They only use other people’s content!
Smart marketers…write and post original ideas.
While it’s perfectly fine to share other people’s content from time to time, at least two-thirds of your posts (on social media and your blog) should be original.
Here’s why:
One of the primary goals of your social and content marketing is to drive prospects and customers to your website – so you can get them to take a desired action (e.g., call you for a consultation or quote, place an order, sign up for a newsletter, complete a form, etc.). If all you’re doing is sharing others’ images, posts or videos, you won’t get the results you want.
So, think about the last 10 posts you created. How many of those drove people to your website? If the answer is less than 6, you need to be more original.
Don’t be a copycat!
Logically, you know you need to write, post and share original content. But determining exactly what to create can be tough. If you’re struggling with ideas, here are a few tips to get you started:
Get inspired.
Only publishing others’ content is a no-no, but learning from what others do well is smart marketing. So, pay attention while you’re online – inspiration is everywhere! What grabs your attention on social feeds? What blog posts do you click on and read? As you interact with organizations and their brands, take mental notes on why content appeals to you. Ask your team to do the same, and then get together for a brainstorming session:
- Make a list of what you find engaging, informative, persuasive and entertaining.
- Discuss why the content is appealing to you.
- Apply this logic to your customers. Consider their mindsets, their challenges, needs, wants, interests and values to brainstorm a second list of the types of content they may find appealing.
Create a master list of content ideas and types.
The more options you have in your back pocket, the easier it is to create your own posts. Develop and maintain a master list of content idea-starters you can use on your blog and social accounts, such as:
- Post pictures of your workplace that showcase your space, your people and your culture.
- Answer a question a customer has posed.
- Introduce new employees or feature successful employees.
- Create short video clips from company events, or of your employees hard at work.
- Interview a customer.
- Post a “fill in the blank.”
- Post the feature image from one of your blog posts to your social accounts. Include a short summary and link back to the blog post.
- Post information about events in your company or industry (e.g., attending an industry conference).
- Write educational posts to help customers and prospects with challenges they experience.
- Write round up posts that summarize and link back to popular posts on your blog.
- Write case studies that feature how your products or services helped a customer.
- Write checklist posts that are helpful to your audience.
- Summarize a recent news article that impacts your customers or industry, and share your take on the story.
- Review business trends impacting your customers’ industries.
- Create infographics that include statistics relevant to your audience.
This is just a starter list; with a simple Google search you can get literally THOUSANDS of ideas for creating original content.
Create a content plan.
In this post, we explain why you need a consistent plan to give your marketing efforts structure and purpose. When you take the time to map out a quarter’s or a year’s worth of content, it keeps you from scratching your head and wondering “What the heck should I write or publish today?” – and then taking the easy way out by just sharing someone else’s content.
Need help creating and executing a consistent – and effective – marketing plan?
That’s what we’re here for! Give BARQAR’s experts a call today. We will help you craft a custom content strategy and then put our writing team to work ghostwriting original content for your website and using social media to reach the exact right audience. Learn more about our blogging and social media marketing services.