July 13, 2017
There are a million and one blogs out there that talk about how to write great content, and while some have valid points, there’s one thing they tend to miss. Great content comes first and foremost, from passion.
Great content can’t be made to fit an audience. It can’t come purely from data. Not sustainably anyway. It comes because you’re crazy passionate about something, and that’s infectious. That’s why influencers are so influential. We’ve all had that moment when we’re talking to someone who is so enthusiastic about a subject that suddenly you’re excited too, and you want what they have. And that’s what great content can do. Make you fall in love with something – not develop an interest in, but truly fall head over heels for it.
There’s a phrase everyone in industry has heard, over and over again. ‘Content is King’. And for a while, it led to an avalanche of truly horrible copy. Everyone was churning out as much as possible, because that’s what Google wanted, right? Wrong. Google, as you’re probably aware, was the first to disagree. It wanted good content. Relevant content. And it was going to take down everyone who couldn’t provide.
The social networks were quick to follow, with relevancy scores and engagements determining which content was worth our time. (Sure, it’s led to a filter bubble, but with the best intentions).
Through the changing best practices and the moving hoops though, there have always been brands that stand out – Oreo, Audi, Chubbies, Nike – and that’s because they’re not selling you a product. They’re shouting about something they love.
The most successful brands aren’t playing the system. In many cases, they’ve barely changed their tactics. They just really care about what they’re doing. It’s the difference between vanity metrics – say, having 3 million followers, the majority of which have put you on mute – and having a real community. Passion finds the passionate. It sees the topic the way they do, and celebrates this thing that you love, together. And that can’t be faked.