Creating Content that is Useful


Your newsletter has to be both useful and interesting to be successful. If one of your goals is to be seen as an expert, consider that the usefulness of your content can have a big impact.

What types of content are useful? Here are some suggestions.
  1. Hot-off-the-press information: Timeliness is important if you have access to information (or photos) in advance of your target market.

  2. How-to’s, quick tips, detailed instructions, diagrams: The goal here is to save your readers time and effort – to shortcut the learning curve.

  3. Examples, case studies, templates, worksheets, maps, directions: You can make use of document-sharing and photo-sharing applications to provide access. An example of this would be our own newsletter gallery on Flickr.
     
  4. Links to useful resources and people: Share exceptional items that you have created or already vetted.

  5. Reviews, summaries and recommendations: You can do this for books, articles, white papers, videos, TV/radio shows, and more.

  6. Events and event listings: Make sure these are relevant to your target market, such as professional development, networking, community, and special interest events.

  7. Volunteer and charitable opportunities: Again, consider the relevance to your target market.

  8. Wrap-up posts/articles: This means grouping several pieces of content together in one place – a great way to repurpose your content!

  9. Survey and research results: This can be your own or another’s research. A good summary of detailed results is always useful and might also include your own interpretations and opinions.
These suggestions apply not just to your newsletter but to your overall content creation strategy. Many will work for your blogging and social media efforts as well.

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