What is “Educational Content”?
Every creative business, whether you are selling educational products/services or not, needs educational content in their content strategy.
When I talk about “educational content,” I’m not talking about literal how-to’s or tutorials. I’m talking about content that teaches your audience the things they need to know in order to (1) feel comfortable buying from you, and (2) know how to buy from you.
Your audience needs to learn 3 major lessons from you in order to feel comfortable trading their hard earned dollars for your products or services:
Who you are/what you’re about
Why you’re qualified to solve their problem
That they can trust you to deliver on your promise
3 Types of Content to Teach Your Audience
I like to match those 3 lessons with 3 different types of content you should be creating for your audience:
💥 Spark Connection content
🔥 Kindle Relationships content
🧨 Ignite Action content
💥 Spark Connections Content
First, someone needs to feel some sort of connection with you to pay attention and decide to follow you in the first place.
To spark this connection, you can use your content to teach your audience more about things like:
yourself
your beliefs
why you started your business
your opinions related to your industry
whether you understand their common frustrations
your interests & hobbies
so that they learn whether or not you guys vibe, and whether you seem like someone they want to work with or support.
What does Spark Connections content look like?
Here are some examples of specific content you can create for this stage of your audience’s journey:
Self-introduction post
Post on why you started your biz
Reels/Tiktoks using voiceovers to speak to a common, shared frustration
Bold statement/controversial opinion post
Pet pics!
🔥 Kindle Relationships Content
Once someone’s into you, then you need to teach them that you’re qualified to help them and that what you offer can fulfill their specific needs.
This is where you educate them on things like:
your product/service
what it looks like to work with you
the work you’ve done in the past
your process
your style
the benefits of working with you
What does Kindle Relationships content look like?
Here are some examples of specific content you can create for this stage of your audience’s journey:
Reels/Tiktoks that show behind the scenes
Steps of your process to create a product / perform a service
Critiques of your peers OR your own old work/thoughts to showcase your growth & expertise
Pictures of your products or projects
Explanations of what it’s like to work with you/hire you
Educational posts/tutorials
Posts highlighting your differentiators
Detailed explanations of your different offerings
🧨 Ignite Action Content
Finally, someone needs to be able to trust you before they’ll feel comfortable handing over their hard-earned dollars.
The final step is to teach them that you’re trustworthy, by sharing things like:
previous work you’ve done with clients
reviews on your products
testimonials from past clients
proof of outcomes you’ve achieved
What does Ignite Action content look like?
Here are some examples of specific content you can create for this stage of your audience’s journey:
Client testimonials
Product/shop reviews
User-generated content (other people’s pics of themselves using your products)
Results or transformations your clients have achieved
Shifting to a content strategy that focuses on sharing “educational content” creates a better experience for your audience, since your content is developed to teach them and help them get closer to a solution that will fulfill a need they have.
As an added bonus—you’ll feel less salesy and icky when you talk about your business, because you’re focused on how you can serve someone else and improve something about their life.
Try shifting to an educational content framework and see the effect it has your audience!