When your content is on point with your readers, you know it through the data. Your readers begin engaging with it, your peers begin talking about it, and it gets shared across social media channels and other platforms. That piece of content will even increase backlinks to your site and raise the profile and ranking in the SERPs.
Best of all, great content generates money for the brand in terms of more subscribers, more leads, and more interest. But sadly, there is a huge locked gate which prevents great, resonating content from leaving the corral and being seen by readers.
‘FEAR’
For such a small word, it has a huge impact. There’s a level of fear that deters many content marketers from taking the leap and creation the content that they want and need. As a result, these people write some namby-pamby content that doesn’t resonate with the readers. If you feel you’re one of them, that’s perfectly okay, we won’t tell. In fact, here are some things that might help you break through your fears and reach a new level!
1. Fear of Unoriginality
Your competitor produces a fantastic piece of content that garners a lot of views, a lot of engagement, and a (perceived) huge ROI. You want to capitalize on that piece of content by taking ideas from it, but you don’t want to be seen as a copycat. You don’t want to be hit over the head with accusations of plagiarism or being part of the ‘me too’ club.
There are no original ideas, even in marketing. Every idea and headline has been hashed, rehashed, and hashed again. The ways that your competition puts things together is different from the other guys and might be garnering new shares, but does that prevent you from taking those same ideas and presenting your own piece?
2. The Crisis of Confidence
You may have no problems writing about topics that someone else has written about. You have your own take on the issue, but when you see who else has written on your topic you get scared. Let’s say that a super-influencer in your niche has already covered the topic and did it so well (in your eyes) that you believe your voice will add nothing to the conversation.
You might even believe that your voice will be challenging theirs!
As a result, that fantastic post which outlines the research that you’ve done in a particular subset of your field is lost before it even has a chance to take root. There are some delightful pieces out there which have been stymied because the authors thought that they wouldn’t be read… well, it’s a sure-fire thing that they won’t be read if they’re kept on the drawing board, right?
There are a couple of reasons here to take a deep breath and push the publish button, even if it challenges influencers. The first is that influencers are people too – that’s right, those people whom you admire in your field put on pants. But, more to the point, they have egos and very few of them enjoy living in a bubble. Well-thought-out challenges to their ideas are usually welcome because with your knowledge… everybody grows.
The second reason is that by talking about the influencer and potentially challenging their opinion, you are getting their attention. This is an excellent way to introduce yourself to the influencer and potentially establish a valuable contact. It gives you an opportunity to reach out and see what their take is on a topic that both of you love.
The Bravery of the Successful Content Marketer
To be able to conquer these fears and take a few steps onto the stage takes guts. It takes courage. It takes guts of steel, and for that, we at CONCURED salute you. You should take pride in the work that you do because you’re responsible for taking the best parts of your brand and putting them on display for all to see.
The best part about that is that once you are able to overcome these fears, you will be able to write more honestly and (assuming that the marketing side is done well) receive the recognition that you deserve.
In our free eBook, ‘The Six Fears of Content Marketing’, we expand on this article and explain how you can conquer content marketers’ most common concerns. To download your free copy, just click on the link below: