What is creative content? It's the collection of custom photos, graphics and images your business shares online, that ultimately encourages engagement and interest. This is your online presence and an integral part of your marketing strategy.
Now... How do you create creative content? I'm going to share my quick tips for successful and creative content, and real "tried and true" ideas, I've tested personally, that you can implement right away! Starting with...
Tip #1: Get Inspired!
Ask yourself... What inspires you about your business? If you feel inspired by the small stuff (the stuff that brings you joy, the stuff that keeps you working hard when things get tough) ...your inspiration will speak that way online. Pursue the WHYS of what you do... Your WHYS create passion and the content you share will make others excited about your business.
You can't fake inspired content.
The best way to be inspired is to remember your WHYS and let it shine through in every social media post and the content you share.
It may seem simple, but it's vital to your success.
I encourage you to write down your whys, make a list and figure out the best way to share this online:
Why you do what you do.
Why you're the best.
Why your clientele should choose YOU.
Tip #2: Types of Content - Get Creative!
There are so many ways you can share content online; photos, videos, links, articles, etc. etc. Do you use them all?
The key here is to find ways to connect with your audience and get creative with your message. Monitor your social media analytics to see what produces more engagement. If it's videos or behind the scenes material, then sprinkle those in more often than the other types.
My "Pro Tip" -- Reuse your content, just format the information differently each time.
For example, posting a "behind the scenes" photo of you working on a project with a catchy, "stay tuned" message. Next, post links and a more service directed post to launch your "project." After that, post a video of you explaining how this fits into the needs of your potential client. Lastly, back to another photo content (ie: a client review or a slideshow of you working on more "behind the scenes" stuff).
Rinse, and repeat!
When you think of switching the content formats around, with material and ideas you've already shared online... Does that make it sound easier to manage? Less prep and time spent content planning?
TIP #3: Maximizing Your Content by Repurposing It!
The idea here is just as it sounds, you want to "repurpose" the hot topics, the meatier content in multiple ways, multiple times, to maximize its exposure to your audience.
Start with one topic you recently shared (a tip, a blog post, a project you're working on, etc etc) Share that first on your social media networks. Create "stories" on Facebook and Instagram throughout the next few days to continuously grab the audiences attention to read your blog.
The "repurpose idea" is next: You'll want to "break down" the original content, into smaller components that you can ultimately share later, in other ways. Therefore, repurposing the "original" post into several more posts...
PRO TIP: Keep a running list going of content that you can "break up" into more, newer and refreshed content later on. Grab-and-go from this list throughout the next couple weeks, spreading the content out as often as possible.
And remember... It's important to keep in mind that when you're sharing content, across all of your social media accounts, you adjust the content to each social network. (For example: you wouldn't share the same Pinterest post on LinkedIn. LinkedIn is a networking site, not the same idea as Pinterest)
Don't just.. "copy and paste" to all social networks each day. Each one deserves individualized content breakdown and adjustments of the original idea, just modified per the social site it's on!
TIP #4: It's All About Connections!
We've covered: How to get inspired content. The different "types" of content to share and how to repurpose your content for maximum exposure and efficiency. NOW the critical step in your success, and in my opinion the one that I see most commonly missed... It's all about the connections: The responses, the reach and the genuine care for your community.
Respond: If your business is posting content online, but not engaging and responding to comments/questions, the content falls flatPeriod. There's no connection. So be online, respond and engage as quickly as possible after comments and messages are received.
Reach: Business content shared online isn't "just" about what you post on your social media channels. You want to grow your social networking? That doesn't happen on it's own... You need to join other groups (like you did this one) but join groups that connect with where your target audience is.
>>> Once inside groups, DO NOT BE SILENT. The goal is to be a voice inside the community groups, and don't self promote but educate, respond, encourage and be a part of the community. Ask to write topic articles to share inside the group, be interviewed or provide content for the group.
>> Your reach is going to take effort, and you're ultimately giving away material and knowledge (yes, for free) in the hopes of spreading your brand awareness for future return... I'll go more into this concept in later topic discussions, because it's so specific and unique to each of your industries and brands.
Care for YOUR online community: This really ties into both of the above ideals I mentioned... The reality is, if you're not making those connections, and you're not creating content each and every time that warrants connections to your audience, then this will NOT happen organically.
Yes, the ultimate goal of anything we do as business owners (when it comes to our own marketing) is to get ROI... BUT your online content however, is about "connecting" to the community, being a part of your community, and providing knowledge and a voice to your community.
You need to care about those connections or this will come off fake, lacking and miss the mark. Do you care for your own online community?
In conclusion: There's A LOT of "meat" that goes into the content you share online. These quick tips are meant to be a guide and voice to help you achieve the main objective for online marketing...
Your goal is to find the target audience, immerse yourself into their community, be a valuable part of that "said" community and deepen your connection with the online audience your brand has built.
When you achieve this, you ultimately build connections that will organically spread your brand "message" further as they share their experiences (with you) with the people they know.
Thoughts?
Comments?
It's A LOT of content to digest, so save this post or email the link to your marketing team(s) for later planning purposes!
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