There tend to be a lot
of rules surrounding content creation. It must have value, it can’t be too
long, the information must be relevant, not to mention accurate, relatable,
accessible, easily understandable, and the list goes on. It’s way too easy to
get overwhelmed by all these rules and regulations. Overthinking your
content—is it good enough, interesting enough, or worth hitting the publish button
at all—is its own chore. But content creation doesn’t have to be this big of a
headache! In fact, content creation can be easy. You just have to know a few
simple tricks.
4 Tips for EASY Content Creation
Research, practice, and
learning the tricks of the trade are the best ways to make any job easier. So,
if you’re overwhelmed by your content creation to-do list, consider these
“tricks” to lighten your load:
1. Create a Content Calendar
Initially, this might
sound outdated. In practice, it’s a lifesaver! Rather than relying on your
memory or mood for the day, manage your posts effectively by planning them out
a week, month, or more at a time. By using a calendar, you can easily track the
frequency of your blogs, regulate your posting so it remains consistent,
organize themes and campaigns, keep track of topics you’ve covered in the past,
prepare for upcoming topics, avoid annoying repetition, and prevent creativity
burnout. While this planning tool might sound like an annoying amount of
upfront work, it will actually help you work less in the long
run and feel more organized while doing so.
2. Implement More Structure to Your Workday
Your brain is much more
effective when it’s allowed to focus on one specific thing rather than a
million different tasks. So rather than tackling your mile-long to-do list
randomly, schedule out your day/week to handle similar projects at the same
time. For instance, focus on answering emails, organizing your inbox, and
returning phone calls on Monday morning. Write your blog posts and email
campaigns Monday afternoon. Plan out your social media content and future
social campaigns on Tuesday morning. Tuesday afternoon, film and edit your
weekly video. By segmenting your days rather than fire hosing yourself with
your whole list of tasks the entire week, you’ll be more productive, and your
content creation will feel less overwhelming.
3. Schedule All of Your Posts
This point goes
hand-in-hand with the previous one. Rather than relying on yourself to come up
with a creative blog post every week, and a social media
post every day, and also a video whenever you can find the
time, use the various scheduling tools available and then move on! Take one
day at the beginning of the month to schedule out your social media content for
the remainder of the month. Take a few days to brainstorm and create blog
content for your website for the entire quarter. Pull out a few changes of
clothes and binge-record yourself all day for all your video content coming up.
Schedule these posts weeks, or even months, out so you don’t have to worry
about it again for a good long while (just be sure to set yourself a reminder
on that calendar for when you need to start brainstorming ideas again).
4. Repurpose Past Content
You might think that
hitting that “publish” button is the last step for your content, but think
again! Repurposing past content is one of the best ways to get more out of your
work with less effort. Any content you create can be repurposed to reach new
audiences or meet a new goal. Don’t waste anything, especially your time. If
you’d like to learn more about repurposing content, then you should join
my 7-day challenge and
find out how to grow your audience and increase your reach!
We all want to get the most out of our work. Ideally, we’d like to work less and get more! Luckily for you and your business, that’s exactly what we’re talking about today: repurposing content. Recycling your existing content the right way can help you reach a whole new audience, bring back long-forgotten fans, and make the most of your time and effort.
Rather than pouring valuable time and energy into a new blog post, only to have it sit idly on your website’s back shelf, you can bring out an old classic, repurpose it, and give it a whole new life. Here’s how!
What is Content Repurposing?
Content repurposing is exactly what it sounds like: re-creating or editing old content in order to make it suitable for a new purpose. Keep in mind that this is different from content revamping. Content revamping tends to involve updating old content in order to make it more applicable, accurate, or otherwise interesting to suit today’s audience. When you repurpose content, however, you’re keeping everything that was good about the old content while giving it something fresh in order to reach brand new heights or meet a new need.
Here are 3 Tips for Repurposing Your Content the Right Way!
1. Don’t just repurpose any old content.
It might be tempting to go back and find your personal favorite blog post to repurpose, but you have to do better than that. Utilize your Google Analytics to determine what content has been the most popular and choose based on numbers, not simply which one you like best. Figure out why that content performed so well and come up with some ways to repurpose it for your current campaign or goal.
2. Only repurpose content that is still relevant.
Even information that was once incredibly useful can lose its relevance. There’s no point in repurposing outdated information. Before you begin a content repurposing project, make sure that the content is evergreen in nature, meaning that it will continue to be valuable to readers for months on end (or years, if that can be managed!).
3. Get creative!
Not all content comes in the form of blog posts. There are videos, powerpoints, social media posts, and so much more! If you’re stuck in the brainstorming stage of content repurposing, or you don’t even know where to begin, consider some of these snazzy repurpose ideas:
Make video tutorials out of webinar footage. If you’ve ever hosted a webinar, you know that not everyone interested in your information made it. Months after the webinar, you’ll start noticing recurring questions from site visitors who missed out on all the glorious information entirely. Rather than letting that hard work and delicious content go to waste, repurpose your webinar footage into video tutorials. This will add value to your website, encourage interaction, and help drive new visitors.
Turn interviews into expert advice ebooks. Interviews are very popular content for blog posts. They’re easy to create, easy to edit, and often get a lot of traction when done well. They can also be easily re-formatted to fit an ebook. Since some people even prefer ebooks to blog posts, you open the doors to a whole new audience.
Make infographics out of slideshows. If you’ve ever put effort into a PowerPoint presentation, then you know the graphs and charts you end up with are stunning. Rather than letting these sit on your hard drive unused, try turning them into infographics. Not only are they fun to look at, easy to read, and tempting to share, but they work as great opt-in incentives for your site.
Take your best blog posts and make them into podcasts. This one can be a little intimidating if you have no experience recording yourself, but with all the Bluetooth in cars and an ever-growing love for audio books these days, you should make your content easy for people to listen to. Podcasts are one of the best ways to make your content even more convenient to access.
Do you want to reach a wider audience with your content…for free? Are you not sure how to do that on your own? Join my 7-Day Content Repurposing Challenge and learn how to attract more customers in less time.
Have a great week!
Robyn
P.S. if you want to drive more traffic using content you already have and look like an authority in your niche, this challenge is for you! Sign Up Here Now!
On a scale of 1 to 10, how awesome would you rate your current content marketing strategy?
The quality of your content marketing can have major impact on the success of your company.
If your content is ineffective, unclear, unplanned or non-existent, your customers will not be able to understand why your company is one they should pay attention to. And you will likely lose the bulk of them to your competitors!
Today I want to share with you 7 Simple Rules To Improve Your Content Marketing:
Create Unique Content.I’m sure I don’t need to tell you how much content is out there, floating around the web and on the screens of your potential clients/customers. Some statistics say we see anywhere from 500-5000 ads in a single day! If you want to be seen, you MUST be unique. Unique doesn’t mean complicated or time-consuming. Create content that stands out from the rest of the information begging for your audience’s attention.Be the purple unicorn in the room full of zebras!
Be Format-Specific.There are dozens of platforms on which to share your content. You can repurpose the same content to use across all of these platforms by formatting it for each platform. Create long, detailed posts for your blog, teaser-length for email, short blips or graphics for social, etc.
Answer Questions Your Audience Is Asking.Your content should answer or provide a solution to a question your target audience is asking. Use tools likewww.answerthepublic.comto find what people are asking about topics related to your product/service. You will grab attention if you can provide clear and obvious answers/solutions to the questions people are asking.
Create A Content Schedule.Spontaneity may work once in a while but is not an effective long-term content strategy. Sit down once a year, once a month and once a week to go over your content schedule. If you create consistent, well-planned content it will help you appear stable and that you have your ducks in a row. This will also prevent last minute “panic-mode” content creation for product launches, promotions and special occasions because you will have mapped these out long in advance.
Diversify Your Content.There are many, many ways to repurpose content and put it in front of a wider audience! Think videos, infographics, webinars, images, ads, etc.https://lumen5.com/is a great app that helps you transform blog posts into eye-grabbing videos.
Metrics, Metrics, Metrics!It is important to take a look at how your content is performing across different platforms in order to know what is working, what isn’t working and how you need to shift your content to increase engagement. Google analytics and Facebook business insights are free ways to monitor your content’s performance. Ahrefs.com is a program that helps you see keyword ranking in search engines. If you use an email system like aweber.com or activecampaign.com you will be able to see your email open rates and click-through rates. Find the metric reporting systems that work for you and use them regularly.
Take Creative Risks.Once in a while you’ve got to step away from the “norm” and do something “risky” in order to make your brand stand out and get noticed. Sometimes you might fall flat on your face, and other times you will find wild success. Push outside the boundaries of your comfort zone and do something your audience is not expecting!
Focus on these simple content marketing rules to enhance your current strategy and take your business to the next level. Good content is a core muscle in your business and should be given the proper time and attention.
As always, I am here to help if you are finding gaps in your business or are experiencing a learning curve!Schedule a call with me HEREto chat about what I can do to help you improve your business.
