You’ve heard the advice that to “cut through the noise”, your content has to be awesome. They claim that your audience will pay attention when you blow them away with a viral video or an epic infographic.
But blowing away someone once isn’t what you want. You want people to stick around.
It’s not easy being awesome
The truth is, it’s hard to be awesome. Most of us are “average” on most days, and only “awesome” every now and then.
What is awesome anyway? Kinda vague, huh. I mean, your definition of “awesome” is probably very different from my definition. In short, it’s incredibly subjective and hard to quantify.
Be useful instead
What your community really needs is for you to be useful.
To be useful, you have to answer a burning question all supporters eventually ask: What’s in it for me? Being useful is also much more specific and attainable than being awesome.
For example, this update from the Humane Society of Indianapolis has usefulness written all over it. And this update from the Museum of Fine Arts communicates compassion, wisdom and utility during the tragedy of the Boston bombing.
Answer WIFM first
Being useful begins with seeking out what your community needs.
You can use Facebook Graph search to learn what’s important to your Facebook fans. You can use surveys, Twitter searches and Google Analytics too.
And if you’re looking for a great read, check out Youtility by Jay Baer.