With screen time on the rise, sorting through saturated, empty-calorie content in order to find the pieces that satisfy our need for expert information, inspiration and exclusive insight can be taxing. It poses a challenging environment for even the most experienced content marketers to build an effective content marketing strategy.

This article is designed to help you navigate the balance between posting steady, valuable content and avoiding audience burn out by differentiating between your audience’s needs and wants, so read on and get brainstorming.

Address Your Audience’s Needs

Emotional content reveals the needs your audience is hoping to fulfill quicker than they can ask, “Hey Siri, how do I make guacamole?” This content evokes and addresses the desire for an answer, the thirst for knowledge, the demand for immediacy. It takes advantage of the search intent behind high-volume searches. Users searching for these very specific keywords are ready to take action.

Leveraging your content to meet your reader’s needs allows you to provide immediate, useful information to searchers when they need it most, making your brand a hero in the process. To discover exactly which needs your content can fulfill, center it around SEO keyword research that tells you what specific phrases are most popular and will yield qualitative content results. In exchange for supplying the information your readers seek, you will start to see new email subscribers, page visitors and brand loyalty.

Address Your Audience’s Wants

Where emotional content addresses needs, engaging content addresses the wants of your audience. Kanye’s Sunday Service performance at Coachella is a perfect example. It was experiential, inspirational and powerful. Festival-goers wanted something personable, captivating and shareable. Kanye delivered by taking what is normally a private backyard choir session and turning it into one of the most exclusive, Instagrammable events of the year.

While content marketers will never be able to execute the type of stunts Mr. West seems to pull off at will, you can craft engaging content that speaks to your audience on a meaningful level. Diversifying your brand messaging with the intention of striking a personal connection with readers is a powerful way to grow a dedicated following. If you understand your audience, are authentic and aren’t afraid to do something different, your content has the potential to go viral by connecting with more people than you thought possible.

Conclusion

When it comes to creating quality content in a sea of polluted social media feeds, supplementing content your audience needs with content they want will lead you to success. By addressing needs, you position yourself to be found. By addressing wants, you connect with your audience in new, memorable ways.

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