There may have been a day in the not-too-distant past when posting and publishing everywhere seemed like sound advice. No, that’s true; that was never sound advice. It's true that showing up consistently where your audience hangs out is a way to get more visibility, but more visibility from you doesn’t necessarily equate to more trust with your audience.
If you’re publishing everywhere all the time, it could actually be working against the credibility you’re trying to establish. Why? Because quantity doesn’t equate quality, and what you’re publishing could be construed as noise. And let’s face it; your audience is confronted with plenty of noise as it is. You don’t want to add to it.
Yes, if you publish more content, you feel productive.You’re getting out there and doing something, and that can be relatively easy to measure. But you’re measuring the wrong things.
Just because you’re busy with your content doesn’t mean you’re successful with it. Publishing for the sake of it can feel like a win, but if your content isn’t doing a thing to move your business forward, then what’s its point?
It doesn’t have one. Instead, you have a bunch of content that all sounds the same, and has no purpose for your audience or your business.
Plus your audience is fatigued by how much information is competing for their attention. In fact, research by Accenture shows that when people are flooded with more content than they can meaningful process, they don’t reward the sources publishing the most. Instead, they reward those that reduce their effort and provide clarity fastest. Information overload drives your audience to disengage from the nosiest sources altogether. And you don’t want that.
The instinct to chase volume isn’t entirely wrong. Perhaps you’ve seen the research that says businesses that publish 11 or more times a month do generate significantly more leads than those that publish once a week or less. But it’s critical to also see that it’s the consistent, sustained publishers, not necessarily the highest-volume ones, that see a dramatically better return on that investment over time, far outperforming businesses that publish in sporadic bursts.
Said a different way: showing up pays off when you show up the same way, at the same rhythm, with the same through-line again and again. It’s the rhythm, not volume, that helps you earn trust, which is what your audience wants from you.
So how do you maintain that rhythm and provide information your audience can use?
Well, for one, a documented content plan gives every piece of content you create a reason to exist while letting a recognizable point of view accumulate across all pieces instead of resetting with every time you sit down to write something.
For example, if you plan one well-argued article a month that takes a real position on how your industry should think about a problem, your content will do more for your credibility than ten “helpful tips” post that any competitor could write. Consistency of voice, not frequency of output, is what makes your prospects feel like they’re getting to know you. It's this content that helps you earn your audience’s trust instead of just occupying space.
Output won’t build your credibility. Content that exists fora reason that your audience wants to consume will.
So posting or publishing more will not raise your trust level. Instead, think about what you believe in and how you share that with your audience. What problems do you help your customers overcome and how does that affect them? And, how do you approach it differently so that you’re the obvious choice rather than your competitors?
You can easily answer these questions while building something cumulative. Remember, you don't have to be the loudest. In fact, you should strive not to be. Instead, aim to be the one your audience trusts the most. .