The following is a guest post by Sarah Moraes of Vertical Measures.
If you own a website, you’re a publisher. Customers are demanding information and the businesses that are providing that information are winning. Developing and implementing content the right way can be a lot of work and takes time and sometimes money, but what many don’t know is that companies are creating content on a daily basis and just don’t realize it.
Here are some fun ways to create content for your business on a regular basis.
1. Create a blog team with individual beats. Each team member could write 1 or 2 posts per month about a particular topic. Be sure to have a process in place to keep the schedule going and the quality of the posts high. Each member can have a headshot and bio and get some good exposure for themselves, a win-win situation! An example of a great corporate blog, highlighted on Mashable.com, is Squarespace, a web publishing platform. Check it out!
2. Provide flip videos to team members to capture news and funny events. You never know when something shocking or funny might happen! Your employees should become your own reporters. Optimize the videos and post to your social media channels and video sites.
3. Post “Getting to Know You Staff Interviews” – most of your content shouldn’t be about you, but people like to get to know the personalities of the company. Come up with about ten questions to ask employees each month and post and promote on your blog.
4. Conduct expert interviews. Reach out to other industry experts and provide about ten questions. These types of interviews can have some serious legs as the experts will also promote. This can drive lots of traffic and links to your site.
5. Recap industry event and conferences. You likely send employees to conferences and industry events. Ask them to capture these with a follow-up blog post or to take some videos while there. This is a great way to create buzz after the event as many will be looking for the key takeaways from the event.
6. Answer questions on social media sites, blogs or via an article or video. Your audience is asking questions about your industry so provide these answers where they are – online on social media and sharing sites. Encourage your team to be there with answers in fun and creative ways.
7. Curate resource lists. Your team and industry likely has a ton of tools and resources piling up in various places. Compile these into useful lists and link back to the originating source. Resource lists often generate a lot of traffic, buzz and links.
These are just a few ways to generate content without spending a ton of money outsourcing it.
Sound intriguing? Well, on April 7, 2011 business owners, marketers and students alike have the opportunity to learn how they can take both their business and their expertise to the next level through the Search, Social and Content Marketing Workshop.
Arnie Kuenn, president of Vertical Measures and soon-to-be published author of “Accelerate! Move Your Business Forward through the Convergence of Search, Social and Content Marketing,” will guide students through developing, implementing, and sustaining a successful content marketing program for their organization.
Each student will receive:
- A workbook including the presentation and exercises,
- A free copy of Arnie’s upcoming book Accelerate!
- A free Business Blogging How-To Guide
- A free Facebook Marketing How-To Guide
- A free Twitter for Business Marketing How-To Guide
- A free Keyword Research How-To Guide
- A free Local Search Marketing How-To Guide
- Plus several concrete ideas, resources and tools for your business!
