By Ryan Larson
Look, we’ve all been there. That is, if you own or heavily operate a business. You’re pinned down with budgeting issues, employee drama, deadlines and keeping up with the competition. And now, you expect me to start telling you to spend hours and hundreds of dollars to produce content?
I’m not telling you to do exactly that, but sort of.
Content marketing is the hottest trend in business right now, but not enough companies are taking full advantage of it. The reason being is—stowell, what I said previously. It’s complicated, time consuming and a money pit, in the short run at least.
Content creates value, and it does so in any form. This is why it is so enticing as a form of marketing. This is one of the few channels of exposure where you actually give to your customers before they purchase from you. We all know that the customer comes first, and content is no exception. Is it a long-haul game? Yup. However, the results likely quadruple those of simple, valueless Facebook Ads.
So, this sounds cool and all, right? You should want to get in on this by now, or if you already are, at least learn how to step up your game, work smarter and work with your content in a wiser condition.
Without further ado, let’s jump right into today’s tips on how to create better content and save your time!
#1: Understanding that the story means more.
In the wise words of content marketing guru, Gary Vaynerchuk; “When it comes down to it, nothing trumps execution.” No matter what you do, your job is to tell your story.”
What exactly does he mean by this?
Society and the internet today has wired us to not execute until we’re top notch and the best of the best. That is just a flat-out wrong mindset to have. You do not need the best camera, computer, graphic designers, marketing team, etc. Just do and create. The story is 10,000 words and the picture is a fractional 1,000. Don’t let the fact that you have to shoot a quick ad on a cellphone, discourage you. You’ve probably got a lot of value to bring to the table.
The moment you begin creating and using the bare minimum tools necessary, you’ll begin to realize that it is actually much easier to pull together very well put-together content in a lot less time. No need to wait 3 days for your freelance to edit your video or your marketing advisors to finally decide on the right campaign. Just execute and distribute.
#2: Repurposing Your Content Omnichannel
If you’re like most businesses, 90% of your customers live on social media. And then about 70% of the time, they’re honed in on more than just one platform. This is why it is important to be active on all channels. However, if your posts tend to perform well on one, prioritize it, but still leave time for the others, too.
As of this post, Instagram is 65% of business’ top performing social channel. They tend to have the most followers with the most engagement, as well as the highest conversion rates. While it may not be the ideal platform for your business, it is still worth trying.
Anyway, when it comes to omnichannel posting, it is an absolute waste of time to produce new content for each and every platform. Simply, reutilizing content from your other platforms can easily do the trick. This could be anything from using a snippet of your blog and turning it into a nice graphic with a quote, or turning a video into a podcast (and vice versa).
It’s all about being creative. And do not stress over being repetitive because it simply does not matter. In fact, sales actually increase 23% on average for companies who use consistent and repetitive patterns throughout their entire online presence.
Create, publish, go back to the drawing board with the same content and repeat!
#3: Mastering contextualizing.
What?! You probably just yelled that. Maybe? Anyway, contextualizing is basically adapting content to fit well on a specific platform based on how users interact and consume content on said platform. On Instagram, you’re aiming for 30-second clips, whereas Youtube is the hotspot for your 20-minute crash course.
You have got to know what your audience is doing online. A great way to get in-the-know is to use Instagram as your starting place, then search the hashtags that are relevant to your business’ niche. It’s as simple as typing in related keywords. Instagram so kindly also includes a bar of related hashtags that you can dive deeper into.
From here, you want to begin understanding the patterns in which other content creators in your niche are using. Are they posting bold text graphics, or maybe 15-second DIY clips? Focus on what is popular and jot down the most frequent themes.
Now, you can go ahead and create your content based on what you have seen. Better yet, go and repurpose an existing piece of content to then contextualize for a specific platform.
So, keep up with the common media frequencies and pick out the ones that stick, get lots of engagement and convert well!
Some Quick Tips & Examples
Assuming you’re an indie author and self-publish your books, content is in fact one of the literal best ways to promote your writing! In fact, books in themselves are elongated content and can be used to market itself. The best way to do this is by repurposing your book’s content and contextualizing it on best-performing platforms, hence tips #2 and #3!
For example, my father wrote a small book called Vagabond Gods (no longer available) and I took action to market it with him. My best performing posts and campaigns were when I used direct reference to his book in order to entertain the audience further into its niche. The niche is 1940’s blues and rock.
So… quick tips:
- Organize important parts of your book
- Leave cliffhangers
- Utilize book’s text to expand upon
- Make content that dives deeper, even beyond book
- Make content that equalizes at “oh, that entertains me” and “Gee, this looks like a good read.”
You want to establish that healthy balance of organic viewerships, but also a genuine interest in what you have to offer. Putting out content that people view and swipe away from isn’t going to get you anywhere.
If you are stuck at this point, try these few things:
- Post cliffhangers
- Ask questions that provoke conversation & interest related your book
- Always include a Call-to-Action to encourage viewers to take action
- Don’t get lost in going too far from your original point and niche
To Wrap It Up
Content is one of the most effective ways to grasp an audience’s attention. Normal paid advertising only converts 2-3% on a good day. Organic content views can lead to a funnel of interest, relationship building and the ultimate customer connections.
So, know it is a long-term commitment, but if you are willing to keep at it with consistency, it is a gold mine to growth hacking! And with these tips, you’ll still have the proper time to handle the more professional side of your business!
To put these tips to action and get a better hold on your content, feel free to check out Snippit, an easy-to-use, time saving content creation solution. Because your time matters!
