If your company is marketing to women online, you need good content on social media. Sometimes good content is silly. (Think Grumpy Cat or Boo the Dog.)

I’m not recommending that all of you brand managers out there start posting Grumpy Cat to your Facebook page. My point is simply this - good content is content that your fans and followers want to share, retweet, like or comment on. And it must be content that is relevant to your industry.

Creating content that people want to share is not easy. It involves creating a communications strategy to effectively reach your target audience and making sure you’re on the right social media channel for that audience. You’re wasting your time if people aren’t sharing your posts or tweets. It’s far better to have 200 really engaged fans on Facebook than 1500 people who “like” your page but never check it for updates.

Humans are selfish by nature. We often share content for completely selfish reasons. Are you creating content that people can use to achieve their selfish social media goals? Will your fans appear wise or witty if they share your content? Think about that next time you create a post.

Here are 6 ways to make sure you have good content for social media:

1. Build Trust – It’s a well-known fact that people are more likely to do business with people or companies they trust. Show your audience that your goals and values align with theirs.

2. Find your voice – Every company needs its own voice on social media. A great example is The Surfin’ Plumbers’ Facebook page. A plumbing company that uses surfin’ lingo? Gnarly!

3. Use visuals – One of the reasons Pinterest and YouTube are so successful is because they are completely visual sites. Users are far more likely to engage with brands who post images and video.

4. Be helpful – Use social media as a way to educate and inform your audience. Ask questions to get to know your audience and how they feel about certain subjects.

5. Listen - Listen to what people are saying about you, your company and your competitors.

6. Respond in real time - You don’t need to be on social media 24 hours a day, but you should respond to comments and questions in a timely manner. Remember that many people are online on weekends or the evenings, so you may have to check your company’s social media after hours in order to really connect with your audience.

Check your social engagement. How are you doing? If your content is not being shared, it’s time to rethink your strategy.