It’s the beginning of the year and it seems like your content creation team is pretty gung ho about turning it up a notch in 2015, as are you. But as we all know, pumping out remarkable content at a high rate is much easier said than done.
January is a very busy time of the year for many businesses and adding a few extra tasks to your plate may leave you feeling overwhelmed and ultimately under enthused about building out your content strategy.
What can you do to make sure that your content agenda doesn’t fall flat on its face? Use these 3 content creation tips to ensure you knock your content out of the park this year.
1. Plan Ahead
The more you blog, the more traffic comes to your site. I’m no mathematician, but this is a pretty simple equation:
increased blogging = increased traffic
By planning ahead, your content team won’t be spinning their wheels when it comes time to write an post. We’ve all been there, we haven’t planned for a blog and it’s approaching time to write. You finally decide on an idea and POOF! Writers Block.
According to Merriam-Webster, writers block is a psychological inhibition preventing a writer from proceeding with a piece. Sound familiar?
When writers block sets in and the wheels fall off, you’re better off drawing a picture and returning to your blog in a few minutes later.
By planning ahead, you’ll have the time to digest the subject you're hoping to write about, and collect the essential resources you’ll need to write a stellar blog post. You may even stumble upon sources that can be used for your next blog.
2. Set a Goal
Setting a goal and backing yourself into that goal is a great way to start amplifying your content creation. If your goal is to have 1000 visitors to your site each month and each blog you write averages 50 views, you’ll have to write 20 blogs to hit your traffic goal.
Again, very simple math (collective sigh of relief).
This goal will help you to build out your content schedule and give you suitable time to bring in extra resources if needed- such as guest bloggers and additional team members.
Don’t forget to make sure that your goal is SMART: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timely. This tactic will bring structure and trackability into your goals and objectives. It’s tempting to set your goals high, but setting your goals unrealistically high is detrimental to all parties. Keep it SMART.
3. Repurpose Content
This tip is my absolute favorite. Mainly because repurposing content is sooo easy to do and can save you massive amounts of valuable time (remember, it’s the beginning of the year and you’re super busy).
Before even writing a blog you should be thinking about how you can repurpose the content to create offers after it’s been published. For example, this blog could easily be used to create a guide to content creation or even a checklist for a content manager.
Keep in mind that every offer doesn’t have to be the second coming of Christ. In fact, depending on your buyer persona, and where they are in the buyers journey, you may want to offer up a short, easy to digest piece of content.
BONUS: Follow Your Competitors
I know what you’re probably thinking, “why is Emmett telling me to stalk my competitors?”
Well, they wouldn’t be competition if the were “doing it all wrong.” By subscribing to your competitor’s blog and following them on social media you’ll be able to see what content is currently resonating with their audience.
No matter what industry you’re in, you’ll always benefit from studying up on your competitors. This doesn’t mean to imitate them word for word. It means understanding why your competitors are doing what they’re doing.
Think about the game of Chess. If white mirrors black, white will always stay one move behind. This holds true for business. It’s important that you analyze the moves your competitors make, and understand why, as to prevent yourself from missing out on new opportunities.
Oh, and the HubSpot Competitor Tool makes doing this easier than ever!
If you have other great content creation tips share them in the comments below.