The 4 Tips for Creating Engaging Content

This article is an excerpt from the Shortform book guide to "Crush It!" by Gary Vaynerchuk. Shortform has the world's best summaries and analyses of books you should be reading.

Like this article? Sign up for a free trial here .

Are you trying to create a personal brand? How can you create engaging content to grow your audience and boost your SEO?

Gary Vaynerchuk (also known as Gary Vee online) is a renowned entrepreneur and social media expert. In his book Crush It!, he provides a list of four things you must do in order to create engaging content.

Continue reading for Vaynerchuk’s advice.

Creating Engaging Content for Your Brand

Now that you have the building blocks, it’s time to start creating blogs, Tweets, posts, videos, or podcasts about your topic. Social media guru Gary Vaynerchuk emphasizes that everything you post is a tool for attracting people to your personal brand and enticing them to become part of your growing audience. (Shortform note: Taking this a step further, when people share and view your content, it boosts your search engine optimization (SEO) score, which makes it easier for people to find you online. This creates a virtuous cycle.)

To make compelling and engaging content, Vaynerchuk says you must:

Be yourself. You won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but your personality will resonate with some people, and they’ll recognize your authenticity and trust you more for it. Incorporate some personal details and anecdotes to help people get to know you, thereby making them more connected to your brand. (Shortform note: While showing your personality is key to building your personal brand, how much of your personal life you should reveal depends on your topic, your platform, and your comfort level.)
Keep learning. Continually learn about the topic and stay on top of developments and trends. Read articles, newsletters, trade journals, books, and websites, and attend classes, lectures, and conferences. You can even make content about your learning journey by sharing your discoveries, missteps, and new skills. (Shortform note: Influencers’ popularity is often wrongly equated with expertise. For this reason, it’s important to be transparent about your actual level of expertise to avoid misleading followers.)
Have plenty to say. Before you start creating content, you should brainstorm at least 50 topics that you’d be excited to blog, vlog, or podcast about. (Shortform note: While Vaynerchuk says you should follow your gut and your passion in choosing your topics—and doing everything else—you can still be strategic in how you select and frame your topics. Think of your ideal audience and present your topics in ways that best help and appeal to them.)
Tell a good story. Good stories draw people in, keep them coming back for more, and make them want to loop in their friends—and their friends’ friends. Good storytelling can help you grow an audience that attracts sponsors and advertisers.

The StoryBrand Formula for Creating Your Marketing Story

Storytelling is a central strategy in marketing. In Building a StoryBrand, Donald Miller argues that storytelling is the most effective way to market a brand because it makes information engaging and easily digestible.Miller developed a seven-part formula for crafting a story that connects with customers and makes them believe that your product will improve their lives. Your customer wants something, and encounters a…Problem that stops them from getting it. They need… Your brand, which has a… Plan to help them solve the problem. Your brand must give a… Call to action that clearly states… What’s at stake if the customer doesn’t act, and… What they could gain if they do act.