I’ve been working at Passle for two months now, mainly conducting research and working on general bits and bobs for the start-up. The research so far has focused on PR, Law and Accounting firms’ social media habits, along with analysing their ability to blog.

As a result, I’ve spent copious amounts of my time scrawling through firms' blogs. Though, sometimes I find it hard to term them so. Rather they’re endless feeds of victory parades and salutes towards what ‘we’re’ doing at our firm.

Have you ever been at that party or event where, by complete accident, you end up stuck listening to someone’s life? They first reel off what they had for breakfast, then proceed to indulge you on their pet’s diarrhoea, before telling you….

Yes we’ve all been there. In small quantities, it can be nice.

So a common theme throughout this research is to encounter this instead of engaging, insightful, knowledgeable pieces of content.

I am currently researching Insurance brokers in which smart and intelligent people roam the sphere. But wait. Where is this knowledge? It’s as though these smart people find it difficult to demonstrate what they’re good at. I come across sites with only news and events sections. How does this tell me what ‘you’ know?

Because after all, our aim when producing content is to provide value to ourselves, and to our audience.

So what content should you be creating?

• Opinionated and observational remarks on current news from your field.
• Generating depth and insight into a recent article from your field.
• Expert-led advice for your audience.
• Engaging and thought provoking topics that are useful to your audience.

Entertaining content. Interesting content. It’s not easy, but it’s not rocket science.