3 Ways to Make Content Creation Easy
Sometimes content creation can seem like a bit of a slog. It can feel like the more you try to think of ideas the more empty your head seems to be. If you get to that stage then remember these three tips to make content creation easy.
1. Notice when content is handed to you on a plate
One of the best pieces of content I put out last month was a quote from one of our members. This wasn’t from a formal testimonial, although he is very supportive and has done those, this was a passing comment about a reaction to his website that he put in the comments thread on a Facebook post.
As soon as I read that comment I thought, ‘this is such lovely feedback’ and ‘with his permission I can use this’. So, I asked his permission and he said yes. I then used the comment in a graphic on Instagram which has had the best reach and interactions than any of the rest of our posts this year.
I also used the quote as the prompt for last week’s blog post which has been getting a lot of interest and at the time of writing this post has been live for less than a day.
So, don’t think you have to come up with the content yourself, use anything that’s relevant and will attract people and start a conversation. What’s interesting is the person I quoted said he could write me a better one if I wanted but I put quotes from formal testimonials out quite often and they don’t get anywhere near as much reaction as this one did. This is probably because this was so naturally written about a recent situation and people seem to like real, natural content. It creates more of a connection.
2. Don’t just use content once
Keep telling people about the same piece of content in different ways. As a minimum for us a blog post gives us a paragraph in our weekly email, social media posts on Facebook, Instagram and my LinkedIn and also an Instagram story. That’s five places. But then down the line I might write a blog post on a subject that signposts to a load of previous blog posts linked to that subject. Or, as I’m going to do this week, I can create a carousel on Instagram of most recent blog posts or posts on a certain subject.
3. Repurpose content to make content creation easy
Now this is slightly different to using one piece of long form content to create lots of content to signpost to it, this is basically repeating the long form content. We have a book called The Website Handbook and I have recently gone through that book and picked out sections I think would work really well to talk about on video. We are then going to record those videos and use them on YouTube and on Instagram as reels.
It took a lot of effort to write that book and it works well for us to generate some passive income and also to bring people to our email list but it makes sense for that content to do more and so putting it into a different format to reach a different audience is what we are doing.
We have some business friends, Yellow Tuxedo, who we did a series of lives with a while ago and those videos were put on all social media platforms and YouTube and we also created blog posts highlighting the key topics we discussed in the video. I actually think those guys are some of the best at repurposing content.
So, if you’re stuck for content and want to get on and create some soon, go and take a look at what you’ve already got and see if you can repurpose some of it. And don’t forget our top tip when it comes to creating content, keep sending everyone back to your website to bring them into your world, don’t just keep them on social media.
For more top tips check out our freebies including our new download, 5 Ways a Great Business Website Can Make and Save You Money.