6 Tips for Defining Good Content

Blah Blah Blah Content

As the new content editor for the user engagement group at Mozilla, I have the challenge of not only defining my role, but defining a word – content, and then coming up with a solid strategy.

At its base form, content is the stuff that you write on your Web site, blog, social sites, etc. The question should be, though, not what is content, but what is GOOD content MARKETING?

I’d argue that content that speaks to the users of a product should be focused on the users of a product. It should:

1. Tell a story – put words in an emotional framework
2. Solve a problem – it’s about what the users want to see, it’s not about what the company wants the users to see. This comes down to insight rather than information.
3. Be relevant – what are your users already talking about, and how can you position (or curate, see #5) content to participate in that conversation. To know this, it’s important to LISTEN to your users.
4. Be consistent – It needs to be omni-present. If content lives for a short time only, it under delivers, or even fails, on a promise to users. Let users access content when it suits them. Additionally, if it’s consistent, content can be repackaged and re-purposed.
5. Be curated – Good content can come from any number of places within an organization. But without direction, users may not always be able to find it. With direction, the content can be molded into a story, solve a problem, or become relevant to an existing conversation with users.
6. Be human – A company is a brand, but it’s also a collection of human beings. Tap into that humanity, which will take you back to number 1 and through the steps again!

This quote from Get Content Get Customers helps sum this up. “Instead of claims of product superiority, what customers really want is valuable content that will improve their lives”