Ok brace yourself for a mess of words and perhaps the cheesiest thing I’ve ever written in my whole life but I wholeheartedly endorse every word.

There. You’ve been warned.

I. The first word in the mess of words is “marketing,” which at its most fundamental definition, is the promoting and selling of products and services. Every business and nonprofit markets. Interestingly, while marketing has taken place throughout time, the word didn’t appear in dictionaries until 1897! Since then, the word has evolved in such a way that one site compiled 72 definitions offered by modern marketing gurus. Of these definitions, one of my favorites is by marketer Shennandoah Diaz who says “marketing educates and engages.” Another I like is Max Kalehoff’s who defines marketing as “the art and science of creating, delighting, and keeping customers.”Okay, got that? Now on to Part II to highlight some of those defining words.

II. The words “creating,” “educating,” “engaging” and “delighting” in the above definitions really stand out. Who doesn’t want to have a product or service that creates an educating, engaging, delightful experience for their fellow humans?

And I really hope you’re still here, but I have to warn you that this is where the mess of words comes into play in Part III.

III. We wrote a month ago how shareable social media content contains at least one of five characteristics. The first we dealt with was how shareable content should be “relatable.” Today, we want to focus on the next characteristic, which is how shareable content is “informative.”

If you’re still with me, we’re gonna roll all the above in Parts I and II together into that one word.

Informative social media posts offer your audience ideas, facts, and opinions they have either never encountered or are a reminder of things they have forgotten. For example, what I shared in Part I may have been new information to you. Whether it was a marketing definition that stood out or the 1897 fact, if it stood out to you in any way, then it was informative. It stimulated the neurons and briefly lit up part of your mind. It kept your attention. When you do this through content you share on social media, your audience will react similarly. They will stick around. They will pay attention.

When brainstorming content that might be informative to your social media following, it’s often tough to think of the things that might be interesting to others because they seem so normal to you.

And here’s where the unicorn comes to play. You are a unicorn. You are unique. Your job is unique. Remembering this can help overcome the nagging thought that “no one wants to hear this” or “everyone knows this” or “this isn’t interesting to others.” 

Since it’s now settled fact that you are a unicorn, I’ll mention something else that might help get the creative juices flowing. Creating informative content that applies the word “delight” could be just the trick. This word has always been special to me. I mean, you can’t beat it. The word “delight” is indisputably delightful. Informative content that delights might have a positive, happy, enjoyable slant. When repeatedly sharing delightfully informative content with our busy audience, they are more likely to want to share with others.

So the challenge for the week is to take a minute to think about the delightful information you know that you want to share with others on social media, which your audience will want to share, creating a sharing loop of delight.

Tell me that doesn’t sound amazing. It’s also a bit on the cheesy side. This is the type of occasion that calls for the perfect cheesy unicorn meme. I’m picturing an over-the-top happy unicorn (aka YOU) who is so delighted by the contents of this very newsletter that they then share it with their unicorn friends. You know we’re all unicorns, right?

–Josh