Download - Creating content
How To Create Content (That Works)
Amy Vernon, GM of Social Marketing
Internet Media Labs
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Finding the Stories
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o Google Alerts• Set up alerts for your main keywords• Google sends you an email once a day of links to appropriate
articleso RSS
• Choose your feed reader (I like Google Reader) and subscribe to appropriate blogs/news sites
o Forums• Find forums in your niche/genre and join
o Twitter Search• See what people are saying about what you’re covering
o StumbleUpon• Continually stumble the appropriate category(ies)
Tips & Tricks
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Finding the Stories: Tips & Tricks
Story Types
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Targeted Funny
CommentaryHow-to
TargetedAny piece of news that relates to your niche/genre. They can be quickly recapped and take little effort• Industry happenings• New releases• Personnel changes and moves
Writing Time: LOWSocial Potential: LOWValue: Helps share important news, caters to your core audience, boosts SEO and helps keep the blog filled
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A play off the news or something topical, but with an eye toward the absurd• Start from the news/timely
topic, but focus on the funny
Writing/Creation Time: MEDIUMSocial Potential: HIGHValue: Shows a light-hearted side; brings in traffic, boosts SEO and exposes you to new audiences
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Funny
• Teach your readers something they don’t know
• Better yet, teach your readers something they didn’t know they needed to know
• Can take many forms
Writing/Creation Time: LOW TO HIGHSocial Potential: HIGHValue: High shareability; establishes your thought leadership; provides value to reader (which makes them think better of you); boosts SEO
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How-to
The approach covers popular news stories, but makes it your own by expressing opinion• Covers the news from a specific angle. • On a news release – is this a departure
from the norm? • Has this worked in the past?
Writing Time: HIGHSocial Potential: MEDIUMValue: Establishes your thought leadership, boosts SEO
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Commentary
Content Types
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Infographics Timelines
Video Photos
• DON’T: just throw up a bunch of stylized text
• DON’T: Change color schemes for no apparent reason
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Infographics
• DO: Share interesting information in an engaging, informative way
• DO: Have some information that people want to know and share
• DO: Visualize data and make numbers tangible
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Infographics
Timelines
• “Evolution” (of a logo, a singer, etc.)• Design is important• Memes are still good• Yes, this is a type of infographic
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What happens if you Google “LEGO timeline”?
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Video• Video is huge• It doesn’t have to
be expensive• When it goes viral,
it goes HUGE
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• YouTube is the biggest by far, but it’s not the only game in town• Dailymotion is 2nd-largest in the world• Vimeo has reputation for quality video• Viddy, Viddler – more players every day
Photos• Large, attractive photos• Slideshows need to be short,
or very fast-moving• UGC (user-generated
content) encouraging readers to send in pics
• Then & Now photos• “Separated at birth?”
This had 102K views on StumbleUpon
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Lists• Top 10 is played out. Try
top 9 or 17. Or 87• Superlatives (best, ugliest,
smallest)• Appeal to nostalgia• Riff off current events• Incorporate memes
This had 166K views on Stumbleupon
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Lists• If you’re going to do a
list, make it cover the subject. BE COMPREHENSIVE
• Why do top 10 if you can do top 34?
• People like learning things they didn’t know
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(Still paying attention?)
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A FEW MORE THINGS
Be Useful• Help people do
something• Give them
information they can use and actually want
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Be Relevant• Obvious link bait is
obvious• Can be funny,
irreverent, but not off-topic
• i.e.: Write about topics that make sense for your audience
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Be Consumable• You can go heavy on
text if you break it up with images
• Vary what you offer• People have short
attention spans, particularly online (darn those kids and their MTV!)
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• Link out. People will notice, visit and maybe even link back to you
• Illustrate whenever possible• K.I.S.S.: Keep it simple, silly• Emulate content you like• Look at your piece before you post — would you read it if you
happened up on it?
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THESE TIPS DIDN’T FIT IN OTHER CATEGORIES
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