Four ways to get more out of the content you create

Ardath Albee at the Marketing Interactions says:

If marketers from across the company would just step back and think about it, they would see huge opportunities for content re-use, creating connected pathways for their customers and consistency in experience delivery that could drive performance improvements across programs:

• Create one storyboard for all groups to work from - Yes this will need to be summarized with roll downs for different programs, but it will help each marketing group determine how they can best contribute to building the same story based on their area of expertise.

• Weekly stand-up meetings to present program developments, engagement results, learning from execution and suggestions for refinements.

• Institute metrics that measure across groups and programs, not just individual team efforts. One program must feed another, each channel supports, enhances and leads to others, etc. Look for ways that successful programs can inform other initiatives.

• Consider how marketing efforts can be integrated to create better overall outcomes that serve the customer and the company, not just the department or group. For example, if your social media team is posting wins but your white paper downloads have fallen off, something is out of whack.

How to scare your boss into supporting your content program

Joe Pulizzi at the Content Marketing Institute says: 

When all else fails, fear can work as well or better than a rational argument. For the “fear” plan to work, you have to do some research up front on your competition. Pick the leading content marketer in your field and determine:

• How many subscribers (email, Facebook, Twitter, etc.) do they have to their content versus yours?

• How do they rank in key search terms versus your rankings?

• A comparison of social sharing

• Positive, online word-of-mouth (check Twitter for this one)

• Recruitment activities (are they landing the best talent?)

These are just a few. The key here is to determine what’s of critical importance to the lead decision maker toward buy-in. Clearly show how the competitor is using certain content strategies that are leaving you (and your content) in the dust.

Two ways to create content that is remarkable and shareable

Brittany Klontz at Blue Glass says:

The endless entertainment options presented by the Internet create a need for content marketing initiatives to be out-of-the-ordinary, thoughtful, and most importantly, useful. Excuse me for being blunt, but it’s time to chuck the brand guidelines out the window and start focusing on other ways to build your brand through content marketing.

In this post, she offers and expounds upon two tips:

1. Present something out of the ordinary.
2. Be a resource.

The best way to start a sentence

Great advice from Ben Yagoda, author of How to Not Write Bad:

Don’t start a sentence with an idea, a quality, an inanimate object. “Anticipation” is not a good subject. It paints you into a corner. 

Start with the person or the people doing the action.

Infographic: How to choose between text, photos or video for your content

In the days before social media and the smartphone rewrote the rules, the dominant life forms in mass media were writers, photographers and videographers.  They were specialists serving an editor who would mix and match the media as needed to best serve the story.

But in the online world … all media merge. 

Content journalists can’t afford to specialize in just text, photos or video. We must have a working knowledge of all three media

So the question becomes: What to use and when to use it?

Text – Words remain the fundamental building blocks of the online world. Search engines look for them. People use them to fuel Twitter, Facebook and any number of blogging platforms. “Text” is now a verb.  Words remain the fastest and cheapest forms of communication to produce.  Sentences can do two things. They can describe things. They can describe actions.  When you need to persuade, to explain in detail, or to tell a story, text remains your best option. 

Photo – Sometimes words are insufficient. You need to illustrate your message. You need to show instead of tell. Photos work well when you need a quick way to communicate things like shape, texture, color or environment. Good news: Becoming a competent photographer is easier, faster and cheaper than ever. If you own a smartphone, you have a professional camera. Download something like the KitCam app, and start shooting. If you get serious about photos, go to the Digital Photography School and learn more.

Video – Sometimes you need motion. You want to demonstrate a series of steps. You want to put a product into action. Video can do both. It also gives you the option of adding audio, either as a narration to provide extra personality to your content, or as ambient sound to enhance the sense of “being there.” Good news: It is also faster, easier and cheaper than ever to become a competent videographer. To learn more, check out the New York Video School's online lessons. (Amazingly cheap!)

To sum things up:

• When you want to explain, use text.
• When you want to illustrate, use photos.
• When you want to demonstrate, use video.

How to write for readers

Anyone who can converse in English can learn to write clearly.  I’m convinced of it. Not everyone can write like Hemingway. But just about anyone can learn to write to the level of an above average newspaper reporter.

It’s a matter of discipline. If you follow a handful of principles, many of them set down by the readability expert Robert Gunning, you can master the craft of writing clearly:

1. Write to express, not to impress. If you follow this principle, the others fall into line. Get past the idea that there is an “educated” style of writing.  Communicate ideas as quickly and easily as possible.
2. Keep your sentences short. This is a general rule. On average, you should compose sentences that can be read aloud in a single breath. But it's also a good practice to vary the length of your sentences to improve their flow and to avoid choppiness.
3. Choose the simple; avoid the complex.  If you expect readers to wade through a tangle of needless adjectives, adverbs and clauses to discover your point, then prepare for disappointment.  Keep your sentences lean.
4. Stick with familiar words. There are only a few thousand words we use in everyday conversation. Work with them.  Words with more than two syllables slow down the reader. Grease the wheels. Stay with one or two syllables whenever you can. Use polysyllable words as your change of pace.
5. Use precise nouns. If you find the need to use an adjective, think again. There’s probably a noun that will allow you to avoid the modifier.
6. Use active verbs. Any sentence can perform two tasks. It can describe a thing or it can describe an action. The best sentences do both. Do your best to work around sentences that use verbs like “is,” “are,” and other variations of “to be.” Such sentences lack verve.
7. Use the active voice. All sentences that are written in the passive voice should be recast.  The active voice brings power to a sentence. The passive voice drains a sentence of its momentum.
8. Prefer the concrete to the abstract.  If you wouldn’t use a word or a phrase in everyday conversation, then find another one.  Scientists, engineers and economics speak in abstractions. We’re not writing for them. Everyday people talk in concrete terms. You will get further writing for them.
9. Understand your readers. Study their wants and needs. Learn to speak their language. Relate your ideas to their experiences.
10. Write with a human voice. Avoid the legalese. Distain the corporate drone. Craft sentences that sound as if they come from a friend.