Creating content that gets read and creates conversions often feels like a shot in the dark, but it doesn’t have to be. You can serve content your audience craves in one simple step – by asking them what they want!
My favorite way to improve my content strategy is to invite my audience to take a survey all about the content I’m currently serving, the content they wish to see more of, and the content that isn’t serving them at all.
It’s tough to ask these questions because sometimes we’re afraid of the answers we’ll find and the hard work that lies ahead of us.
But, if we want to be good stewards of our platform and community we have to be willing and eager to survey our audience and listen to their needs.
Surveys prove or disprove what you think you know about your audience.
When first starting out building your community, everything is conjecture. Who is your target audience? Guess and see if you’re right. What do they want to hear from you? Guess and see if you’re right. Is the content you’re creating serving them? Guess. Are you right?
Who knows?
Tip: I personally love using Typeform for my surveys – it’s easy to use and aesthetically pleasing. I then either promote the survey just to my email list, or I direct my entire community to the link!
Don’t ask about futures or hypotheticals, like “what would you do if…” or “what will you do…” These will produce conjectured and unreliable results not based on fact. Instead, ask your audience what they have done, what actions they’ve taken, etc.
Don’t ask yes-or-no’s. Simply put, don’t ask a question that can be answered with one word. It’s (often) a waste of a question.
Be strategic in when and where you ask for feedback. For example, don’t survey your Instagram audience about your email content using an Instagram poll (yup, I’ve done this one). Your numbers will be skewed because people who aren’t even on your email list answer all of your questions anyway #facepalm.
Don’t just let the survey sit on your Typeform dashboard and never look at it again (ahem, yeah I’ve done this one, too). You’re sitting on a gold mine!
Put it into action by writing up what you learned about your audience. What did you learn that was news to you? What had you been previously thinking was true about your audience that, turns out, wasn’t true at all?
What kind of content do you need to start making going forward? What kind of content do you need to stop making?
Write it all up and put the document on your desktop or in the forefront of your Google Drive for easy access. Revisit it often, and don’t forget to update it by creating and hosting surveys regularly – at least once or twice a year!
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