4 ways to balance heart-driven and machine-driven content
I’ve said this before but writing from the heart has the power to shift you and your audience. And yet, machine-driven content, by way of AI, can make our lives so easy.
If you’re like me, fellow solopreneur, you’re feeling a collective tension emerge: how do we meet the demands to continuously create content, and have it be and feel authentic?
Marketing already comes with so many “shoulds.” We should use X channels, and we should post X times per week. We should use X word X many times in your blog post. The algorithms are real and when we use them, we can gain traction, but it doesn’t make marketing feel less overwhelming or hard.
A shift happens, though, when we connect or align with our purpose through our marketing and communications. Purpose-driven marketing is connecting to our “why” and key motivators to generate from that space. It’s often the unexpected content that’s introducing big ideas or concepts that are wholehearted and authentic for us.
So, how do we strike the right balance? How do we make time and space to create the content people are looking for and the content that can move the needle?
The differences between writing expected and unexpected content
I recently attended a webinar where SEO expert Andrew Holland introduced the concept of expected and unexpected content.
In other words, we have the opportunity to create content people are looking or searching for, and if we’re successful, it’s generating awareness and traffic through search engines. We also have the opportunity, especially as business owners and thought leaders, to generate content that’s creative, unexpected, and authentic.
Both are valuable but they work towards different goals. Let's dive into the differences and then how to ensure they're working together to elevate and emanate your brand.
Developing content for SEO
Content developed or optimized for search engines (SEO) addresses what people are already looking for. SEO looks at how you use certain keywords, organize your text, and structure descriptions on the backend for better search-engine rankings.
The goal: Generating new traffic to your website and new eyeballs on your work.
The value: You’re answering a need that already exists.
Here are several key factors that determine how your content will rank:
The relevance of your text
The quality of your content (i.e. can everyone read it? Is it comprehensive?)
Whether other sources are linking to it (i.e. backlinks)
How you use keywords and how much other content exists on that topic
Whether people find your business or content helpful
Interested in learning more? We can help you create your SEO strategy.
Developing purpose-driven content
Purpose-driven content is what gets me excited. Why? Because it has the potential to tap into something deeper: the core beliefs and truths driving your work and setting your thought leadership apart from others.
The goal: To put new ideas forward and be in connection with your audience.
The value: To be creative and connect with your audience on a deeper level. It can also make putting yourself out in the world less hard because you’re aligned to something greater.
4 ways to balance heart-driven and machine-driven content
1. Create a content calendar
Building a plan for your marketing is the best way to be intentional with your valuable time and resources. We first want to ensure you’re clear on who you want to reach and the best channels to use. But almost equally important is where you feel comfortable.
When I work with clients on content planning, I look at:
The questions your audience is asking
The questions they're not asking now but should be
The topics you feel strongly about
How your unique thought leadership works into larger conversations
This process comes together to create topics and subtopics unique to your brand and persona. It also helps you feel more intentional with your marketing and your time. And if you're more intentional, you're in motion and seeing (and feeling) results.
2. Use content best practices (aka SEO best practices)
I've worked with government agencies where we needed to develop resources for Americans during the pandemic. Developing content that was easy to find and read was critical.
These same readability factors play a key role in how your content performs on search engines:
Keep your sentences concise (cut the fluff and jargon)
Make your paragraphs short (2-3 sentences per paragraph)
Break up your content with compelling section headers (2-4 paragraphs per section)
Use your target keywords in your page title, headers and throughout your text (but don’t overdo it)
Include images or videos, when applicable, to break up content and make it more engaging
3. Make your AI content human
Ok, part of me cringes at bringing it up, but AI is an incredible tool, especially for solopreneurs. It can make hard or mundane things feel quicker and easier, like writing an ad or generating a promotion.
Because of AI, consumers now have even more resources available to them via search. Even search engines, like Google, are also posting their own AI-generated answers to questions. As a result, there's a higher premium on content that's unique and clearly written for humans by humans.
But if AI is a helpful tool for you, use it to:
Generate a content outline, and then add your tone of voice and originality
Identify good keywords to help improve the SEO of your content
Double-check the formatting of your human-driven content
Once you've used it, check in with your gut: Does it represent you and your brand? Does it look, sound, and feel like you? In other words, put your heart into it.
4. Use purpose-driven content as inspiration
As a purpose-driven leader, it’s your heart and gut that’s driving you forward. I’ll say it again: words have the power to inspire.
We get busy or often find ourselves running up against imposter syndrome when things feel hard. The best way of moving out of that space is often to connect with your heart and gut. Writing can be one helpful way to make that happen.
Emanate Communications hosts a free weekly writing accountability hour for solopreneurs. At the start of each session, we use a journal prompt to connect in with ourselves before we tackle the projects that feel hard. In turn, we connect with what's authentic and put ourselves in the right mindset to help make the writing we have to do easier.
In our AI-hungry world, purpose-driven marketing is increasingly important. If it feels authentic to your reader, you're building trust and resonating on a deeper level. I also believe that what you put out into the world has energy to manifest. So, consider the impact you want to have through your written word.
That's a potential that AI simply doesn't have.
Want to be more intentional with your marketing and communications? Let us help you!
