Content creation can be overwhelming, but it doesn’t have to be. We can take the principles of sustainability in the physical world and apply them to the virtual world as well. This helps on those days when the ideas seem to have dried up.
How can you apply these concepts to online content to support your content marketing efforts?
Reduce
Reduce the time you spend generating content (and thinking/stressing about it).
How do you do this? By thinking creatively about the content that already exists around you. Some other great words are reimagine, repurpose, refine.
Reuse
As you build a repository of content, you can bring old content forward with a refresh for your audience. The audience will shift over time, but evergreen content is always useful.
Perhaps you’ve got old list posts that are partially out-of-date but partially relevant. Take relevant items and share them on Twitter and/or Facebook.
Recycle
…Ideas
- Industry publications and thought leaders - respond to blog posts and shifts in direction,
- Notes you made two years ago - expand on those thoughts, mature them into usable content,
- Employees - they can offer unique perspective that may valuable to your customers and clients,
- Competitors - they’re working to differentiate themselves; how can you do it better?
…Materials
- White papers that need to be updated - turn them into a series of blog posts,
- Brochure for the trade show - commission an interesting infographic to post online,
- List of best practices for your industry - schedule updates for Twitter and Facebook,
- Training manual - create a series of videos for clients to subscribe to for training,
- Report for a client - case study of success; share your successes and how they happened.
Just as photographers walk around mentally framing images all around them, content marketers need to look at the world around them with an eye for content. Capture the moments of inspiration when they happen and your content will flow more smoothly.
What other marketing materials (traditional or online content) in your organization can be repurposed for online use?