Forget Going Viral — If Your Content Has No Purpose, It’s Useless

Stop chasing likes and followers. Create content that drives real action.

When you go viral on Medium, you go viral for real.

A recent story went viral on here, and I even got a few DMs from you. Thank you. Your support means a lot to me.

Normally, this is where I break down what I did and promise you the exact same result.

But we’re not doing any of that today. Today we’ll look at content and how to use it from a grander perspective.

Most people post content hoping to get clients, followers, and likes.

That’s the ideal but there’s a problem. It’s not directed.

To really crush your KPIs(Key Performance Indicators), they’re a measure of something you want to track, you need content to have a purpose.

Spreading everything, everywhere to everyone is wasting your time.

Sure you might get some traction but you’ll be known as the guy or gal who went viral for…

Ohh, what was it again?

Yeah. They won’t remember.

The Goal of Content

Every creator has chased vanity metrics.

I started like this on LinkedIn.

I started with web design and posted my work in the most upbeat LinkedIn grammar style and waited… Waited for likes. Waited for comments.

It was sad because I got none of those.

I’ve been there and most creators still are. They post content with the goal of getting followers, likes, and clients. It’s not bad, it just spreads you too thin.

When you’re constantly worrying about these things, you start doing what everyone else is doing.

It’s basically a shotgun approach to content creation. But this “shotgun” approach isn’t the best strategy. It’s unfocused and leaves you chasing vanity metrics.

Without purpose, your content won’t carve a space in the mind of your audience, even if it goes viral.

On platforms like LinkedIn, content is like the wind. It’s strong, weak, then it’s gone.

So you might go viral but it won’t last long. It won’t remain in the memory for a long time. People will forget about you. The end.

But what if, just what if…

What if your content could leave a lasting impression, even if it goes viral?

What if every piece of your content achieve its purpose?

What if you created content that turns heads?

That would turn the tables around.

But everything is a waste of time if you don’t have this one thing.

Direction.

You need a focus.

You need your content to take people somewhere or cause them to do something.

Direct all your traffic to one place and guide them step-by-step to where you want them to be.

That’s how you direct your energy, and it pays off.

Understanding Your Audience

It’s easy to assume that you “know” your audience.

I’ve done it way too many times. But you should be in awe of how drastically different the picture in your mind and reality are.

You need to be sure about your audience. You need to understand what they want. Yes, ChatGPT can help with that but you can’t tell if it’s accurate and up-to-date.

I have used ChatGPT to generate a client persona before. It worked. It looked like everything I’d ever need until it wasn't.

Eventually, you realize, creating content that helps people comes from taking content ideas from actual people.

The easiest way to know your audience’s pain points?

Ask them. Send DMs.

Offer your service in exchange for their time.

You’ll have a wealth of knowledge after that as opposed to guessing.

Crafting a Clear Direction

You might have direction. That’s good but it’s not helping anyone if it’s not crafting a path for your audience to follow.

Every article, video, or post should send them to one place.

(Okay, maybe not so serious, but it’s worth it)

That’s the kind of intentional content that sticks. Doesn’t fade away like the wind.

But it’s hard to get direction without knowing what you want.

So, what do you want?

It’s easy to want it all. It’s okay to want it all, and you will get it all. You just need… time.

You need to take it one at a time.

Here’s an example of how it works:

Me: What do you want?
Client: I want clients.
Me: Okay, great. So what’s the goal of your content right now?
Client: I want to get more engagements and visibility.
Me: (this is a long one)

“So it seems to me like you want more leads, so you can convert them into clients. While trying to get more engagements, and views are good, that shouldn’t be your focus right now. Clients want to know that you know your onions, so show them… that you know your onions.”

“Create content about what you do. What they need. Not what you think they need.”

You see, answering the question just brings so much clarity. It tells you what you should be doing as opposed to what gurus tell you.

That’s it.

Hope you enjoyed this friends.