Creating content is not for the faint-hearted. It takes guts and a keen understanding of what people want to be effective in driving traffic to your business.

All content creators have asked themselves the same question more than once: How will I engage my audience so they keep coming back for more? If you haven’t asked yourself this question at least once, you aren’t taking your job seriously!

It isn’t easy to create great content that excites and entertains. A report by SEMRush found that 45% of marketers struggle to attract quality leads with content, while 38% cite finding the resources and producing larger amounts of content quicker as a challenge.

However, we have some great tips to help you create content that will appeal to your target audience.

1) Know your channels.

Many companies make the mistake of focusing too much on one content channel. In fact, you need to take a number of channels into account to drive brand awareness and attract customers. Figure out which ones suit your needs and create content that works across (or can be adapted) for all of them.

Your basic content channels include:

Blogging: Blogging is essential because it helps with your search engine optimisation efforts, especially if you use SEO writing techniques while providing important information that you can share across other channels, especially social media.

Social media: You need to use social media networks because it can help create a community of followers where comments can actually lead to further content ideas. Also, the all-important'social share’ enables you to find more followers and helps improve your SEO at the same time as a bonus.

Video: Video marketing can put a face to your brand. It can also drive awareness and generate sales leads by offering a personal way to engage with potential customers. Plus, you can be creative with your videos to attract new audiences and inject personality.

Ebooks and resources: Providing more in-depth informational content works in two ways. First, it helps showcase your expertise. Second, you can use it as a lead generation tool with a call to action (CTA) to contact you to receive a free ebook or whitepaper. Here's an example of a simple image used on one of our blogs to encourage people to download an ebook.

2) Stay curious

You should have a number of things in common with your audience. One of the most important things is curiosity. Obviously, the reason people seek out information is to learn, and this learning is often driven by curiosity.

As a content creator, you have to remain curious about not only what is happening in the industry but also what is happening to your audience. We live in a far more dynamic world where opinions change at the drop of a hat.

Also, social issues continue to be brought to the forefront of the business world. Consider the impact of the #MeToo movement and the challenges that companies face to remain socially and environmentally responsible.

You have to continue to research and read every day so you don’t miss out on any opportunities that might present an idea to create a unique spin on a tired old story your competitors are telling.

Subscribe to industry newsletters, follow thought leaders on LinkedIn, and pursue other leads that will provide you with inspiration for the content you create. Staying curious keeps your content fresh, organic, and unique.

3) Choose champions and track competitors.

Finding inspiration should always be on your daily to-do list. Getting to know the thought leaders in your industry helps you understand what content will attract people. You can also go beyond your industry and look for companies that, in general, are doing things right.

When it comes to blogging, you can ask others to help you build your online presence. Guest blogging can prove to be an excellent way to keep content interesting by occasionally introducing a new voice and perspective.

Buffer, a social media management company, has been gaining new audiences using guest bloggers. It also features blogs about success stories for clients, industry updates, and tips. And it is active on social media, with more than one million followers across all of its channels.

With content, it's wise to focus on quality over quantity to provide visitors with useful and in-depth information. Look at competitors to see what content they are offering and if it would suit your user base or drive leads.

People doing it well also have shortcuts that save them time. For example, Glossier leverages user-generated content from its followers and customers on its social media pages. By posting comments about its company on its social media pages, Glossier looks good, makes the customers who are featured happy (like this example below), and reduces the need to write its own content.