Stop Creating Content

Way to go champ! You have a content strategy. You also have an army of writers/graphic designers/videographers all working together to fulfill that content strategy by pumping out content by the truckload. However, when you look at the results of these talented people, are you blown away? Sure you’re getting indexed in Google, and you’re getting a handful of shares and comments on various social platforms, but is the content successful?

If it’s not, you might be a bit perplexed. After all, you’ve done the keyword research, you’ve audited your audience, and you even have a production calendar. By all accounts, your content should be hitting every target. So what could be causing it to miss the mark?

The answer is simple. You have the science, but did you remember the art?

To put it bluntly, your content isn’t performing because you’re not creating art.

When you start to commoditize content, producing for the sake of producing, you strip the art out of that content. Science might tell you what to talk about, but art is all about how you say it.

So what is art? At its simplest, art is anything that conveys a part of its creator to its audience. Sure when most of us think about art, we tend to envision cave walls, David and the occasional urinal, but blog posts, websites and infographics can be art. That is, if there’s a touch of soul put into them. If all you’re doing is pumping out work on topics just to capture those keywords. Chances are it’s not going to be art. It will be commodity content and it’s going to fail.

So how do you stop creating commoditized content and start creating art?

Art Takes Hard Work

There are no shortcuts when it comes to art. Even the urinal alluded to earlier in the post took some time to concept. Audiences appreciate the thought and work that went into “The Fountain,” that’s what made the piece a success. The same holds true for digital content as well. Audiences can tell when a blog post was banged out in thirty minutes. They can tell when a post is more concerned with landing a spot on Google than it is about conveying value to its audience. Conversely, audiences can tell when an author takes their time crafting their blog post. Hard work inspires appreciation and appreciation correlated to value. The more perceived work that goes into a piece of art, the more valuable that art becomes. High production quality, brilliant writing, poignant dialogue, all add to the value of a piece. Take just a bit more time on each content piece, and surprise yourself by the art that you can produce.

Art Inspires Passion – Passion Inspires Sharing

Commoditized content might make us think, but art makes us feel. Art inspires action, feeling, emotion. More important, art inspires sharing. When we’re touched by art, we want to share that experience with other people. In the digital world, this translates to social sharing. Think about the content that you see people sharing on your social stream. Is the majority of it commodity content, or is it art? Is it on your wall because it inspired something in its sharer? The golden rule: the better the art, the more it’s shared.

Art Stands Out

Take a look at most of the content brands or individuals are producing and ask yourself, is it good? Is it art? Or is it just being noticed because there’s so much of it. Visibility by volume, supported by the mindset, “Let’s create so much that audiences will just HAVE to see it!” If you want your content to stick out, make it art. Pour in the hard work, put in the passion, inject some soul and transcend to the next level. Art gets noticed. Art catches the eye. Fill your content production pipeline with less commodity and more art, and watch those success metrics climb.

Bottom line, invest in your pieces and reap the rewords. Or continue to produce content by the pound and drown in mediocrity.

Is it better to focus on the art or the quantity? Have an opinion, share it in the comments below!