Business blogging isn’t easy, as anybody who starts their day facing a blank Word document will testify. By now, most businesses are well aware of the benefits of content marketing, and understand that merely publishing content regularly is not enough to elicit results. With over 181 million blogs now active globally, content creation for today’s switched-on audience requires extra effort. The question is, how can business possibly sustain that effort over the long term?
At BlogStar, as well as creating regular content for our own channels, including this blog, Facebook, our Twitter feed and LinkedIn account, we also assist our clients in developing and seeding compelling content bespoke to their own diverse audiences. This includes, but isn’t limited to, blog posts, white papers and case studies, videos, podcasts and webinars. How do we do it? I’ll let you into a dirty little secret. As well as harnessing the writing talent of our team of journalists, we also make use of a host of tools that exist to make content creation easier, quicker and yield higher quality results…and so should you. Our favourites include:
1. An editorial schedule
Admittedly, a planning device isn’t the sexiest of starts to a list, but any creator of content knows that it is the most fundamental component of their toolkit. As well as steering on what topics you are going to cover on a daily basis, your editorial calendar also enables you to plan topics to cover in coming weeks and months. Vitally, this encourages a narrative of sequential blog posts that build to tell a ‘big picture’ story aligning to broader messaging and business objectives. Another essential point; while an editorial calendar should inform all content creation, it should also offer enough flexibility to react to breaking industry news with topical coverage.
2. Ubersuggest
One of the greatest learnings in successful content creation is that you don’t need to be an expert on everything you write about. Knowing how to zone in on the right information and spot expert content when you see it, however, is crucial – particularly as a starting point before embarking on research.
Ubersuggest is really helpful during brainstorming stages. It works by taking a given word or phrase and trawling Google Suggestions to offer the most popular related topics people have been searching for. You can search by the entire web, or perform a more granular search such as Google Shopping, Images or Video. It’s an invaluable tool for nailing exactly what search to perform on a particular topic, and then sourcing credible resources to flesh out your content.
3. Content discovery tools: Topsy, SocialMention and Zemanta
In an ideal world, content creators would spend a good half day leisurely perusing the nationals, trade press and appropriate web and social channels to stay abreast of their relevant niche. In the real world, where businesses need running and children need picking up from school, this swings between unlikely and impossible.
Luckily, several tools can help with research by helping you to zone in on the right content. Twitter, of course, is a vital resource of breaking news and content inspiration, and lists are ideal for tracking industry influencers and journalists in your field.
Beyond the Twittersphere, SocialMention seeks out content according to specific search parameters from across the social web, analysing sentiment to help you keep on top of what people are saying about your brand and sector.
Social search engine Topsy similarly will scour every corner of the social web for real-time insights – excellent for knowing what topics your audience wants to hear about.
Thirdly, and fantastic for research-phobes is Zemanta – a content discovery tool that serves up images, articles and other related digital treats as you write content into WordPress or Blogger, while allowing you to retain editorial control.
Over to you
Creating regular, excellent content is undoubtedly a challenge: what tools do you use to ease the pressure?
Photo: Christian Stocker
