I get asked this a lot. How do we make our content more palatable to a community?
That’s the wrong question. The right question is how do we create content that’s perfect for our community?
You shouldn’t be writing the content first and then figuring out how to get the community to like it.
You have to approach your content the way a local newspaper does. Don’t report the news, weave the community into the news.
First, the best content for a community is content about the community. There are no shortage of ideas here. Second, if you want to get the community talking about a big issue, simply writing a news update about the issue is a weak item of community content. Some better ideas include:
1) Get the opinions of 10 top members on the issue and publish this as an item of content. Actively write the community into the content.
2) Run a poll about the issue and then summarize the results of the poll.
3) Find a member or two the issue will directly affect and write about them.
4) Turn the content into a series of discussion topics.
5) Undertake an in-depth interview a knowledgeable member about the issue.
There is plenty of room for creativity here. You can’t just write about the issue, you have to write about the issue through a community lens.
