Even with different formats and media types joining the game lately, no one can deny that ‘Content is King’.
No matter the type, whether it’s video, podcasting or blogging, creating quality content will always be a staple in determining the success of your brand. So here are my favorite tips and tricks to help you get serious about your content creation and to inspire you to figure out how to improve your content creation – fast!
Schedule It
Make sure that you take your content marketing seriously by creating a content calendar, where not only your blog, podcast and video content are included but also your social media and YouTube content as well. Remember: if it doesn’t get scheduled, it doesn’t get done!
Take Inventory
One of the first steps to creating killer content is to take stock of what is working for you and your audience right now. It’s time for you to spend some time with your analytics and see how are you serving your audience and what kind of content do they respond to.
Pay Attention to Your Community
When we first start out with our blogs, we create content that we think our audience wants. As our brands grow and we pay attention to our community, we then start creating content that our audience needs. The easiest way to make this happen is by simply asking. Whether it’s through your comments section or being available to reach on social media, it’s important to ask your audience and really listen to them.
Social Media Trends
Take note of what’s going on around you online by paying attention to social media hashtags (ex. #entrepreneurstruggles, #solopreneurproblems) or visit Facebook to see what topics are being discussed in your industry circles. The information you can glean from social media platforms could be priceless.
Industry Competitors
Check out what others in your niche are saying, this could mean your peers or even major industry influencers to see what topics are interesting them. It’s important to remember however, you don’t want to copy what they are saying – instead, react to it. There’s no need to copy a Gary Vaynerchuk video. Making a blog post and sharing your thoughts on it pushes your brand even further than if you were just going to make an imitation of it.
Conference Agenda Ideas
Conference topics are always a great way to see check out industry trends and what they can expect to be the next big thing. Make a list of industry conferences and take note of any hot topics that you feel you could create content on.
Guest Content
You don’t have to do content creation alone. You can bring on guests for podcast interviews or ask guests to write for your blog. Getting different perspectives and opinions is a great way to keep your content fresh for audience, but remember that guest posting shouldn’t be seen as an easy way out of creating content for the week so only do it when it makes sense for you and your brand.
Content Curation
Not every piece of content you produce has to be 100% original and brand new, you can also curate content that aligns with your brand like round-up posts or ‘best of’ lists. This is also a great opportunity to backlink to any older content you feel could be promoted again as well.
Don’t Forget to Breathe
It can be very easy to get on that hamster wheel of constantly creating content until you find yourself burned out, so don’t forget to take some time out to recharge and restart the creativity you will need as a content creator. Figuring out how to improve your content creation is just the beginning – it’s the hard work connected to it that’ll help grow your business fast!
There are so many ways to come up with different kinds of content, but the most important rule to keep in mind is to generate solid content consistently so that your audience can grow to trust and respect your brand as an industry authority.
How do you keep up with content creation? Let me know over on Twitter and via Facebook – I’d love to hear from you!
