Don’t Write for SpidersContent Creation, Blogs

& Syndication

I’m a content strategist. And a person. Hi! I’m Autumn.

@theautumnstar

Agenda:

Strategy• The basics • Content audit • Style guide• Content plan & calendar• Strategy step-by-step• ROI • Customer journey

Creation• Brainstorming • Writing • SEO• Visuals• Teamwork & managementDistribution

• Blog• Native advertising• Sponsored content• Syndication• Social media

Inspiration • Marketing manifesto• Words to live by• Resources• Questions

Before we get into strategy … what is content?

ArticlesSlideshowsQuizzesVideosGraphics Tweets, pins, posts

… Yes, but also ...

Before we get into strategy … what is content?

Content is the stuff people want.

Content is the conversation people have with your brand.

Content ATTRACTS, CONVERTS, and BUILDS.

At its heart, content is…

StrategyCoca-Cola chose to publish its content strategy online. Content 2020 is a ambitious plan, and publishing it online helps Coke stay true to the promises within.

The questions you absolutely have to answer. Strategy: The basics

1. Why? Why are we doing this?

2. What stories are we going to tell?

3. What’s in it for the reader?

4. Who is the target audience for our content?

*Hint: It’s not necessarily your customers.

5. What are the stories we want them to share?

6. How does our target audience find and consume

content?

7. How will the content support our brand?

8. How will we define success?

Ideas happen when expertise brushes up against life experience.

@jasonkeath, Social Fresh

How to answers those questions. Strategy

1. Why are we doing this? Ask your stakeholders, “Why?” Listen to their answer. Now ask it again. And again.

2. What stories are we going to tell? If your brand were a person at a dinner party, what would she talk about?

3. What’s in it for the reader? Be a good guest at that party. Listen to what the other guests are saying.

4. Who is the target audience for our content? B2B company? Your audience still may be B2C. Who influences conversion?

5. What are the stories we want them to share? See #3. What circles of conversation are already happening relevant to your brand?

6. How does our target audience find and consume content?Where is similar content? What do people do with it? (Share, Like, Comment)

7. How will this content support our brand’s mission? Ask this instead, “How will this support our audience’s need?” If it educates, it drives engagement. If it delights, it drives affinity.

8. How will we define success?Define your KPIs, but please please PLEASE think beyond ROI.

This is all you need to do. Simple, right? Strategy

Give them something they will really CHERISH, something they’ll genuinely want to talk about

for weeks. Something they’ll SHARE and something that will be AWESOME.

@EricaCampbell, Homes.com

Strategy: Content audit Use what you have.

The Content Audit

1. Create an inventory. Of Everything.

2. Commercials, design assets, FAQs and product info are not content.

But they could be!

3. Include user-generated commentary.

What are people already creating around the brand? Include negative feedback to address in

content.

4. Include competitive examples.

5. Performance metrics is only the beginning.

StrategyUse what you have. Content Audit: What to Include

1. Text

2. Video

3. Images

4. Data

5. Brand narratives

6. Brand assets

7. Brand guidelines

8. Content channels

9. Conversations about your brand(Good and bad)

10. Conversations in area of interest

1. Understand the context. What are our goals? What are the audience needs?

2. Evaluate the landscape. Your own site, competitive & comparative. Read ALL the text. Look at ALL the pictures.

3. Check your current vocabulary. What is your existing content saying about you?

4. Match content to an audience and a moment in time.Who is this for? What is its purpose?

5. Assess the situation. What does your audience want?What aren’t your competitors doing?Where is the opportunity?

6. Perform an audit, deliver a strategy. Create an inventory. Rate the content, then add in metrics. Build strategy from insights.

StrategyUse what you have.

Deliver this.Do this.

Sources: (1) Discovery: Content Audits, Inventories and Interviews Oh My!, Andrew Kaufman; (2) Content Auditing: Unearthing Your Brand, Rachel Lovinger

StrategyClassification scheme.

• Content needs a system of classification, or taxonomy.

• This is handled through metadata tags.

• This content taxonomy enables:

Content management

Navigation

Search

Personalization (back-end controlled)

Customization (user-controlled changes)

Sources: Strategic Content, http://strategiccontent.com/how-taxonomy-is-used/

Style guideSound like no one but yourself.

1. Decide who you are going to be.

2. Audit your current vocabulary.

What is your content saying about you?

3. Create a tone of voice guide.

4. Write the guide in your voice.

5. Include good and bad examples.

6. Pick three base notes.

One can’t be human.

Ex. Silly, Friendly, Simple.

7. Tune for audience, medium and situation.

Same brand can speak differently at different

times.

8. Embrace good jargon because these are your

people.

The best marketing doesn’t feel like marketing.

@tomfishburne, Marketoon Studios

Content plan & calendarMake a plan. Forget the plan.

1. How much of your content will be Original, Curated, User-Generated?

2. How often will you refresh content?

3. Does your content have seasonal relevance?

Do your audience’s needs & interests have seasonal relevance?

4. The calendar is a schedule.

The plan is assignments, sources, distribution channels, etc.

5. Include the “Why.”

6. Be nimble to change.

7. Leave time for spontaneous content.

Content plan & calendarMake a plan. Forget the plan.

Type Purpose Medium Source Writer Due Notes

Behind the lens: belly dancing studio shoot

Education YouTube, Blog Original Holly 11/12 Extra photography

“BtS” teaser Promotion Snapchat / Vine Video Holly 11/10

Fabulous Friday quote Affinity Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest

Multiple Autumn 11/14 UGC quote, our photography

Content plan

StrategyStep-by-step.

1. Listen.

Clients will often tell you everything you need to

know, if you can surrender your right to speak

and become an active listener.

2. Read. Research.

Content audit // Competitive analysis

// Insights // Audience profiles

3. Plan.

Pain of audience // Goal of content

4. Schedule.

Content platforms // Content types // Calendar

5. Assess.

KPIs // Benchmarks for success & failure

Note: You haven’t brainstormed a thing yet. That’s good. We’re getting to that.

StrategyROI is NBD.

@Jay Baer, Convince & Convert

Numbers can be wrong. Impressions are fairy tales.

1.3 page viewsH/T @unmarketing

Blocks all ads on all web pages, even Facebook, YouTube and Hulu.

StrategyThe customer journey.

@Jay Baer, Convince & Convert

It’s not this. It’s this.

Creation

Duluth Trading crafts all its copy, from catalog to confirmation emails, to create a cohesive experience for the customer at every touch point.

You’re doing it wrong. Creation: Brainstorming

1. Creativity is WORK.

Never stop thinking.

2. Brainstorming is NOT a bullet point.

Ideas require time, freedom and work.

3. Gather clouds before the storm.

Walk in with ideas.

Spend the ‘storm building & refining.

4. Gather LOTS of clouds.

Get the bad ideas out.

Create 50 ideas, bring 5 to the table.

5. Teams affect change more than individuals.

Find your power players, your big idea people,

your decision makers. Bring them to the table.

6. Surrender your right to be right.

Stop walking in with THE solution.

7. Creativity isn’t taught …

… but it is highly desired by companies.

H/T @JasonKeath

Creation: WritingDon’t be a good writer, be a great writer.

1. Write with an unforgettable voice.The unforgettable voice of your brand. KNOW IT.

2. Intentional word choice. “Best words, best order.”

3. Speak from the deeper story. Calling branded content “story” doesn’t make it a tale worth telling.

4. Craft micro-copy.

5. Become story connoisseurs. Read more. Write more.

Creation: SEODon’t write for spiders, robots or hummingbirds.

1. Spiders search; people read.

2. Yes, SEO still matters. But not the way you think.

3. Write for people. Optimize for the robot spiders.

4. What others say about you is more important than

what you say about yourself.

Link anchor text and social shares matter to

Hummingbird’s algorithim.

Creation: VisualsThe visual is the headline ... sort of.

1. Images attract; stories captivate.

Average human attention span is 8

seconds … 1 second less than a goldfish.

2. Sometimes the image IS the story.

Go beyond stock photography for the one

image that says it all.

3. Your fans are your photographers.

Source fan generated images for ad &

content imagery for deep loyalty.

4. An image is worth 81 words, not 1,000.

Words still tell the story.

H/T @JasonMillerCA

Creation: TeamworkPlaying doubles with your team.

1. Who will you be? Content team roles:

Story

Strategy

Technology

Innovation

2. This is not a one-man show.

It’s better to create something amazing as

a team than something lackluster alone.

3. You are the advocate of your own future.

Look the part. Sit at the table. Lean in.

Speak up.

Creation: ManagementManaging writers, salespeople, designers & other creatures.

1. Be Superman.

A leader owns every project, but doesn’t do it alone.

2. Create your Justice League.

Build a team of the best from every department.

3. Communicate to collaborate.

15-min meetings and email CC

4. Speak alien languages.

Know their words to communicate better.

5. Remember they’re only human.

Empathize. Be the leader who listens, become the

leader who is listened to.

Distribution

Dunkin Donuts wins with social by giving the keys to customers, and creates true engagement with reply content.

Century21’s blog turns the pain point of house-hunting

on its head with fun and relevant content.

Purina reaches their most loyal customers with a members-only

content distribution: email.

DistributionYour blog is everything.

1. Blogs are not diaries; they’re libraries.

Create content for specific channels, archive

everything in one place. Your blog.

2. Be the librarian and author and critic.

Create; curate; moderate.

3. Best in class: PetFlow Blog

Original content

Curated content

UGC content

2 to 4MM page views a day

98% of site’s traffic* visits the blog

*50MM monthly visitors

DistributionNative advertising stinks.

To me, the difference between native advertising and sponsored content is in their names.

And also in their intents.

DistributionNative advertising stinks.

• Content is created by and for the brand.

• All quotes within article are from the

company.

• Customer expectation = objective

information. Receives = advertising.

• The content is affected by the

sponsorship.

DistributionNative advertising stinks.

What is this? It’s deceitful, dishonest and disgraceful.

Distribution This message is brought to you by Sponsored Content.

• Content is for the reader, not the

brand.

• Subtle introduction copy makes

sponsorship relevant.

• Social inclusion offers reader a way to

connect without conversion.

• The content is unaffected by the

sponsorship placements.

Distribution Success with syndication.

• Grow website and blog traffic

• How it works:

o Syndicated publisher creates original content

o Content lives in syndicating publisher

website within widget

o When reader clicks content, the syndicating

publisher makes incremental revenue

o Syndicated publisher site receives traffic

Distribution Social media & the shotgun.

• Content has nine lives, or

more.

One piece of content can have

many iterations.

• One theme to rule them all.

Themes create

cohesive storytelling

across multiple

platforms. Which is more effective: the

rifle, or the shotgun?

@Jay Baer, Convince & Convert

• Don’t recycle, upcycle!

Revise and repurpose

content for specific

formats and audiences.

Content is fire. Distribution

Content is a hearth fire. Social media is the torch you use to share the flame with the village.

@theautumnstar

Content is fire. Social media is gasoline.

@Jay Baer, Convince & Convert

DistributionBe everywhere your audience expects you.

@Jay Baer, Convince & Convert

How many contacts does it take before conversion?

“Research suggests that three touches are needed; or is it five, or eight, or twelve? The only right answer is ‘it depends.’”

- Business Insider

Content is fire. Distribution

How can we be seen as an accepted meddler instead of a pernicious intruder to be removed?

@theautumnstar

Your brand is an interloper, tolerated because it keeps social media free for

the rest of us. @Jay Baer, Convince & Convert

Inspiration

Modern marketing manifesto. Inspiration

• Strategy: Marketers should sit at the board table and help set strategy.

• Brand: The internet has forced transparency upon brands and businesses.

• Experience: Improving the customer experience must be the relentless focus of modern marketing.

• Data: Data must be turned into insight and action.

• Digital: Digital thinking should be embedded in marketing strategies as a matter of course.

• Personalization: Offer the greatest opportunity to transform what customers currently get.

• Technology: Modern marketers must be comfortable and adept at procuring and using technology.

• Creative: We need creativity just as much as we need technology.

• Content: Content reinforces a brand’s credibility and authenticity in what it stands for, believes in and cares about.

• Multi-screen: See beyond ‘mobile’. TVs, books, in-store kiosks, billboards, etc.

• Social: Recognize that everything we do happens in an environment where customers can, and will, talk about it and

share it with the world.

• Commercial: Sales and marketing must be more closely aligned and have common points of accountability

- H/T Econsultancy

Words to live by. Inspiration

Creativity is intelligence having fun. –Albert Einstein

Stories aren’t about products. That’s a brochure. –Jay Baer

People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it. –Simon Sinek

Sell your ideas, but never sell out your idealism. –Me

In conclusion …. Inspiration

“Stay thirsty, my friends.”

• Thirst for knowledge.

• Thirst for meaning.

• Thirst for stories.

Reading & listening list Inspiration

Books on writing Best American Writing seriesBest Words, Best Order, Stephen DobynsElements of Style, Strunk & White On Writing, Stephen King On Writing Well, Zissner.

Books on marketing Content Rules, Anna Handley Unmarketing, Scott StrattenYoutility, Jay Baer

Websites to check outContent Marketing InstituteConvince & ConvertCopybloggerIntroducing the Modern Marketing Manifesto

PodcastsMarketplace, American Public MediaThis Old Marketing Podcast, CMIUnpodcast, Scott Stratten

Questions? Thank you!

theautumnstar.com@theautumnstar