How To Create Content From Anything

Creating content for your business’s social presence can be intimidating.

How do you create content that meets your goals, but is still valuable to your followers?  It isn’t as hard as it seems, although it will require you to think differently about what social content is, and what it is not.  If you think you’ve written a good piece of content, ask yourself:

1) Is this content helpful to my followers?
2) Does this content reflect my brand’s image? 
3) Do I sound like a person, or an advertisement?

If you have an answer for every one of those questions, chances are you have a stellar piece of content to share. Perfect! Now let’s talk about what you need to do to create that content.

Create Content Feeds.

I don’t care what your angle is, chances are you’re not the first one to talk about your topic on the internet.  Instead of fighting writers for digital real estate, work with them. Follow their social channels. Dump their RSS feeds into an RSS reader so that you have a steady stream of content for sharing and inspiration (I personally love Feedly).  This concept doesn’t solely apply to blogs, either. Try sorting twitter accounts into lists based on their angles or signing up for newsletters from industry publications.  Not only will this keep you up to date on your interest area, it will also provide an endless source of content to share, engage with, and talk about.

Be they newsletters, podcasts, or RSS Feeds, find a medium that works for you and tune in.

Ride the Hashtag.

An effectively social media strategy isn’t about making people talk about what you want them to talk about, it’s about jumping into what they’re already talking about and creating content that adds value to the conversation.  On an episode of Jay Bayer’s Social Pro’s Podcast, Gary Vaynerchuck implored social media managers to craft their message based on the moment’s trending topics.  How can you talk about what you were going to talk about anyway, in a way that fits with whatever is being talked about already. Vaynerchuck described this kind of content creation as, “low-hanging fruit that literally nobody is doing.”

DiGiorno gained a lot of attention in the social world for successfully riding the hashtag on NBC’s rebroadcast of The Sound of Music.

Give this a try, but be careful. Some brands have received a lot of flack trying to create content around national tragedies or trying to brand a topic that people are very emotional about.

See Content Everywhere.

Is it snowing out? Did you just walk past a huge gathering downtown? Start thinking of yourself as the eyes and ears of your brand.  When you see something, ask yourself, “How would [insert your brand here] react to this?”  This ensures that your content will always be relevant and timely. It’s a simple way to create content that is often overlooked by first-time brand managers.  It might take you a minute to come up with the right twist on what you’re seeing, but with the right hook you can always come up something valuable to share.

Now you know.

If you think content creation means doing a google search for articles or simply sending out updates on the day’s special, think again (and re-read this blog post).  In keeping up with the conversation surrounding your niche and jumping into existing conversations, you’ll elevate the relevance of your content and make your presence in the a fan’s timeline meaningful.

Have you had success with these methods of creating content? Let us know in the comments, we  love new ideas and social success stories!