what they’ve been trying to articulate. That’s what good content does. It puts into words things that people are feeling or thinking. So if you’re an author, this can look a little different depending on what you write.

Writing

However, if you’re a nonfiction author, your content can address the problems, the questions, and the desires that your book addresses. So if you write about parenting, talk about parenting. If you write about grief, talk about grief. If you write about faith, talk about the questions that people are actually asking about their faith.

Fiction authors can do this too. You don’t have to constantly just be posting, “Buy my book.” Instead, talk about things that they love. Maybe talk about some of the fascinating historical details in your historical fiction. Talk about your favorite romance tropes if you write romance. Or if you’re writing a mystery, ask, “What’s the one thing that will make you immediately suspect the wrong person in your mystery?”

If you write Christian fiction, you could talk about the different themes that might be in your book: forgiveness, redemption, courage, family, or second chances. You’re giving readers a reason to interact with you in a world surrounded by books, and you’re helping the right readers to recognize, “This is my kind of book.”

Show You Care

Here’s another mistake that I see people make. They create their content based entirely on what they know. But expertise isn’t enough. You have to connect with your audience in a way that shows you that you care about them. And let’s say you’re a financial coach. You may know everything about budgeting, but your audience may be thinking, “I really need to learn about zero…”

Here’s the thing: your audience isn’t thinking, “I need to learn about zero-based budgeting.” They’re thinking, “Why am I broke at the end of the month?” So that’s where you have to meet the two things. The technical knowledge comes after you get their attention. So you can have all this knowledge, but there’s no real need in sharing that knowledge until you’ve connected with them first.

So think about if you’re a fitness coach. You might want to talk about macros and calorie deficits. But your audience, they’re probably wondering, “Why am I so tired after working all day, and you know, now I don’t want to exercise?” So you have to start with their problem. So if you’re struggling to figure out what content to create, here’s one of the easiest things you can do: listen.

Listening

Listen to the questions that people ask you. Listen to what they say after your presentations. Pay attention to comments, even conversations. Yes, I know you may feel like you’re snooping or eavesdropping, but when someone says, “I wish I knew,” pay attention. When someone says, “I don’t understand,” or when they say, “I’m struggling with…”

Those are times that you can gain content ideas. Your audience is actually telling you what they want to hear about if you just listen. And here’s another thing I want to give you permission to do. You don’t have to teach in every single post.

You can share a story.
You can share your opinion.
You can be encouraging
You can simply say, “If you’re walking through this right now, I want you to know you’re not alone.”

And that can be content, especially if your work involves people’s emotions, their faith, their relationships, or personal struggles. And one of the easiest ways to make content more engaging is to give people something to respond to. So ask questions. Don’t just make a statement and walk away. Start a conversation.

Make a Conversation

You need one good idea, and you can build upon it. So let’s go back to the one about the teenager. What to do when your teenager stops talking to you? That could be one topic.

It could become a short video: Three things to do when your teenager shuts down.
You can write a quote, “Silence doesn’t always mean your teenager doesn’t need you.”
You can ask a question, “When your teenager stops talking, what’s your first instinct?”
Then you can send an email, “What I wish every parent knew about teenage silence,” and you can keep going.
You can turn it into a blog post, a Facebook post, or a reel

You took that one problem that your audience had, and you explored it in different ways.

Grabbing Someone’s Attention

So what makes someone stop? Is it a question, a problem, a feeling? Is it curiosity? Or is it humor? Above all, you need to be relevant, and the person needs to feel like you’re saying something that has something to do with them. That’s why your audience matters so much because you can’t create relevant content for people you don’t understand.

So instead of giving you another complicated content challenge, I want to do something very simple. Think about one person in your audience. Don’t try to think about the entire audience, just a person. Picture that person. Think about what they’re dealing with, maybe what they’re worried about, and what they’re hoping for.

Then ask yourself, “What can I create for that one person?” Not for the whole algorithm, not for everybody, not for your peers, but for one person. However, before you hit publish, ask yourself, “If this person saw this, would they feel like I was talking to them?” If the answer is yes, then you’ve probably got something worth sharing. Because ultimately, that’s what we’ve been talking about, getting seen by the right people.

Reach the Right Person

We aren’t here to become famous or become an influencer. We’re not trying to make everybody happy, but we are trying to reach the specific person that is for us in our audience. That’s where you’ve hit the mark. So next week is our final episode in this series, and we’re going to talk about what happens after someone notices you, because I don’t want you to spend all this time trying to get someone scrolling, and then they’re going to disappear five seconds later.

You want to capture their attention and pull them into a relationship with you. That’s what we’re going to be talking about: from being seen to being remembered. So if today’s episode gave you an idea for something that you can create for your audience, I’d love for you to actually go create it.

Don’t just add it to your list. Make the post, record the video, and write the email. You need to be found by the right people, and you need to connect with them. So thank you so much for joining me today, and I will see you next time.