Sources & Content CreationFinding Inspiration

June 2012

Mandi Frishman Robert AndradeMarketing Manager Strategist@i_mandi @cram1975

Presented By

Session Goals & Agenda

• Understanding Your Role

• The Creation of Content

– Discover• Finding inspiration

• Coming up with ideas

– Organize• Identifying sources

• Developing a practiced approach

Your Role

Voice of the client with the perspective of the agency, working together to reach the same goals.

Feel like you’re on an island, surrounded by content?

To reach the content, leave the island

Discover: Find Inspiration

• To change up the content, change up the routine

– Being comfortable is not always a good thing

• Don’t fear new sources

– You’re not writing for a scientific journal – don’t fear fun

– Let articles inspire thoughts, they don’t need to BE the thoughts

• Search for visual inspiration

– Keywords on image based platforms or searches

SOMETIMES YOU

ARE STILL GOING TO

HIT THE WALL

Discover: Relax

• Take time to click off

– Give yourself time• Don’t wait until the last minute

– When you’re stressed you’re less creative, which impacts your ability to find AND create content

“There is then creative reading as well as creative writing. ”

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Discover: Escape

Discover: Escape

• Get outside of your own head

– Music inspires creativity

– Movies and Television take you to new places

– Videogames give you goals to reach

• When do you feel the most creative?

– Pay attention to what makes you feel that way and see if you can turn it into a practice

– Create environmental triggers for yourself

Discover: Leave the Box

• Get off of the computer and think

– Look for ideas in the world where your audience exists

– Look to popular cultural references

• Don’t be satisfied with the first thought

– How else can you approach a topic?

• Take it to the team

– Brainstorm

Discover -> Organize

• Once you have the ideas and have found sources, don’t let them slip away – take a practiced approach

Organize: Have a Goal

• Know what you’re looking for

– Have an idea – even if you end up using something else, mindlessly searching for content is not productive

• Create a list of sources

– Commit to growing it

• Use available tools

– Radian6 for research and data

Organize: Radian6

• Identify

– Peaks in discussion around keywords

– Influencers and influential topics by keyword

– Platforms where topics are discussed

• Analyze

– Where your content fits

– How your content can improve to increase virality and influence

– Existing opportunities, future opportunities

Organize: Sources

• Content Rich

– Associations

– Newsletters

– Blogs

– Pinterest

– StumbleUpon

– Reddit

– News

Organize: Curation Automation

• Set Up Streams in HootSuite

– Filter in posts with keywords

• Follow Prospects & Influencers

– Content comes to you

• Create Lists on Facebook and Twitter

– By industry or audience

Organize: Track Ideas

• Write down and store your ideas

– An old idea might spark a new one

– Something from last year that wasn’t used may work this year

– Create Content Calendars that include audiences and themes

• Store sources with content inspiration

– In a year from now you WILL forget where you found that great image, quote, etc.

“The thing about quotes on the internet is that you cannot confirm their validity.” Abraham Lincoln

ALWAYS give credit to the original source. Don’t rely on the platform or source where you found the content to do their homework. Verify.

Organize: Crediting Sources

Questions?

@makemesocial