These days, it's a must that every marketer create fresh, enticing content. While not everyone uses the term "content," it still comes down to creating words, Tweets, blog post and whatever content you create, it means extra work for you. How can you keep up with your marketing, social media and your content creation? More importantly, how can you create compelling content that readers will not only want to read, but that will also encourage them to buy your book?
For years, I've been creating all sorts of content. Whether it's blog posts, Tweets, Facebook updates, white papers or HuffPost posts, it's all about crafting helpful information people can use and messages that will drive users back to your website. The idea isn't just to push something out there, but to push it out consistently. The best way to generate content is to stay in close touch with your industry. Keep apprised of your marketplace, industry news and changes to your field, because all of this can help to spark ideas. If you're scratching your head wondering how to do this, here are some quick tips to help turn you into a content machine.
- Networking: You should be networking with other experts in your market. Getting to know other voices is very important, not just for networking, but also for idea generation. Ideas and inspiration come from everywhere; sometimes they come from Tweets you've seen, other times they might come from blog posts you subscribe to, or Facebook accounts you are a fan of.
Once you have a good content strategy, now it's time to plan for your content. I recommend that you take time once a week to do this. Sometimes I'll skip a week, but I always make it up. If you're new to this, treat your content strategy like your new workout routine. At first it won't be easy, but you have to keep up a regular pace until it becomes part of your marketing regime.
Keep your content organized by collecting this valuable content in a folder, either electronically or in a paper file. If you're gathering information electronically, I would suggest using something like Evernote (which I love!) or OneNote. Evernote has a great app for both iPhones and Android, so if you see something or get content inspiration while you're away from your computer, you can add it to Evernote and it will sync up to your main file. Tres cool... That way you can get to it quickly and easily. Once you have identified various ways to gather content and you've started building this content, you'll start to see your platform really growing. The more you push out there in the way of information, the more will come back to you in the way of readers and buyers.
How does content help you sell books? The more of an authority you are, the more eyes you will get to your message -- and the more eyes you get, generally the more buyers you get. Also, I believe that information builds trust and, these days, whether you're buying a book or something else, consumers want to buy from people they trust. Building trust is a big piece of what we do, and content creation is a part of this strategy.
Support HuffPost
Already contributed? Log in to hide these messages.