How to Identify the Content Your Audience Actually Loves

Stop flinging your best ideas into the void and start noticing the ones that echo back

A while back, I sent an email to my other list that felt, at the time, like a throwaway.

I’d been struggling that week, juggling too much, falling behind on the things I swore I’d prioritize. So I wrote something short and honest; just a few paragraphs about how hard it can be to show up and make anything when life feels like it’s coming apart at the seams.

And I almost didn’t send it.

I thought it was too raw, too scattered, and I worried it made me sound like I didn’t have my act together—which, to be fair, I didn’t in that moment. But I hit send anyway because it was Friday, and I told myself I’d send something every Friday, even if that something came with frayed edges.

It got more responses than anything I’d sent in months.

People wrote back, not just with “great post” or “I relate,” but with full-on confessions. Stories of their own burnout, doubt, and late-night wrestling matches with meaning. That non-post cracked something open. Not just for them, but for me.

Earlier that same month, I sent another piece—one I actually worked hard on (and part of the reason I felt burnt out). I spent time shaping the language, choosing the right lead, tightening the call to action. It was clear, useful, and full of the kind of insight I thought people wanted. I expected it to land; not with a bang, but at least with a nod of recognition.

It didn’t.

I got a a few likes and a perfunctory reply. The kind you’re not even sure was meant for you. That’s when I realized something that should’ve been obvious: Resonance isn’t always about effort. It isn’t about polish, or strategy, or getting the timing right. Sometimes it’s just about whether the thing you shared made someone feel something real.

The problem is, you don’t always know when you’ve hit that note. Especially when you’re in the middle of doing all the things (posting, emailing, launching, creating). You forget to stop and listen; to notice what’s landing, and why.

We treat engagement like a lottery. We make something we care about, we send it out, and we hope this is the one that gets lucky. That something, anything at all, comes back.

But what if there was a way to stop guessing? What if you had a simple method for figuring out which pieces of your work are actually connecting, and which ones will just cause us to spin our wheels?

That’s what today’s prompt is about.

How the Engagement Radar works

The Engagement Radar is a gut-check framework. You take 5 to 10 things you’ve shared recently: Emails, Instagram posts, product listings, studio updates, any piece of content where you hoped for a response, and you hold them up to three signals:

• Curiosity: Did it make people pause? Did it spark interest, questions, or a sense of “I want to know more.”

• Connection: Did it resonate emotionally? Did people reply, share, comment, or say, “This feels like me.”

• Conversion: Did it lead to action? That could mean a sale, a save, a signup, a message, or someone reaching out.

You’re not scoring for perfection or performance. You’re looking for pulse points; the places where something landed. Not by accident, but because it carried something real across the gap.

And once you start seeing what types of content hit two or three of those signals consistently, you have something most people never get: Actual insight into your own resonance. Run this prompt regularly and you’ll stop asking, “What should I post?” and start building around what’s already working.

Not as a formula, but as a rhythm.

Want access to the full Prompt Creative archive, including every tactical prompt, member-only walkthrough, and creative tool I’ve published so far?

Not convinced? Test it for a week free!

The Prompt: The Engagement Radar Prompt

Collect a list of links to blogs, social media posts, newsletters, or whatever linked items you would like the AI to assess. The more you give it, the better your responses.

Copy and paste this code into your AI chatbot of choice (I use ChatGPT). Make sure to fill in all the bold areas with your content.