Content: Balancing Quality and Quantity
By Graysen Reid
The issue of quality versus quantity is one that often comes up when discussing marketing and public relations content. Many times, we see businesses that want to put out as much content as possible, casting a wide net to try to reach as many people as they can. But in most cases, less is more – unless your content is well written, targeted, and not overly promotional and self-serving.
Your business does not have to write multiple blogs each week or post to social media every day. After a while, readers can lose interest in your content because they feel overwhelmed. Instead of creating something just to post it, make sure it is deliberate and meaningful. The rush to get content out as fast as possible often sacrifices the time needed to produce something impactful. In these cases, the quantity of the content is prioritized over the quality of the work.
In social media, for instance, while it may be tempting to start posting on Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn multiple times each day, eventually your followers will come to ignore your posts. Instead of looking forward to the new content, they might feel like you are posting at them instead of for them. Followers could lose interest and might even unfollow you if they are sufficiently annoyed with the frequency of your posts.
Here are three ways that you can ensure you are producing quality content that your audience will look forward to:
- Plan your topics ahead of time. Depending on your organization, it might be better to plan topics by the week or month. Having target dates for when content will be posted gives you a better view of the entire calendar. This prevents over-posting. However, you should always be ready to jump in with a timely commentary about major events or breaking news in your industry, and then adjust your regular calendar accordingly.
- Examine the quality of your posts. Do they seem rushed or too short? If so, re-evaluate your posting schedule. Take the time needed to create high-quality content that will mean more to your readers.
- Know your audience; think about who is reading your content and why. Make sure the content is interesting and relevant to them, in light of the goal or objective for each post.
Graysen Reid is a Dux account coordinator and social media specialist.