Building Connection Through Meaningful Content

How do I know what is meaningful to me and others - and how do I translate that into creating meaningful posts for my audience? Read on to find out...

When you choose to read content, you expect to get a return on the time that you invest in reading.

Your motivation for reading something can be quite varied. You could do it because…

You seek entertainment
You want to learn and develop
You want to engage in a meaningful activity etc.

In this article, I want to focus on the last point. I want you to get clarity on what makes something meaningful to you, how you can make the activities that you engage in more meaningful – and how can you make the content you share more meaningful for your audience.

I was inspired to write this article by Brendon Burchard’s book about creating high-performance habits and especially the section about creating clarity.

Clarity, as you might have noticed from many other content pieces that I have shared, is something that, for me, is a crucial foundation for communicating with a clear intent and message to allow your audience to get something out of reading your content.

And that is a major factor that will allow you to grow your community and your business.

What makes content creation meaningful for me?

Ask yourself: why do I create content? What’s my intention behind it?

If you want to enjoy the process of content creation, then you need to be able to make this activity meaningful and an activity that contributes to fulfilling your higher purpose.

It’s not just about creating outcomes for your audience but also about you, feeling joy and enthusiasm in content creation and gleaning insights from the processing that you do when creating content.

Every piece of content that you create can leave you changed. It can leave you inspired, more experienced, more insightful,

wiser, in a better mood, and proud of what you have written…

High content quality has an effect on you and your audience. High-quality content adds something to your life rather than just taking your time to consume the content. Reading high-quality content is an investment that pays off.

At its simplest level, you enjoy the creation process – and at a higher level, it creates outcomes that let you and your audience profit.

How do you know when something is meaningful?

Brendon Burchard shares that meaning is associated with enthusiasm, connection, satisfaction, and coherence.

These four elements help you to identify when something is meaningful to you or inject more meaning into the activities that you perform every day.

Understanding what’s meaningful for you allows you to make better decisions with regard to the actions you take because you have clarity about what makes an activity worth engaging in.

In fact, you can make each activity more meaningful for you when you add another dimension to it.

For example, if you are trying to get fit but find it hard to motivate yourself, then ask a friend to join you for a run or yoga class. That way, you do the exercise, spend time with your friend, and enjoy being sociable.

You can add another layer to every activity that you engage in. The choice is yours.

Enthusiasm adds spice to every activity

How you engage in a task makes a difference.

We know what it feels like when we perform a task only because we have to. When we feel bored and just run through the motions.

We also know what it feels like when we engage in an activity with enthusiasm and feel excited about what we are doing.

When I start working with a new client, I want them to be excited and enthusiastic about working with me but even more so – I want them to be excited about the progress, growth, and development that they are working towards.

Being excited and enthusiastic about an activity you are engaging in is a sign that this activity is meaningful for you.

Ask yourself what excites you the most. What activity gets you energised and fired up? Which activities could you lose yourself in without noticing the time passing?

And here’s the challenge: are you creating content that your audience is excited about and that makes them forget the time they spend reading?

Creating meaning from a deeper level of connection

What is it that connects you with your audience?

Your values, perspective, and beliefs are a good foundation to feel connected. Paying undivided attention and active listening can create a deeper level of connection with someone else.

When we meet people who value the same things, enjoy the same activities, take time to listen and reflect, share their stories and let you experience trust – then we are connecting on a deeper level.

When you share your stories without fear of being judged and feel free to make suggestions without being afraid of seeing them rejected.

All that is a sign of having a deeper level of connection that makes you feel safe and that you belong.

Inclusivity creates a deeper level of connection and you can inject that into your content and the actions that you take on social media and in the communities that you are leading or are a part of.

Feeling a sense of personal satisfaction

When you are setting yourself goals and are performing the actions that take you closer to achieving your goals, then that gives you a sense of satisfaction and fulfilment.

Think about your business goals. When you have set yourself the goal to start a membership (like I have) then every action that I perform that takes me closer to opening doors and start working with my subscribers gives me a sense of satisfaction.

Setting up the platform, writing the sales page, preparing an email sequence, writing posts and showing up in interviews and podcasts – all those are actions that bring me closer to launching my membership.

These actions leave me feeling satisfied because they help me grow and allow me to give to others and contribute to their success.

If, on the other hand, you are not drawing satisfaction from your activities, then you either need to find a way to make that activity enjoyable and meaningful – or stop that activity.

The first step would be to think about how you could bring more to a task or activity to draw more personal satisfaction from it.

If, for example, you post every day and feel stressed by it because you follow a strategy with topics that seem to be necessary but you don’t really enjoy writing ab

out – then you should reflect on which topics would fire you (and your audience up), or whether you stop writing posts but rather create videos or podcasts.

If you cannot find a way of getting a sense of fulfilment and satisfaction from the task, then think about outsourcing it or trying to change it so that you enjoy the task and feel good about it.

Tapping into the power of alignment

Brendan Burchard calls it coherence but I prefer the word alignment. It’s about feeling that what you do is aligned with your beliefs and values and that you feel that what you are doing makes sense in the bigger picture of your life.

When your actions don’t make sense to you, then your subconscious mind gives you signals that you are misaligned. You feel dissatisfied, unhappy or even depressed.

To feel energised and aligned with your goals and where your life is going is important because alignment gives the actions you take meaning.

With regards to your content that means that the topics that you share are aligned with your audience and what they like to read about. Content that your audience finds engaging and that inspires them to think about issues and topics that they are excited about, is a way to align yourself with the needs and desires of your audience.

How to create meaningful content

Now that we have looked into what makes something, or more specifically, your content meaningful, we can have a quick look at how to create content that is meaningful to you and your audience.

Step #1 – What is meaningful to you?

Take stock and reflect on what is meaningful to you. What is it that meets all the criteria that I have discussed in this article?

Your content needs to be meaningful to you to carry a deep enough message that excites you and gives you a sense of satisfaction.

Step #2 – What is meaningful to your audience?

Tune into your ideal client’s avatar and extract what they find meaningful. What energises them, and what do they love to read and talk about? What is it that excites them and helps them to develop and grow?

Find the topics that fire them up and that tick all the boxes.

Step #3 – Brainstorming topics

While you’re at it – brainstorm some topics that your audience wants to find out more about. Create a list of topics that is related to your content pillars and write down titles for content that you are excited about.

Step #4 – Define the goal or outcome for each post

When you start writing, write with a goal in mind. Be clear on what you want to achieve with the content that you are writing and ensure that you have a call to action that lingers in your audience’s minds after they have finished reading your content.

Step #5 – Create!

Enjoy the process of creating meaningful content. You’ll see that instead of pushing out quick engagement posts, you’ll find a deeper sense of satisfaction in creating content that has an impact on your audience.

AND…

If you want to create more meaningful content but need a bit more support – then send me a message.

I was serious when I said that I want to create a membership – apart from working with you 1 :1 – you will soon be able to join my membership where I’m planning to work through various topics, processes, tips and tricks that make you a better content creator who is confident and clear about how to create meaningful content.

Categories: Content Creation, Content tips, Contentwriting, Copywriting, Copywriting tips, Copywritingskills