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Stuck on how to create valuable content for social media? You’re not alone!

So many people preach about creating a value-packed content plan without first diving into what exactly that looks like.

In this post, you’ll learn how to create valuable content for social media.

How to create valuable content for social media

Here are the easiest ways to create valuable content your target audience actually wants to see:

What does valuable content mean?

Before we get too far ahead of ourselves, I want to set up some expectations on what valuable content means and exactly what it can look like.

What is valuable content?

As eye-roll worthy as this might be to read, this is likely the toughest question to answer for me. “Value” will vary from niche to industry, who your ideal client is, and what you offer or sell. However, I promised no non-answers in this post, so here’s how I define value. 

The easiest way to “provide value” in your content is to show something relevant to your niche or services. I hesitate to use the term “educate” because that word is kind of meme-worthy at this point. Not everyone is qualified to educate in the formal sense.

If you prefer to keep your business a little more casual like me, showing your target audience something they’re interested in is a surefire way to give them the value they seek.

What valuable content is not

While the picture of what “valuable” content is might still be a little murky, here are a few obvious cases of what valuable content is NOT:

• Spamming your services or products. Sure, you’re a business owner. But most people want to connect with a real human being. There are other ways to sell your offers without beating your target audience over the head with all the constant pitches and redundant posts.
• Don’t just talk about how much money you’ve made. The destination is often a pretty picture, but people are most interested in the HOW – the road map of how you made it happen!
• Being too afraid to get too technical. You probably know quite a lot about what you do, the tools required to do that, etc. A lot of people just want straightforward answers. Beating around the bush or blocking them from the content they need to solve quick problems is just frustrating and doesn’t exactly build trust (or encourage a positive relationship) with you and your target audience.

Who determines what is valuable?

The short answer is your audience. More often than not, you can track your content’s insights on the various social media platforms out there.

Check your engagement rate, how many people saved the post, who liked it, and who followed you because of that post. While this doesn’t exactly quantify your content’s worth, it does show you a clear example of what content your audience wants to see and finds valuable. 

Just remember that YOU do not determine your content’s value. Your audience does. One of the core mantras I personally use in my business is “Always be testing.” Maybe you didn’t use the right hashtags or post at the right time. You can always repost older content you think is worthy of a second chance.

Why should you provide valuable content for social media?

Knowing how to create valuable content for social media is both obvious and necessary for many reasons.  Because you’re here, I’m assuming your social media platform and presence leave a lot to be desired. It might be small, nonexistent, or in need of a good update.

Here are a few reasons why you should keep value in your content strategy:

• It’s genuinely much harder to grow without it – Sometimes, value is simply a good laugh. That’s why entertaining content does so well in terms of virality. But for small, introverted creators like us, we can’t all be the next social media comedy darling. Value is easy to track and test that jokes tend to not be.
• Your audience likely won’t care about you, yet! – As harsh as that sounds, it’s the truth. Unless you have a quirky personality that draws people in naturally, it’ll take a bit of time for people to warm up to you and begin to care about you. Value can be the perfect icebreaker and the reason they should follow you!
• Consistently sharing GOOD value creates brand recognition – Whether or not you like the term “expert”, being the face of a specific niche or area within your industry builds up your brand and expertise in your specific space. Valuable content is the perfect catalyst for helping you grow this for your brand.

How to create valuable content for social media in 9 easy ways

Here are the 9 best, beginner-friendly ways you can start pumping more value into your content:

Explore your experience

Ideally, you’re selling something you know a lot about. What seems basic to you may be mind-blowing for others in your target audience. A lot of what your audience finds valuable are things you least expect to be helpful.

Keep in mind that your target audience might just be YOU from a few years ago. What’s trivial to you might be groundbreaking for someone else. Strip your current experience down to the bare bones and show, teach, or share that value in digestible, intentional parts.

Here are a few things you can ask yourself as you think about what this experience could be:

• What result did you need a few years ago?
• What did you want back then more than anything?
• What do you wish you would have known then?
• How did not knowing that info or topic hold you back?
• What changed? What finally drove you to learn your expertise?

Share a helpful, relevant resource or industry insights

Sharing a resource that your audience cares about can be an easy way to connect them to a helpful source of knowledge. This could be a good self-development book or a free resource you adore. Maybe it’s even an article from a widely-known thought leader or industry executive.

Despite the pressure to be the first to do something, I’m not sure there’s any original content left to dig up these days. So sharing something others also mention on their platforms is still a huge help. With the ever-changing algorithms plaguing the hearts of most content creators, you might be the first person your target audience sees spreading the news or sharing the resource.

Don’t compete – compliment

Out of each of these tips, I think this is the most important one you should walk away from this post with in mind. One of the biggest headaches for online business owners in the information, coaching, or development spaces can be a hesitation to give “too much” away for free. 

Think of your social media content like a static map. Eventually, most landscapes change. New buildings go up, more streets get gentrified, and more branches overgrow the path. The buyers lingering in your target audience will recognize the value and need for a personal guide to walk with them as they navigate that handy map.

A best practice you can implement today is setting up boundaries in your content and offers between you and your audience. Think about what topics you’re comfortable sharing on social media and what you aren’t. Your valuable content and your paid offers shouldn’t compete with one another. They should always compliment each other!

With these boundaries in place, you can know how to create valuable content for social media without the guilt.

Cut the fluff

Honor your target audience’s time. Not everything needs the preamble. I cannot stress enough to you how important it is to deliver content in a way your audience can conveniently digest. Don’t make it harder for them because that typically only turns people away from your content and encourages them to run straight for your competitors’ content.

I’m not saying you cannot show off your personality. Personality is a crucial thing needed to build rich relationships and connections on social media. I’m just saying to simply mind how much filler content is distracting people from reading that valuable meat of your posts. 

Evergreen is king

Timely content is good for maybe a week or a month, but evergreen content is applicable for perpetually ever. Think about how you can implement topics or tips that resonate year-round for the long haul. Not only does this compliment a Sloth Content Strategy perfectly, but it also lets you think about how else you can repurpose that content. Y

ou might have heard somewhere that it typically takes the average buyer at least seven times to convert or take an action of some kind. And that’s still mostly true! It takes a few attempts to get people’s full attention (more on this shortly).

A good rule of thumb that I swear by is if you say it once, you’ll probably say it again.

Show your target audience a solution to a piece of their core problem

When you cut to the chase and show someone how to do something in a simple, effective, and quick way, you’ll more often than not gain at least their appreciation. I love taking things I find basic and amplifying them for my target audience. 

I’m not saying you should freely give everyone the novel-length answers. These days, a lot of us have what I call TikTok brain (me included). Our attention spans have culled away so much of our patience. Most of us crave instant gratification.

A quick problem for you can easily be an afternoon headache for someone else. With your boundaries in place, seek out possible micro things you can turn into a 60-seconds-or-less mini tutorial.

Stay authentic to who you are

You don’t need a whirlwind Hollywood sob story to attract eyes onto your content. You just have to be true to who you are. This might be the most intangible tip on this list, but it just might be the most important. Your ideal client can likely actually be a past version of you between 2-5 years ago.

Here are a few questions you can consider:

• What did you not know?
• What did you lack?
• What did you want?
• What did you need?
• What was out of your reach?

Offer a unique perspective or twist on a conventional topic

We all have that ONE thing we could rant about for hours. What’s a popular topic or standard in your industry that makes your eyes roll the most?

It might not seem like a serious place to infuse value into your content, but your alternative perspective might be just what your target audience needs to hear. This can be the perfect opportunity to show them why you’re different and build up your brand awareness while providing those killer insights.

Answer questions you receive

While this might seem like basic common sense, I see a ton of people leave their audience hanging in the comments of their posts on social media. As a content creator or online business owner, it’s important you remain approachable. So many people aren’t these days.

I feel like they’re all out here just trying to cash out their follow and like count that they completely forget about the comment section. And that’s sad for all those leads you’re potentially losing and frustrating to the people asking engaging questions.

The biggest tip I can leave you with is that when you receive a relevant question to your niche (and the word “relevant” is the biggest keyword here), your audience is actually helping you create content they care about. They’re literally telling you what they want, and that is SOOOO valuable for you as a creator to pay attention to.

Use templates to help you create valuable content for social media

Sometimes, you just don’t know WHAT to say. Trust me, we all have those days. I’ve invested a pretty penny on content prompts to help me in a pinch. They give you the head start you might need and spark your creativity. They’re exactly like prompts.

If you need some help creating your social media content, I’ve created a full content plan packed with 25 evergreen prompts for you. Click the link to download them instantly, so you can get back to creating consistent content.

This post was all about how to create valuable content for social media.

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