Today is Day 2 of my blog series designed to answer the questions you’re posting to my Facebook Page. (Have a social media question? Like my Page and then post your question!)

Today’s question is one I know that a lot of direct sellers struggle with: How do I come up with interesting content to share on my social networks?

And it’s a great question. After all, you’re a direct seller, and not necessarily a publisher. How do you know what’s interesting to your target market, and how do you keep it fresh? Here are some ideas:

1. Make sure you know who your target market is. If you don’t have a clear idea of who you’re trying to reach (for example, a potential recruit, someone interested in hosting a party, etc.) you’ll never know what kind of content is interesting. When I work with clients, I often have them come up with a detailed profile of their ideal target. Start by thinking about who it would be most profitable for you to connect with online. Then get into detailed demographic data: age, education and income level, where they live, what’s important to them, do they have children, etc. It helps if you can talk to someone you know in that target demographic. It will help you flesh out the details of your target market profile. To be clear, this won’t be the only market you’ll ever work with. But this is the person that you’re going to target, because she/he is the one most likely to convert to a sale or recruit.
2. Find out what’s interesting to your target market. As part of your work in identifying your target market, you’ll come up with a list of that person’s priorities. For example, if they’ve got a college education themselves, and have kids, it’s likely that education is important to them. So if you sell a product related to education, post articles about working with teachers to improve a child’s education, sites that have great learning games, etc. Here’s another example: If your target market has an interest in fine living and decorating, and you sell candles or warmers, then post articles related to decorating, entertaining, etc.
3. Don’t feel like you have to recreate the wheel. If you had to personally write every single article you posted, you’d get overwhelmed fast. So spend time reading about the topics that are of interest to your target market. You can even set up Google Alerts (you might just choose Blogs or News) so you get an email when posts show up on the internet related to these topics. Then, post links to the articles you find. Your contacts online will come to rely on you as the source of great content from around the web. If they just pay attention to you, they’ll get all the information they need. This is a great position to be in. In fact, I do this with my own social presence. I post articles I find around the web related to social media that I know will be of interest to my contacts. If they are related to corporate social media, I post it to an online community I host for people in this demographic. If it is more generic social media advice, or advice related to sales/privacy/social networks, I post it to my Twitter account and Facebook Page. It’s a way to provide value to my target market.
4. Answer questions. If you’re working your business, you’re hearing questions related to your product line or opportunity. Keep track of these, and answer those questions through your online presence. That’s how this blog series was born. I asked people what questions they have, and I’m answering them here. What questions do you often answer?
5. Take a look at what your company writes about. They are experts on your brand, and what will position your business well. Take advantage of the resources they’re putting out. Link to the same articles your company links to. Share articles from the corporate blog. And if your company puts up a post that sparks an idea in your head, write about it!
6. Relate your business to what everyone’s talking about. The Super Bowl was this week, and there was a lot of interest in it, right? So why not talk about how to decorate for a Super Bowl party? Or talk about an alternative if you’re not into the game, like hosting a spa party for your girlfriends.

One of the big keys to generating interesting content is to make time to read each day. You must know what people are talking about and reading if you want to contribute to the discussion. You can follow people in your target market and see what they’re sharing on Twitter, or watch what’s being shared in your News Feed on Facebook. You can read blogs that regularly write about what your target market is interested in. But pay attention, and be sure to adapt each topic for your market.

It’s important to understand, you’re not copying what others are doing. You’re adapting it for your audience. So for example, I read a lot of social media blogs, and then I adapt those ideas I think you’ll be interested in for a direct sales audience. How can you adapt content so it interests your target market?

So those are some of the ways you can create interesting content online. What would you add? Would love to read your thoughts in the comments below!

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