How Can You Craft Engaging and Shareable Content That Resonates With Your Target Audience?

We’ve all asked ourselves the question:

“Why isn’t my content getting the engagement it deserves?” More often than not, the issue isn’t the quality of the content, but the connection it creates or fails to create with your audience.

In over a decade of marketing experience, I’ve seen one golden rule stand true: people share what they connect with. Whether it's emotionally charged, practically useful, or simply entertaining, the content that resonates is the content that travels.

Let’s explore how to craft content that speaks to your audience, not at them.

1. Start With Audience Insight, Not Assumptions

Your content should never begin with “What do I want to say?” but rather, “What does my audience need to hear right now?”

Use these tools to gather insights:

• Instagram/Facebook/TikTok polls and question boxes

  
  

• Comments and DMs

  
  

• Search queries via Google Trends or AnswerThePublic

  
  

• Audience surveys (use Typeform or Google Forms)

  
  

• Analytics from past top-performing posts

  
  

• Great content doesn’t guess, it listens.

2. Use the 3E Rule: Educate, Entertain, or Empathise.

Every successful post should do one or more of the following:

Educate: Teach your audience something they didn’t know but need to. Think tutorials, “how-tos,” tips, and myth-busting.

Entertain: Make them laugh, feel good, or see something in a new light. Use humour, relatable skits, memes, and trends.

Empathise: Connect on a human level. Share your story, struggles, lessons, and wins. People relate to people, not perfection.

When you consistently post with value, people are more likely to engage and more importantly, share.

3. Hook Them Early

Attention is the new currency. You’ve got 3–5 seconds to make someone stop scrolling.

Use:

• Clear, benefit-led headlines (e.g., “3 mistakes that are costing you clients”)

  
  

• Pattern-disrupting visuals or movement (especially on Reels or TikTok)

  
  

• Powerful questions or bold statements (“No one tells you this about starting a business…”)

  
  

• Think of your content like a movie trailer, grab attention before the story begins.

• 
  

4. Tell Stories That Reflect Shared Experiences

People remember stories more than facts. Use the storytelling framework:

• The Situation: Set the scene

• The Struggle: Introduce the challenge

• The Shift: What changed?

• The Solution: Share the takeaway

• The Spark: Inspire action or reflection

  
  

This format works brilliantly across all platforms from LinkedIn articles to Instagram captions.

Bonus tip: Use “you” language over “I” statements to draw the reader into your experience.

5. Speak Like a Human, Not a Headline

Social media isn’t the place for stiff, overly corporate language. It’s a space for real conversations.

Write how you speak. Use:

Short sentences and line breaks

Emoji (where appropriate) to add tone or emotion

Local spelling and cultural references for relatability

A clear, consistent tone (are you bold, kind, cheeky, insightful?)

The more your voice sounds like you, the more your content will feel authentic.

6. Use Visuals That Enhance the Message

Visual content gets 94% more views than text-only posts. But good visuals do more than look pretty; they tell a story.

Use:

• Branded graphics with quotes, tips, or stats

• Behind-the-scenes photos or day-in-the-life videos

• Screenshots of comments or DMs (with permission)

• Storyboards or carousels to guide a journey

• Consistent colours, fonts, and filters to build brand recognition

• Good design makes your message stick.

  
  

7. Invite Engagement (Ask, Don’t Assume)

People are more likely to engage when they’re prompted.

Try ending your posts with:

“Have you experienced this too?”

“Comment below with your favourite tip”

“Double tap if this resonates”

“Save this if you’ll need it later”

On stories or video, say it out loud. On captions, make your CTA clear and conversational.

8. Tap Into Emotions (They’re More Shareable Than Facts)

Emotionally charged content, whether it’s joy, surprise, anger, pride, or nostalgia, gets shared more frequently.

Examples:

• Share a personal failure and what you learned

• Celebrate a client or follower's transformation

• Express frustration at an industry myth (sparks conversation)

• Recount a cultural or generational moment people relate to

• If it made you feel something, chances are it’ll move others too.

9. Repurpose With Purpose

A single piece of content can become:

1. A blog post

2. A carousel

3. A podcast clip

4. A Tweet thread

5. A quote graphic

6. A TikTok or Reel

Repurposing helps your message reach different learning styles (visual, auditory, reader) and platform preferences. Just tweak the format and tone to suit each platform’s culture.

10. Measure, Learn, Repeat

Use platform insights to understand:

• Which posts get the most shares, saves, or comments?

• What time of day drives most engagement?

• Which formats (Reels, carousels, threads) perform best?

• What topics keep your audience coming back?

Then double down on what works. Content creation becomes easier and more strategic when you let data guide you.

Engaging, shareable content isn’t about being the loudest, it’s about being the most relevant.

When you truly understand your audience’s world, needs, and pain points, your content becomes more than just posts, it becomes a conversation.

Let your content do more than inform. Let it move, challenge, uplift, and unite. In the noisy world of social media, connection is your loudest amplifier.