Is Your Social Media Content Boring? Here’s the Only Way to Fix It for Good

Social media marketing. Three words that every marketer utters when backed into a corner for answers and results. But here’s the hard truth about social media marketing. Not all marketers see an ROI. In fact, even though 77% marketers claim to be using social media for marketing, only 48% of them seem to have any ROI whatsoever. Why? Not all marketers invest enough to create fresh and effective content.

Is your content boring and overdone? Let’s think realistically. It’s hard to put out fresh, intellectually stimulating, humorous and compelling content every single day. Or is it? Maybe you haven’t discovered a creative process that allows you to perform that way yet.

1. Tickle your tastebuds with flavors that make you want to sing

“Successful creators don’t just like knowledge, they thirst for it,” says Keith Sawyer, author of “Zig Zag: The Surprising Path to Greater Creativity”. Serial entrepreneur and tech revolutionary Elon Musk and IT veteran Bill Gates have both confessed to being avid readers. To be a successful creator, you have to develop a desire to consume a lot of content yourself. But what content should you ideally consume?

Every exceptional artist has a muse, just as every talented content creator has go-to sources for inspiration. What are yours? Here are a few ways to find inspiration.

• Inspiration can come from anywhere – books, movies or even conversations with interesting people. Any piece of information that’s new can break you out of old thinking patterns that are holding you back. Ensure that you have time for good books, movies and conversations every week.
• Long walks, rides or meditation can do a lot for your creative imagination. Sometimes, your mind is full of ideas, but you are not in the right mind space to access them. During such times, you could indulge in meditative or refreshing activities to clear your mind and let ideas flow.
• Today, there are tons of apps and platforms serving content. But not all content is good content. Instead of letting these apps take over your life, why not control your content consumption and make it actually beneficial?
• Additionally, you could also use a content curation app like DrumUp to curate fresh content for daily inspiration.

The idea is to build daily habits that enable your creative imagination, helping you generate ideas easily so you can keep your social media content fresh. If you’re still stuck, you could try one of the following:

• Watch TEDTalks. They usually have new ideas and great language – two great precursors for fresh content ideas.
• Begin curating an inspiration file with pieces of ideas, writing, design or stories that intrigue you. They’ll come to your rescue during tough times.
• Watch interviews of your favorite personalities. You might find their lives and experiences inspiring.
• Listen to new music. If you are visually receptive, new sounds may prompt the flow of new ideas.
• Try remote association exercises. For instance, you can take the first line of one song and try to connect it to the last line of another song by writing the lines in between. You could also consider three completely random ideas and spin them into a story. Such activities generally get your creative juices flowing.
• Make a collage or build a lego house. You could also do something simpler if you lack resources. Arrange your desk or doodle random ideas in your head.

2. Diversify your social media content with videos, infographics, quotes, GIFs, memes and storytelling

Facebook mobile users spend no more than 1.7 seconds on each piece of content. That’s the time you have to grab their attention. Doing that by sharing the same kind of social media content repeatedly is impossible because people who lose interest easily will switch to another page. However, you can keep audience attention by diversifying your social media content.

It’s the purple cow principle. Remember Seth Godin’s infamous TED Talk “How to get your ideas to spread”? People won’t stop for a cow, but show them a purple cow or a cow with golden locks and…

• It’s hard to keep surprising your social media audience when you have to post content everyday. But you can easily “keep it fresh” by using different content formats such as videos, infographics, GIFs, memes and quotes.

Each of these content formats can be easily designed even if you don’t have designing experience. There are tons of Saas (Software As a Service) tools that offer ready templates which you can design these types of content. 

For instance, Venngage has several infographic templates that you can work with and Giphy makes GIF making easy.

• Use storytelling on every social media post. People are drawn to stories because they evoke strong emotions rooted in their earliest years of life. How do you use storytelling? Create characters, narrate scenes and take people through the experience that you want them to have.
• Work with all the special features on different social media platform. Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat Stories, Instagram Boomerang and Twitter Moments are all creative opportunities to change the way social media users perceive your brand. Not only do “Stories” appear prominently on top of social feeds, but they also disappear 24 hrs after publishing, giving you the freedom to share more freely.
• Save your posts and ideas in online content libraries such as the ones on DrumUp, so you can work with them just before publishing. You could also save great posts to inspire future posts or inspire the start of a series.

If you still don’t have enough to embellish your page with vibrant and original social media content, here are a few things that you can consider.

• Curate content from other brands, personalities who are in your space but don’t compete with you. DrumUp’s keyword based content curation will help you find articles written by journalists, whom you can also @mention when sharing posts through the tool.
• Share simple questions, quizzes or contests that can engage your social media audience.

 3. Invest in empathy; understand customer intent and feelings

Every social media marketer reads hundreds of blog and social media posts for social media marketing inspiration. However, few of them can actually drive results for brands using social if marketers lose sight of the most important part of having a social media presence – being human. Companies who anchor their social media marketing strategy around this fact are more likely to have larger and more loyal social media followings and better sales.

The beauty of social media is that it allows for two way communication, wherein current and prospective customers can respond to brands and share opinions. Use that fact to build real connections with your social media fans.

• The first mistake that many brands make on social media is that they overdo professionalism and end up being boring. People don’t want more “corporate talk”. They want to know who you are. So, be as genuine and authentic as you can on social media. Give your brand a personality that people can relate to.
• One of the biggest mistakes that brands make on social media is focusing too much on their brand, products and services. In marketing expert Guy Alvarez’s words, “Social Media is Not a Bullhorn”, and you should stop writing about why your products are amazing. People today can’t be bothered by what you have to sell. They’re interested in how you can change their lives. Show them that by sharing more customer-oriented content.
• Make people smile. Want to stay on top of customers’ minds? Tell them something that will make them smile. Create content that will come back to them when they’re driving or shopping or being bored on the internet.
• Give more than you get. Think about this. Would you rather spend time with a friend who’s there for you or someone who’s always asking you for money? Limit your social media sales pitches. Instead, try and befriend your social media audience.

The easiest way to build a rapport with your audience is by understanding how they feel. Here are a few ways to do that.

• Look carefully at support queries. What emotions have customers expressed towards your products and services? That can tell you a lot about how to approach them. For instance, if customers have displayed signs of uncertainty and anxiousness, you should invest in understanding what their concerns about your products are.
• Talk to customers face to face or on the phone when you can and ask for feedback related to your products and content. Pay attention to their tone of voice and emotions instead of focusing only on what they say.

 4. Work hard on that sense of humor, every single day

Being humorous is a great way to catch the attention of your social media audience. By appealing to them emotionally, you stand a better chance than others at generating curiosity about who you are and what you sell. It also stands that humor is great for brand awareness and brand recall, two things that can help you stay etched in your target audience’s memory longer.

However, writing jokes is hard. The activity requires a rare combination of creative intelligence and an understanding of customer psychology. Here’s a list of tips that can help.

• According to Dr. Peter McGraw and Dr. Caleb Warren, researchers at the University of Colorado at Boulder, humor occurs when two events coincide –

i) Someone threatens a person’s worldview (his or her) sense of how the world should be, and ii) The threat is amiable but potent. Try and satisfy these criteria with the jokes that you write for social media.

• Practise writing humor everyday, because only 10% of what you write maybe usable material. Just as any other skill, writing humor takes practise and you’ll get better at it over time.
• Follow a bunch of comedians and novelists you consider raconteurs, so you can breakdown their work and study their style of writing. When breaking down their writing, try and pay attention to the details – the words they use, the tone they use, the visuals that they try to paint with words. Some good examples of novelists to study are PG Wodehouse and Caitlin Moran.
• Curate humorous content for your social media fans. There are tons of great social media pages already posting funny content. You could simply repost some of that content (with tags and proper credit) for your audience’s benefit. The admins of the pages you help promote will definitely thank you for it.

If you’re still unable to find enough inspiration to add humor to your social media content, you could try one of the following.

• Wit is underrated. Use witty quips (crediting them to the author) or create your own. Try and give new endings to old sayings or come-up with new “terms” that have funny definitions.
• Poke fun at your brand. That’s a great way to endear your social media fans. Ellen DeGeneres tells a lot of jokes targeted at herself (click here for link to video below).

5. Strike the pinata at its heart by vanquishing customers’ pet peeves

When people don’t convert, it’s usually because they have a very specific issue stopping them from doing so. When customers leave, they usually have very specific problems that haven’t be addressed. Strategic content can bridge these gaps and boost both your conversion rates and customer retention rates. That’s why you should focus on creating social media content that relates to customer and prospect issues.

Here’s what you need to know when creating content to solve issues that customers and prospects face.

• Before you begin solving issues, it’s important to know if they actually exist and what they are. Many social media managers make the mistake of assuming likes, dislikes and concerns of target groups, leading to the incorrect investment of time and money on creating content that’s not really relevant.
• Once you’re sure of what concerns customers and prospects have, it’s time to understand exactly how to address them. The content format and script that you use matter to a great extent. You conversion and retention depend on how well you address issues using content.
• Use simple resolutions in content that your target groups can follow easily. Avoid using terms that can confuse people and don’t unnecessarily complicate your content.
• Invest in content formats that you know your target groups consume. For instance, if your target groups include people who read a lot, you can focus on blog posts. Else, it’s important to complement blog posts with videos, infographics, GIFs and memes. The videos you create should ideally be short and easy to consume – 60s or less if you plan to share them on social media platforms.
• You could use success stories, case-studies and testimonials to illustrate to your target groups how you can solve important issues. In fact, doing so will add social proof and credibility to the equation and make your brand appear more trustworthy.

Here are a few extra tips to ensure that you aim right and successfully eliminate the issues that your target groups have using social media content.

• Google keyword planner (and other keyword research tools) are excellent ways to understand customer intent. If you create blog posts using data drawn from such tools, you can attract attention on social media and drive SEO traffic to your website.
• You can also use a tool such as FAQFox to search for queries on forums such as Quora, so you can identify important questions that your audience is asking.

Wrap

Social media marketing is an important part of every marketer’s $0 marketing plan, but few of these marketers ever see the results that they desire. Why? They’re using the wrong content or targeting the wrong channels. This post suggests the only way you can take boring social media content and turn it interesting.

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How to Learn Social Media Marketing: 30 Resources for Beginners

Social media is no longer an optional marketing channel -- it's a necessary one.
But that doesn't mean results are a given. When it comes to social media, you'll either have a lot of success interacting with your customers, or you'll see little results -- and that depends on the level of effort you put into it.
Few brands do social media really well, and those who do, see great things come from it. But for everyone who does social media well, there are hundreds of others seemingly spinning their social wheels with no tangible results.
For many, social media is simply a place to post links to content they've created in hopes that thousands will see it, click through, and share with their followers. So they have profiles on every network, and every network looks exactly the same; line after line of self-promotion.

Click here to learn about using social media in every stage of the funnel.

 This is not going to bring results. In fact, Facebook's algorithm now penalizes link-based content, and Instagram has made it all-but-impossible to share a link.
Half-heartedly sharing your content on social media is not social media marketing. It's spamming.
Social marketing is a lot of work, and it takes time listening and responding. After all, it's social, and anything social takes an investment of effort and skill.
To hone these skills, check out these resources that will help you develop the skills needed to be effective on social media. (You may want to bookmark this post so you can easily refer to it again later.)

How to Learn Social Media Marketing: 30 Free Resources

Blogs About Social Media

Social marketing is a science involving special communication skills. And the landscape changes constantly.
One of the best ways to develop your social media prowess and to stay up-to-date is to follow experts in the field. These blogs are always fresh with actionable information you can use to improve your marketing:

1) Social Media Explorer

SME is both a strategic services agency and a blog with a bevy of social media and marketing experts. The SME blog is consistently considered one of the most insightful in the industry, and several of its authors have written popular books on several aspects of digital and social marketing.

2) Scott Monty

Monty is a marketing guru who covers a ton of subjects. However, his social media articles are always eye-opening. If you haven't heard of him yet, check out his "this week in digital" posts -- these will keep you up-to-date with all the news on social, and every other aspect of digital marketing as well.

3) Social Media Examiner

Not to be confused with Social Media Explorer, the Examiner is one of the top blogs in the world for social media. Its social media reports are filled with all the important data social marketers want, and the blog posts are filled with valuable tips, as well. If I had to pick just one social media blog to follow, this is the one I would choose.

4) HubSpot Marketing Blog

Right here on the HubSpot Marketing Blog, you can find breaking news and actionable how-to guides on every social network there is.

Ebooks About Social Media

These ebooks will provide deeper information on specific networks and topics.

6) How to Use Instagram for Business

This step-by-step guide explains the reasons to create a business Instagram account and how to execute on Instagram to drive results.

7) A Visual Guide to Creating the Perfect LinkedIn Company Page

If you're building a company page for the first time, or trying to upgrade your page, this guide will show you exactly how to do everything from crafting an engaging company description to creating an eye-catching banner image.

8) How to Attract Customers with Facebook

This multi-page ebook will show you how to use Facebook to drive real business results for your organization.

9) How to Get More Twitter Followers

HubSpot partnered with the experts at Twitter to provide actionable tips for social media managers starting new accounts to build a following, and fast.

10) The Beginner's Guide to Social Media

Last, but definitely not least, is this amazing guide from Moz. The 12 chapters in this book are filled with valuable information that every marketer absolutely needs to know. Bookmark this guide, you'll refer to it more than once.

Videos About Social Media

Videos are my second favorite medium to learn, behind books. Being able to glean from the brightest minds on any subject as if you're face-to-face is powerful. These videos will give you valuable insights, just how to do social media, but you'll get insights into the why and what as well.

11) The #AskGaryVee Show

You can't talk about social media without talking about the speaker, author, and social expert Gary Vaynerchuk. On the Gary Vee Show, he takes questions from his audience and answers them as only he can. If you have a burning question on social media marketing, send it to him.

12) TED Talks: Social Media Marketing

If you aren't in love with TED, you might want to check your pulse. This is a playlist of videos from TED Talks on social media. There may not be that much actionable advice in these videos, but if you want to become an expert on social media, these videos will give you insight into the deeper subject like "the hidden influence of social networks."

13) Learn Social Media Marketing

If you're really new to social media, and you want to learn through a structured lesson experience, consider Lynda's massive library on social marketing classes.

Podcasts on Social Media

If you like to learn while you chill, work out, or commute to and from work, podcasts are one of the best ways to do it. And these podcasts will help you develop your social media expertise.

14) Social Media Marketing Podcast

Michael Stelzner, from Social Media Examiner, brings you success stories and expert interviews from leading social media marketing pros.

15) The Social Media Examiner Show

Rather than deep dives, the SME Show gives you small, bite-sized content for social media every day. This is a great podcast to get actionable quick-tips on a daily basis. It'll keep you motivated while you develop your skills.

16) The Social Toolkit

If you like to stay up-to-date on digital tools, apps, and software for social media marketing, this is the podcast for you.

17) The Social Pros Podcast

Every episode of the Social Pros Podcast shines the light on real pros doing real work for real companies. You'll get insights from Jay Baer of Convince and Convert when you tune in.

Slideshows and Infographics About Social Media

If you're a visual learner, these slide decks and infographics provide great ways to learn social media.

18) The B2B Social Media Palette

This SlideShare walks you through the channels and tools you'll need to be most effective at B2B social media marketing. Sometimes, success can be found by using the right tools and channels for the right audience.

19) The Complete Guide to the Best Times to Post on Social Media

Timing is very important when it comes to social media. Post it the wrong time, and your update can go completely unnoticed because of the flood of updates in your audience's feeds. Being able to master the timing of social media is critical to effective marketing.

20) 58 Social Media Tips for Content Marketers

This slideshow is from the folks at Content Marketing Institute. This deck shows the proper methods for promoting your content over social media. This is a must-read for any social marketer who wants to use those channels to promote content.

21) The Best and Worst Times to Post on Social Media

Again, timing is everything. This infographic lays out the best and worst times to post on each major network. You should save this infographic for referencing when you schedule your social media posts.

Books About Social Media

Books are my favorite way to learn. Many experts agree that if you read a book a week, on your area of expertise, for 5 years, you will have the equivalent of a Ph.D. on the subject. That may or may not be true, but reading books from the experts definitely doesn't make you a worse marketer. Here are some books to get you started.

22) The B2B Social Media Book

This book covers the specific application of social marketing to B2B companies, to leverage social media to drive leads and revenue.

23) The Art of Social Media: Power Tips for Power Users

You've got to read this book by the legendary former Chief Evangelist of Apple, Guy Kawasaki. He's one of the pioneers of social and content marketing, and this book is filled with expert advice from one of the best.

24) The Tao of Twitter

This book is supposed to be for busy marketers who need to get the basics of Twitter down quickly. It shows you how to connect and start creating meaningful connections in less than two hours.

25) The Ultimate Guide to Facebook Advertising

Facebook is one of the most effective advertising and PPC platforms available. You can target a plethora of metrics, allowing you to drill down and advertise to a very specific audience. This book will show you how to optimize your Facebook ads.

26) Jab, Jab, Right Hook: How to Tell Your Story in a Noisy Social World

Gary Vaynerchuk gives insight into how he uses a conversational, reactionary approach to engaging his audience. He gives concrete, visual examples of great social marketing, as well as not-so-great ones.

27) The New Rules of Marketing and PR

David Meerman Scott's book on digital marketing is an international bestseller, and worth every penny. Some argue that it should be required reading for any marketer -- and in this marketer's opinion, "Just read it."

28) Likeable Social Media

Dave Kerpen claims the secret to viral social marketing is to be likable. When someone likes you, they'll recommend you. But being likable on social networks is easier said than done. This book will help you crack that code.

29) Social Media Marketing for Dummies

One of my mentors taught me to read children's books on a subject if I just couldn't grasp a concept. That principle gave way to movements like "Explain It Like I'm 5." And, sometimes you just need it broken down like you're, well, less than an expert on the topic, to put it gently. If that's you, this book is valuable. Go ahead and buy it -- we won't call you dummy.

30) Contagious: Why Things Catch On

This book by Jonah Berger provides a strong foundation to understand how content goes viral -- and how to create ideas on social media that are so catchy, your audience won't be able to help but click them.

The Secret to Social Media Success

No matter how many social networks you set out to master, or how long you work in the social marketing field, there is one secret that will ensure you're successful: Never stop learning.
This list is massive, I know, and there's no way to consume all these resources in the next week. But if you set yourself to learning every day, every week, every month, every year, you'll eventually be the one writing the books that help others learn social marketing.
It all begins with learning.

10 Things I've Learned About Social Media:

1. Social marketing requires listening.
2. Conversations should be the goal of social marketing.
3. Team #Followback is a waste of time.
4. Social marketing isn't broadcasting, it's communicating.
5. Never auto-post your content to your social profiles.
6. Never copy/paste the same message into every social profile.
7. Social marketing requires time. It's relationship-building on a massive scale.
8. Be helpful. Period.
9. Social support is faster than live chat, email, or phone calls. Embrace it.
10. You don't have to be on every network. Go where your customers are.

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Why Marketers Need to Deliver Accessible Emails

“Accessibility” is a term you have probably heard in email marketing circles, and one you will soon be hearing more often. What is it, and why does it matter to brands? Here’s a quick primer on accessibility in email marketing and some quick tips to get you started building your own accessible emails.

What is web accessibility?

Web accessibility refers the ease with which people can access a brand’s online content and communications, including email. Typically, it concerns guidelines that designers, developers, and content creators can use to build digital communications so that people with disabilities can use and engage with them in meaningful ways. Disabilities that affect how people are able to access content online include visual and hearing impairments, limited mobility, and cognitive or neurological disabilities, among others.

Many people with disabilities use devices like screen readers and special keyboards to explore and interact online. Making your emails accessible simply means that you’ve built them in a way that allows these devices to understand and navigate your content.

Who needs to know about accessibility?

Under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), no business, organization, or entity that serves the public can discriminate against any person with a disability. This includes employers, schools, hotels, restaurants, theaters, you name it. As the world becomes more digital, the laws that prevent discrimination against those with disabilities are expanding to include online experiences. 

So the short answer is that anyone who manages digital communications for a brand needs to know about accessibility. The long answer is that as accessibility becomes a more known — and enforced — issue, certain kinds of brands will likely feel the pressure sooner and more intensely. 

This includes major brands that communicate with large audiences, organizations that receive government funding or grants, or industries with a higher amount of regulation, such as hospitals, airports, and pharmaceuticals.

Why do your emails need to be accessible?

There are two ways to think about this question. The first considers accessibility as a requirement brands have to complete in order to avoid regulatory issues. While important, this glosses over the real reasons behind accessibility. 

The second acknowledges that accessibility is a vital part of many user experiences. Stop for a moment and contemplate how you might complete a simple task, such as checking your email, if you were visually impaired or limited to the use of a keyboard. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, nearly 1 in 5 Americans lives with some kind of disability, whether it’s vision or hearing impairment, difficulty moving or grasping, or a cognitive, emotional, or neurological disability. This includes: 

• 8 million Americans with vision impairment
• More than 7 million Americans with hearing impairment
• Nearly 20 million Americans who have difficulty lifting or grasping objects

If you ignore accessibility in your emails, then you’re ignoring the opportunity to talk to and engage with these users.

How do you make your emails more accessible?

Here are some quick tips that will immediately make your emails more accessible. 

Email Content

• Avoid over-generalized calls-to-action. Many visually-impaired users who use screen readers tab through content quickly as a way of scanning your email. A CTA that simply says “click here” doesn’t give someone using a screen reader any context. Use more descriptive CTA language to clarify the action you want them to take. Apply these same rules to link text, as well.
• Keep important messages in the text. Don’t embed key messages or CTAs in images or infographics. Screen readers won’t recognize them, and users will miss important information. Instead, keep your important messages and CTAs in the HTML where they are readily available to screen readers and other devices.

Email Design and Layout

• Use color wisely. Don’t rely on color alone to communicate your message or direct an action. Color blind or visually impaired users may not be able to fully interact with your email content. Also be sure to use high enough contrast so that users don’t have trouble differentiating between copy and the background of your email.
• Left align your text. Accessible design best practices also say to keep it at least 14px. This will make it more readable for users in general, but especially for users with visual impairment and dyslexia.

Email Development

• Always include alt text. You should be doing this anyway, but even more so if you want a quick way to improve your email accessibility. In addition to simply including them, make sure that your alt tags are clear and descriptive.

• Use semantic tags. These include <h1>, <h2>, <p>, etc., tags that allow screen readers to understand the hierarchy of your email so that users can quickly scan content. These tags get a bad rap for causing rendering issues in email. You can get around it, though, by restyling your margins.

Accessibility in email is not a trend that’s going away anytime soon. It’s a growing best practice that helps brands connect with millions more users every day. For other ways to elevate your email marketing, check out more email marketing best practices.

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Feed the Content Monster with the Help of a Closed-Circle Content Loop

If there is one thing search engines love more than anything, it is fresh content — and algorithms continue to get better at finding and ranking it by the minute.

But what content marketer has enough time to dedicate to feeding the content monster all day, every day?

To keep up with search engines and still preserve your time, you have to create a closed-circle content loop for your content marketing strategy. Let’s look at how to do that.

What is a closed-circle content loop?

A closed-circle content loop is an inbound content system that focuses on both the atomization of brand-new content and the repurposing of old content.

By generating many different types of new content while also recycling old content in new and relevant ways, you can ensure that your brand always has a body of fresh work to feed to search engines.

Using this two-pronged approach, you effectively close the gap in your content strategy (hence the name) and answer the struggle all content marketers face every day: so much work to create and not enough hours in the day to make it happen!

Create a variety of brand-new content

While text content like articles and blog posts may be your content strategy’s bread and butter, feeding the content monster means adding a little more spice to your recipe. Podcasts, presentations, infographics, photos, ebooks, and videos are all important for generating a diverse content offering and boosting your SEO.

But content creation is a necessary ongoing investment. Creating all those pieces takes up time and money, whether you’re doing the work yourself or hiring a writer to do it for you.

Enter atomization.

When you take one big piece of new content and repurpose it in a variety of ways, you’ll cut down on the time and cost of creating fresh work.

Say you own a construction consulting business. You could create an in-depth 10-page ebook to teach customers how to renovate a master bathroom. That ebook can also work as an infographic, a series of “quick tip” social media posts, a video series on YouTube, and more.

By publishing in a variety of formats, one piece of content can multiply into many fresh avenues to connect with your customers. And that means fresh content for search engines.

Recycle old content

Unfortunately, nothing stays fresh forever — all types of food (even Twinkies!) have expiration dates. To feed the content monster, you’ll have to continuously revisit your old work.

Create a content calendar that resembles the table of contents for a book or user guide. Decide when each piece of content will become outdated and in need of a reset, and mark it on the calendar.

By keeping track of your publication dates, you’ll be able to recycle content many times over using the same atomization strategy you use for new work.

5 hacks for creating fresh content

These tips will help you create more effective content for your closed-circle content loop.

1. Focus on quality and quantity

Many experts have weighed in over the years about whether quality or quantity matters more for content marketing.

I’m here to tell you, when it comes to your SEO, the answer is actually both. If you want to see real results in search engines, you’ll need to post quality content in higher volumes. For a small business, this usually means creating something fresh once a week or every other week.

2. Pay attention to your title and keywords

Sure, you’re creating fresh content for search engines, but so is everyone else. In such a saturated market, sometimes your title is the only tool you have to attract readers to click on a results page.
Make it count.

Keywords can help. From your title to your body text to your captions and video descriptions, all of your content needs to contain the right keywords for SEO to make sure you are found by the right people in the first place.

3. Curate as well as create

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and that goes for content inspiration as well. SEO-savvy content marketers undoubtedly have a list of fellow influencers and websites that they trust for insider knowledge. Use it!

Most of your content will be created from scratch, but you can also create original work that is inspired by your favorite work online.

Did another business in your industry release an annual report jam-packed with awesome research? Consider writing an article that highlights the best pieces of data and add your personal insights to what that data means for businesses.

4. Invite your community to join you

If you want variety, get different writers. Boost the amount of content you’re churning out by inviting your community to become guest contributors.

Your biggest advocates will gladly create content in exchange for exposure. Plus, user-generated work creates a fresh dynamic for your brand and encourages other fans to engage with your company.

5. Measure, measure, measure

Don’t waste time on content that doesn’t convert. Track everything you publish, and note the pieces your customers clearly respond to.

Knowing what your audience wants to read or watch online will help you create new content in the future that speaks to their needs, and it will make sure you don’t waste time repurposing and recycling content that doesn’t actually work.

Feed the content monster

Content is the heart of your online lead generation efforts. Its impact on SEO is crucial to the success of your website, and ultimately, your business.

But creating enough fresh content to satisfy search engines can be tedious and time-consuming, especially for smaller businesses with limited resources. As a content marketer, you need to know time-saving content generation tactics and hacks that will feed your content monster, helping you boost your rankings fast and well.

By using a two-pronged, closed-circle content loop strategy, you’ll make the most of your content creation efforts and ensure that nothing you write (or design or record or film) ever goes to waste.


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25 Ideas to Transform Ho-Hum Infographics into Something Extraordinary

A few weeks ago here on Copyblogger, Demian Farnworth presented the infographic as the Salvador Dalí of content marketing — the most interesting person at the cocktail party.
More than just a superficial presence, an infographic is a significant asset pillar with diverse possibilities that help you grow your media empire.
Today, let’s equate the Internet to the world of pop music. In this case, infographics are The Beatles.
They’re irresistible. They create massive hits. At their best, they balance style and substance.
They can be relentlessly imaginative. And like John, Paul, George, and Ringo, they can communicate sophisticated ideas to a mass audience.
Yep, they’re lovable. How lovable?
The factoid below comes from a 2012 infographic by NeoMam Studios.



Even stories about infographics sizzle. I wrote “The Most Important Thing You Need to Know About Infographics” and it climbed to the number one spot on my chart last year.
Before we brainstorm infographic ideas, let’s discuss why infographics work.

Why do we love infographics?

Here are 15 reasons I’ve assessed:

1. They’re so webable. First, I must offer my theory and ask you to live with my funny new word. Although data visualizations exist in traditional media, they’ve exploded in the digital age because they perfectly suit new media and the devices we use to consume information.
2. We’re visual creatures. The fun, interactive infographic, “13 Reasons Why Your Brain Craves Infographics,” makes this case with powerful data points.

3. They simplify complex ideas. Infographics aid comprehension by pairing text with straightforward pictures.
4. They’re easy to share. We love to share information we find valuable. It feeds our appetites for being conduits of wisdom. Creators and publishers of infographics encourage you to share their content and often simplify the process by providing code you can embed on your website.
5. They’re familiar. The general recipe for infographics features ingredients we’re comfortable with: illustrations, icons, charts, diagrams, and captions. The familiarity speaks to us and obliterates any objections.
6. They travel well. Infographics are multi-screen portable. They translate nicely to slides and also tend to work on paper.
7. They’re fast. Up above, in Number Two, you see an interesting data point about how fast we’re able to process visual information. The process of reading takes time. Given our short attention spans, the speed with which we can absorb visual information makes infographics attractive.
8. They’re less taxing. A related, but slightly different idea than the one above about speed is we give ourselves a little break when we digest information aided by visuals. We encounter a lot of information daily. We can only read so much. The data below comes from:
   • Welcome to the information age — 174 newspapers a day, The Telegraph.
   • Measuring Consumer Information, International Journal of Communication, Vol 6.
   • How Little Do Users Read?


9. People thrive on data. We’re drawn to data and proof points. I like this presentation from Juice, Inc. that explains how data drives exploration, understanding, presentation, discovery, motivation, learning, and above all, “doing.”
10. They tell stories. A lot of infographics use storytelling tactics including characters, conflicts, problems, and resolutions. Stories hold our attention as we relate to characters and go on journeys with them.
11. They promote branding. When infographics are republished, a brand travels with the image, which usually includes a logo and URL.
12. People search for them. Because they’re so useful (and often entertaining), people search for infographics, as evidenced in the statistic presented above. Since search engines can’t index the content within an image, headlines often appear with the explicit label “Infographic”.
13. People collect them. Do you do this? I sure do. I stash infographics for safekeeping on Pinterest and in my swipe files if I suspect I’ll want to reference them (or use them) again in the future.
14. They dominate the page. I believe one of the many factors that make infographics appealing is they tend to dominate a webpage.
15. They’re generally large and colorful. Unlike plain text, infographics defeat distractions and help us focus on the content.

Ready to create your own infographic?

Here are 25 infographic types, themes, and concepts:

1. Process. Create an infographic to explain a process. They’re ideal for breaking down and simplifying a multi-step process that may otherwise appear intimidating.
2. Comparison. These images may include sections such as: before and after, this vs. that, old way vs. new way, us and them, etc.
3. Timeline. Infographics help illustrate the evolution of a subject matter.
4. Roundup. Various types of roundups, such as quotes, reviews, favorites, etc. can be presented as a collection.
5. Components. Just as it’s useful to break down a process into steps, you can decouple the components of just about anything to aid understanding, i.e., an engine, recipe, or team.
6. Instructions. Use an infographic to simplify complex tutorials or communicate how to complete a task.
7. Charts and tables. Simple charts or tables featuring icons or images representing a topic create visual interest.
8. Categories. Take any category of interest to your audience and tell a story with an infographic. Check out one of my favorites, “The Genealogy of Pop/Rock Music”. Amazing.
9. Study of a “universe.” Produce massive visual collections on: beers, bands, books, bikes, beaches, etc. Here’s The Ultimate Infographic on Infographics from Curata.
10. Warnings. This popular article style tends to be irresistible. A list of dangers, myths, or mistakes is a powerhouse for infographics, too.
11. Metaphor. I love it when an interesting metaphor presents a concept. I bet you do too.
12. Résumé. Job hunting? The résumé as an infographic is such an engaging idea, services such as vizualize.me and kinzaa.com have sprung forth.
13. Report. Research and survey results offer great value in traditional report formats, but the same information, or highlights from it, make compelling infographics.
14. Product or service. You may not score a viral hit with an infographic that showcases what you sell, but you’re likely to have an engaging tool that presents your goods to potential buyers.
15. Trend. Showcasing a trend in an infographic makes a newsworthy story even more fun.
16. Past to present. This is another timeline idea that displays the history of a topic.
17. Place or event. Any place (from a nation to a campground) or any event (from a war to a conference) can be summarized in an infographic.
18. Guide. A rather obvious theme, I know, but any “how to” begs to be transformed into an infographic.
19. Family tree. These can be downright intoxicating. You can use a tree, flow chart, or similar symbols to explain relationships.
20. Cause and effect. You probably see a “this caused that” form of presentation more than you realize. It’s simple and smart.
21. Biography. Perform a search for “biography of Steve Jobs infographic” and you’ll discover some amazingly creative graphics. Study them for inspiration.
22. Story. Simple one here. Tell a story, like a picture book.
23. Manifesto. This approach can be a stellar branding tool. Write a manifesto that defines what you stand for and have a great designer create an infographic that makes you proud.
24. List. Don’t ignore this age-old, can’t-miss tactic for communicating fascinating, useful content.
25. Acronym. Spell out an acronym or abbreviation, with pictures, of course, and you’ll have a double-whammy simplification of a robust idea.

Grow your audience with infographics

Which type of infographic will you make to reach and educate a larger audience?


Flickr Creative Commons Image via Saad Faruque.
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