Ted Rubin is a content marketing expert and professional keynote speaker. His site TedRubin.com has a wealth of information about content creation, SEO strategizing, business growth, personal branding, child rearing and life living. We asked Ted the question, “What is your top strategy for creating good content?” Here is his answer.
Good content that engages, informs and/or entertains is the undisputed king.
Good content is easy, because it is all about creating content that achieves your goals…not what is “good” and “not good.” There is no prescription for how to create good content. There is a strategy in creating content that works…and that is testing, retesting, and continually observing how your audience grows and reacts. I like to say the best content is conversation, and empowering that to happen requires being in touch with results, listening…and allowing your team to adjust accordingly.
But if good content is king, distribution, syndication and connection is definitely the queen, because she drives the bus!
You already know your brand should be producing an ongoing stream of great content—the best content results have been proven to come from a combination of quantity and quality. But producing an ongoing stream of great content can be a daunting task, which is why it’s important to get the most use you can out of the content you produce that works.
If your content is good, you should be able to ride it until the wheels fall off. Re-sharing and reposting the good stuff is a critical distribution tactic that can help you get the best mileage.
Try these three methods for getting the highest yield from the lowest effort.
1. Share Good Content on Multiple Channels
If you’ve only been using one or two online channels to share your content, try expanding your reach by posting it on multiple platforms. While you obviously want to use the social media channels most relevant to your audience, don’t forget about SEO and search results. For instance, even if your target demographic isn’t typically found on Pinterest, a properly optimized infographic posted there will still appear in search results and may attract traffic. Even the images from your post can be shared there by you and your followers. Be sure to make your blog images “pinable” right from the post with the click of a button that link back to your blog.
To promote your content, create unique posts that are relevant to each channel. Without being repetitive, create multiple posts viewers can see throughout the day on each channel. Keep in mind that the number of posts you can create for each channel to promote the same content will vary depending on the platform and audience preferences, so try to pick an aspect of your content that is well-suited to your audience on each channel. For instance, a blog post about small-business accounting tips can be promoted via several tweets but perhaps only one or two Facebook or LinkedIn updates, and one Pinterest infographic or image post.
Another key to getting more mileage from your content is to repost only good content. How do you know what’s good? Well, audience response is one measurement, so avoid posting content that receives a lukewarm response—or none at all. Lack of response may be a factor of timing, but it may also be that your content didn’t spark interest. Content is more likely to be shared by social audiences if it’s evergreen, popular, valuable, funny, interesting or useable.
Content is more likely to be shared by social audiences if it’s evergreen, popular, valuable, funny, interesting or useable. - @TedRubin Click To Tweet2. Repurpose Good Content
Another way to get mileage out of good content is to create multiple pieces of related content to piggyback on each other. For example, a slideshow featuring tax-time tips for small businesses can be further explained in a blog post. Individual slides can be posted to Facebook or Twitter, and an accompanying video can be posted to YouTube and then your blog. Repurposing content can help you laser target your prospects and address them with content that accurately connects with where they are in the sales cycle…and it helps you create usable content at scale.
3. Develop a Strategy for Sharing Content
Develop a definitive content sharing strategy that identifies what you will share and how it will be shared. If you want to make it easy, calendar a weekly “Throwback Thursday” or “Flashback Friday,” and use the theme to repost your most well-received content. Task your team with identifying the social updates that get the most response and setting up a schedule and tools for re-sharing on different channels and/or in different formats.
By sharing quality content multiple times on multiple channels, you expand the reach of your marketing efforts and make it that much more likely to build a loyal following. In addition, repurposing and syndicating good content will be a powerful new tool that builds on your most successful ideas.
Stay on track by developing a content strategy and processes for sharing good content over and over, and you’ll establish better thought leadership and keep your brand top-of-mind.