How to Create Meaningful Content: Tips from a Former Content Skeptic
I’m not sure where the phrase “throw spaghetti at the wall and see what sticks” came from, but it’s an apt metaphor for some companies’ content strategy. There are times you have to let the noodles fly, usually in an early startup phase when lean teams don’t have key messaging, positioning, and finally, a content strategy defined.
But some companies never get past this phase, which often evolves into the “let’s just write what’s on our minds” content non-strategy. This approach also has its own time and place, usually when a company or thought leader is established and the content engine and SEO strategy is already churning.
Building your product does not guarantee people will come. Likewise, writing the content equivalent of pasta flinging will likely do little to achieve your content goals. Trust me, I spent more than 20 years doing this and didn’t get anywhere until I used a content strategy. Don’t make the same mistakes I did.
No matter how meaningful I thought my content might have been at the time, the numbers told a different story. It’s only when I actually started producing meaningful content that people paid attention to my work. That’s when my wife said, “See? You finally found your audience.”
Let’s talk about what it means to write meaningful content and how to avoid the pitfalls of non-strategies.
What is “meaningful content” anyway?
Content is meaningful when it checks off four boxes:
It’s authentic
Your audience is searching for it
Your audience connects with it
It fulfills a purpose
I don’t want to spend a ton of time on this, especially because “meaningful content” is not an industry term. The main takeaway is you want to produce content that’s original, that your audience wants, that your audience likes, and that makes your audience think or act. It can be as simple as like-and-subscribing or as complex as signing up for a product demo.
Meaningful content is there when your audience needs it
People are online for three reasons: to be informed, to be educated, and to be entertained. If your content does not fall into one of those categories, you’re already missing the mark. Can your content fall into more than one or two of these categories? Of course! But it’s really difficult to do that well and often requires an established or interested audience.
Your audience will be searching for meaningful content today or in the near future. There are a lot of ways of determining what people are searching for or demanding: Google Search Console, trends on YouTube or Twitter, what’s in the news, and the “Discover” section of TikTok. Tracking trends ensures your content will target where people are and the topics they are consuming.
Meaningless content got me nowhere
Earlier in my online career, I’d publish a new video or release a new song and write something like, “Here’s my new song! Hope you dig it!” Guess how many people were searching for “New Anthony Garone songs.” One. And it was my mother so she could give me a guilt trip about not calling her to personally tell her about it.
My mistake: I didn’t try to inform, educate, or entertain. I didn’t try to meet people where they were. Instead, I said, “This is really good and people should like it.” It was content written for my own satisfaction and not for an audience. The whole world changed when I started with the question “Why would anyone care about this content I want to create?”
Naturally, such thinking leads to “Who is the kind of person that will care about this content?” This requires understanding the audience. Before you fling your spaghetti, you need to know who’s hungry, who’s gluten intolerant, and why someone would want your noodles in the first place.
Use pillar pages and content buckets to make meaningful content
Like other professions, marketers have a lot of dry, somewhat mystifying jargon like “pillar pages,” “content buckets,” and “value proposition.” (I will forgive and congratulate you if you just executed the world’s biggest eye roll.) Marketing strategy doesn’t run in my blood and I’ve always had an aversion to marketing terminology. Unfortunately, this is probably why I spent so many years with my heart in the gutter about my lack of content success.
It’s only when I adopted the effective concepts behind the marketing terms that I saw the light.
Pillar pages prop up your content strategy
Think of a pillar page as a one-page encyclopedia for everything on a designated topic. The pillar page links to many other pieces of content, and those pieces of content link back in turn. Pillar pages are vital components to effective content strategies because you’re not just creating content in a vacuum, you’re building a compendium of knowledge that starts to suck up SEO juice (in a good way).
It’s not enough to say, “Here is the best graphics card to buy in 2022” anymore. Effective content creators are also publishing pieces like:
Best graphics card for under $350
Best graphics card for Intel PCs
Worst 5 graphics cards of 2022
Why AMD graphics cards are underrated
How to undervolt your Nvidia graphics card for more FPS
Your pillar post would be “Your guide to the best graphics cards,” which would cover all of the above topics in less detail than each of the articles, then link to those articles.
The best content strategies turn what many see as a task (write a blog post, post on social media) into a strategy that helps you build SEO momentum and your audience. And chances are, you would have written about many of these topics anyway, but strategic intention makes it more likely that you will see actual results.
Great pillar page examples
If you want to see some examples of great pillar pages, here’s a couple:
HubSpot’s “The Future of Content Strategy”
Typeform’s customer success guide
Do you see how these pages are about big concepts with lots of content linking to lots more internal content? That’s the biggest clue you’re looking at a pillar page. And these are really popular and effective examples praised by the entire industry.
Content bucket examples
Another way to create meaningful content is to use “content buckets.” A content bucket is just a home-improvement-friendly way of saying topic groupings. You can create many different categories of content buckets, but it’s important that you stay consistent. Here are some content bucket examples you could consider:
Content based on funnel stage (i.e., awareness, consideration, decision)
Audience type or persona (i.e., content that targets each of your buyer personas and the topics they care about?)
Specific overarching topics you’re an expert in (i.e., we have buckets about key messaging, content strategy and planning, content execution, and working with content agencies)
Content category (i.e., informative, educational, entertaining)
You can’t see or experience a content bucket the way you can with a pillar page. We can’t provide a link to a content bucket. However, look at some of the big-name SaaS brands like HubSpot, Slack, Typeform, Figma, and Canva. They all do a great job of using content buckets.
Tips for creating original content that’s also meaningful
For some people, getting the ideas for meaningful, original content is the hardest part. For others, it’s the actual writing part.
Here are some tips for brainstorming content ideas your audience will find meaningful:
Examine the questions you get from leads and customers (sourcing questions from sales/CX)
Talk to customers and see what they care about
Conduct SEO research (we can help you with that)
Look at your competitors’ work, then put your own spin on something similar
Look for your own internal stats that tell or support your story
Use your own expertise and share personal anecdotes/specific examples
I’ve talked to dozens of founders and entrepreneurs, and here’s my most insightful tip: Don’t underestimate the value of the knowledge you take for granted. If it’s something you think “everyone already knows,” chances are it’s worth writing about! I can’t tell you how many times I’ve encouraged people to write what they know, even the simple stuff, and it gets them leads!
Meaningful content is just an idea away
Don’t be intimidated by the number of possible pieces of content you can produce—just think of one and do it. Done is always better than perfect.
If you really don’t know where to start, we are always happy to help you. We provide free consultations all the time. Just reach out and set up a call!
