A 10X content experience refers to the entirety of the experience your brand creates and shares online and offline with prospects and customers. While 10x content points to information and messaging that is the best of its class, a 10X content experience means every interaction anyone has with your brand is a best-in-class experience. That is, everything from brand logos to blog posts, reviews, customer service, delivery of the product or service, and all that follows in between, is 10x. The best.
The creation of a 10x content experience is one of the most effective moats you can build around your brand. Why? Because it does not scale, proves near-impossible for most brands to adhere to and often yields cult-like customer love.
Become a 10x brand to more easily create 10x content
It’s not enough to create 10x content. In today’s hyper-competitive, content-heavy marketing environment, your brand needs to be 10x. In turn, prospects and customers seek out your brand online and offline, resulting in traffic to your website, visits to your brick-and-mortar stores, additional sales, customer love and brand advocacy.
For example, in 2015, after I’d been using the collaboration tool Slack for a couple of months, I shared this tweet:
They reached out to ask if they could use my words in an ad, which was posted in the Wall Street Journal and elsewhere. They also sent me a host of goodies in the mail.
Needless to say, after this 10x brand experience I’d never think of leaving Slack. Their brand is top of mind, ensuring that I read every piece of their content I can find online.
What’s more, if you make becoming a 10x brand a priority, creating 10x content is a breeze.
What Is 10x Content?
When you see amazing “10x content” it’s sometimes hard to put your finger on why it’s so good. This can be intimidating when it comes time to create your own. Fortunately, 10x content typically shares a number of common, more accessible characteristics that *together* make the content shine. For example, 10x content is:
- Accurate
- Authoritative
- Includes the three I’s: Indispensable, Immediacy, Inspiring
- An Excellent Experience on Any Device
- Provides a Worthwhile Solution
- Uniquely Differentiated Experience
Brand Benefits of Creating 10x Content
Creating 10x content is ultimately about creating something remarkable. Why go to all the trouble? In addition to having a shot at showing up in search results for keywords they care about, brands have a better opportunity to be competitive by attracting links to their content. Why would someone link to something else if you’ve got the best content on the topic? Not just the best, but 10x the best.
Having the best content also creates positive brand affinity, and can lead to social shares, glowing reviews, increased loyalty, and ultimately more business conversions.
An awesome content experience builds a passionate, loyal audience.
Getting traction on the web is tough. At least 50% of articles get 8 shares or less, and 75% of content attracts no links. There’s also an increasing fragmentation of how and where people access information.
“In a shifting landscape, your best defense (and your best offense) is a passionate audience.” -Eric Enge, Stone Temple Consulting
To create an audience, real connections are required. That means delivering an experience, not a product or service.
Get your head in the game
Before we jump into the steps of creating 10x content, it’s important to get in the right headspace of search marketing fundamentals. No one is going to care about your content just because you spent a lot of time on it. They certainly won’t share it or link to it.
Help people solve real problems
If you’re not offering a solution, you’re sort of part of the problem, aren’t you? You’ll do yourself (and your brand) a major favor if you keep in mind that the best content typically solves some sort of problem. This doesn’t have to be complicated, it just takes a little creativity.
Take for example the @HiltonSuggests Twitter account. Regardless of whether people are staying with them, the account has set itself up as a resource for travel tips and recommendations.
Their tagline is simple but effective: “We are here to help.” You can Tweet the account with questions, or just follow it for useful content like how to travel in New York City like a local.
Be the best answer
Every search performed starts with some sort of question. What right do you have to show up in search results with a Featured Snippet and a top organic search result if you don’t have the best answer?
There are lots of tactics you can use to be the best. Design and user experience are key, but ultimately your content still needs authoritative information. That can mean incorporating subject-matter experts, referencing highly credible related materials, and researching where and how existing answers fall short.
Before you start out on your quest to be the best, first make sure you’re actually solving a problem and you’re prepared to provide the best answer. The question may not be as direct as “How to write a blog post” but every query has some sort of search intent to find answers. That’s what makes it a search.
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