Good content should be:
- Authentic.
- Helpful.
- Human.
The idea here is that good content is all about the reader. Good content should be written for a very particular reader (for instance, you wouldn't write content that you want to do well for both enterprise PMs as well as developers, because you'd end up diluting your message to both). The idea is that your content should be genuine and authentic. If it's something that your target reader wouldn't find useful, maybe you shouldn't do it?
Another thing is that content shouldn't be self-promotional. It should instead be educational / helpful to your target reader. So for instance, if a lot of Stormpath developers are having issues understanding how sessions work, then writing an article which explains how sessions work in depth is a great way to genuinely help a developer trying to figure this stuff out, and gains a lot of brand awareness / goodwill.
The next bit (being human) means that you should usually try to focus your content around solving a reader's core problem (which are usually people problems). So -- tell a story. Instead of writing a dry post about how to do X, tell a story about how there's a problem, and then how you can solve it by doing X, to get result Y. People relate better to this sort of thing.
Chris also wrote down some cool rules for content that I really liked and connected with.
- Good content should reflect your values.
For instance: you wouldn't want to publish anything that goes against your core organizational values, whatever those may be.
- Good content should focus on people over technology.
Tell a story with your content, and focus on helping solve people's core problems, not just specific technical issues.
- Good content should focus on your audience instead of yourself.
Don't write content that is self-promotional in nature, as developers see right through it. Instead: write things that your audience genuinely finds useful and needs, and never talk about how great you are: let other people do that for you.
- Educate people instead of selling to them.
Never try to sell your product / service. Instead, educate people on related topics and let them become fans / users / customers on their own accord.
- Good content is adaptable to the medium.
If you write a really great article, you know it's great because it can be repurposed as a blog post, a video, a screencast, a podcast, etc...
- Amplify the work of others.
Instead of being self-promotional, let other people talk about you. When a user writes a positive review / tweet / etc., do whatever you can to broadcast that and amplify it. Interview the user, get them onto a podcast, whatever it takes to help spread their message.
- Be humble.
Nobody likes a jerk =) Being humble with your content is important if you want to create genuine connections with your target audience over a long period of time.
- A message takes 7 times to be seen.
If you do produce some content, you have to share it around at least 7 times for it to 'stick'. So, don't get disappointed if you write something, tweet about it, submit it to reddit, and don't immediately see 'value'. Share it around other places, or other mediums, or simply re-post it to twitter / facebook over the course of a few weeks to help get it seen.