Recently, I had an epiphany while creating content for our Instagram page (21dtalkies). We have been doing it for almost a year now. We redefined our strategies myriad of times. We were confused. We wanted to share content that drives engagement, content that people could not miss, content that made them pause and think.
Initially, we began with posting random stuff, then our focus veered towards posting useful, informative content for users like – what’s trending in digital marketing or content marketing, social media tips etc.
There was a phase where we began posting inspirational quotes and got stuck there, because that seemed like a pretty good idea.
But it was not quenching our thirst for offering good content. We just didn’t know what to do. What should we provide that no one else is providing and be recognised for that? What if it doesn’t work for Instagram?
Posting about trending topics and sharing motivational quotes by illustrious personalities seemed like a safe idea, always. So, we went by that. But no matter how smart you think you are; your audience is always smarter.
When nothing seemed to be working out despite regular brainstorming and like a hundred of revised strategies, we decided to put it on hold for a week. Yes, for a week, we posted nothing. And in that duration, I realised why are we trying to impress our content with someone else’s ideas. We can do what we do best – share our content. We don’t need to tell our audience about Men’s health week or about 51st Pride anniversary. There are multitude of sites and forums where users can find this information. But we can give them stories that no one else will. We can tell them what we think about life, love, fear, courage, books, feminism, mental health or discrimination. We can change perspectives through our writing. We know we can tell stories in one line and in long essays.
I say ‘We’ and ‘Our’ because for this blog, I am drawing my experiential inferences from my business (21D Solutions)
Given the nature of this venture, it should have been obvious to post our own content. But believe me for a very long time it wasn’t.
We have learnt from our experience that no matter how small your audience is, you should offer what you excel at. Your content should not be focused on what will drive traffic. Because that will always put your strengths down.
Your content should be focused on your brand’s uniqueness and trust me you will have to worry about usefulness.
The Flawed One 
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