Have you ever sat down in a restaurant and noticed the people staring at their phones rather than talking to their dinner partners?
Yes, it seems that the art of conversation is lost on many. Unfortunately, it appears that it may be lost on many content marketers as well.
Being a source of conversation is perhaps the most overlooked and undervalued role of the six covered in this series of articles.
Generating interesting conversation makes your brand memorable and helps you to position yourself as a thought leader. It’s the secret to increase content engagement.
There are two ways for a content marketer to converse with their audience:
- Creating interesting unique content that sparks new conversation
- Listening to what their audience is saying and creating content that responds to it
Sparking interesting conversation
It goes without saying but if you want to spark new and interesting conversation, you’re going to have to do something different to everyone else.
Repeating widely accepted advice may reduce the risk of disagreeing with anyone, but it’s also going to eliminate your chances of getting noticed.
Do something controversial
“Swim upstream. Go the other way. Ignore the conventional wisdom.” – Sam Walton, founder of Walmart.
The easiest way to spark a new conversation and get people talking is to do or say something controversial. However, you need to be careful with this strategy. The idea is to say something that sparks a reaction not to upset people.
There are two approaches to being controversial.
1. Play the devils advocate
Here’s a quick definition of the devils advocate from dictionary.com:
“One who argues against a cause or position either for the sake of argument or to help determine its validity.”
The term originated from the catholic church. When someone was proposed to be made a saint, the church would appoint someone to argue against the decision. The devil’s advocate didn’t necessarily need to believe what they were arguing for but they would make the arguments to ensure the nominated individual really deserved sainthood.
A great way to spark conversation is to play the devil’s advocate against the accepted facts of your industry. Think carefully about any established beliefs and look for something to build an argument against.
If there is anything you legitimately disagree with, you’re in luck. Release content which argues the case for your alternative opinion and you’re guaranteed to get people talking about it.
If you can’t find anything that you legitimately disagree with, just look for something that you can make reasonable arguments against. Approach the discussion from a neutral perspective. If you feel it’s necassary, you can even put a disclaimer in your content stating that you’re presenting an alternative opinion solely to encourage debate.
Whenever you introduce an alternative opinion that goes against the status quo, you’re guaranteed to get you noticed and spark interesting conversation. However, it’s important to support your arguments with facts and rational arguments. If you make unsubstantiated claims, you’ll be quickly disregarded.
2. Get stuck into an existing debate
This approach is easier to do but definitely riskier. Get involved in an already existing debate.
A great example of this is when Nike released the “Believe in something. Even if it means sacrificing everything.” advert starting Colin Kaepernick. At the time, Colin Kaepernick was the centre of much controversy in the USA due to his decision to kneel during the pre-game national anthem in protest of racial injustice in the country. The advert certainly achieved the goal of being memorable and sparked a great deal of conversation.
If the debate is particularly sensitive, or you don’t want to get too involved, you can contribute to the discussion while staying neutral. Think of a way to develop the existing conversation by introducing a new perspective or piece of information. Rather than expressing an opinion that might turn some people against your business, introduce facts, figures and data to drive the debate.
Innovate
This is a safer, yet much more difficult way to spark conversation. Introduce new innovation to your industry.
Ideally, you would introduce new innovative ideas and theories of your own. However, if you don’t have any new ideas, you can always try to promote or drive the discussion around the innovations of others. I don’t mean that you should try to take credit for them, rather you should try to lead the debate regarding what they mean for your industry.
To generate your own innovations you’ll need to spend time brainstorming new ideas and developing them. You also need to decide the best way to present them in your content.
If you choose to lead the debate around the innovations of others, you must ensure that you’re one of the most up-to-date individuals within your industry. You’ll need to hear about new innovations before anyone else does.
Listening to your audience
A conversation is a two-way exchange. It’s not just one person talking. That would be a monologue or a speech. Therefore, to be a source of conversation to your audience, you will actually need to spend some time listening to them.
Be active in your community
The easiest way to show your audience you’re listening is to be active in your community. Engage in conversation on social media and respond to comments that are left on your blog posts. Talk to people on Twitter. Set up an area for discussion such as a Facebook group.
Be as active as you possible. The more active you are in your community the more human your business will appear.
By participating in your community, you’ll better understand your audience. This helps you to create content that is relevant to them.
Ask Your audience for their opinion
This can be as simple as releasing content that directly asks for your audience what they think. Post questions on social media, release surveys, send emails or pick up the telephone.
Find out what type of content they prefer and make more of it. Listen to what they have to say. Content marketers sometimes get so obsessed with mapping out personas that they forget to just directly ask people for their opinion.
If your audience believes their opinion is valued, they’ll be more likely to engage with your content. They need to see first hand that it is a two-way communication channel.
Conclusion
“Content is king, but engagement is queen, and the lady rules the house!” – Mari Smith
By entering a conversation with your audience you’re able to learn about them. This helps you adapt your content and make it relevant to them. Your audience will feel involved in your content if they have input.
Great content should never be a monologue. Even if your content is designed to educate, you should still open your ears. A wise teacher learns from his students. Content is about encouraging the sharing of ideas and the exchange of opinions. That is the secret to driving engagement.