Tips for Creating New Content in 2018

Are you still working on your content strategy for this year? Sticking to the basics can achieve great results. Here are a few ideas:

Optimizing Keywords

SEO can be tough, but can also lead to great results. Do you want to rank for one thing, but actually rank for something else better? Take this with a grain of salt. Use SemRush to help:

• Identify similar keywords to the one you have in mind
• Gain insight to competitors keywords and rankings

Industry News and Current Events

You probably have heard of this one, but the world is ever-changing. Spending time searching industry news through social media or the top trending articles can be time consuming. To avoid this:

• Create ‘lists’ on Hootsuite to identify key influencers, prospective clients, etc.
• Join industry LinkedIn private groups related to your industry
• Set alerts on Google and other major search engines to be notified when certain keywords are in the news

Listen to Your Customers

Customer feedback is key – not only will it help you in the moment, but it will also help future business development. Take advantage of these simple ideas:

• Draft up a Twitter chat. You just need to brainstorm a few questions, create a hashtag and have a set moderator using the company or a personal account. Bonus idea: create graphics for the questions!
• Twitter and Instagram polls – add different options (up to four on Twitter and two on Instagram) and encourage ‘other’ responses in replies or private messages
• Create a survey. This may seem ‘old fashioned’ but sometimes it can bring in the lengthier feedback you may be looking for. Prizes help incentivize!

Your Team

Think of your coworkers as resources too. Do you have customer service representatives? They know firsthand any client troubles. Or maybe a product manager? They should be an expert on certain topics. Your team may be able to help with:

• Keeping a running list of commonly asked questions for a FAQs
• Developing client personas
• Creating a digital glossary (for those tricky industries)

Visuals, Visuals and More Visuals

Thinking visually does not have to be tough. Do you have content on your site that performed well? Recycle it into a video, or infographic. Or, if a piece has continually done well, add one of these ideas to the original article.

• Add a video to the end of an article to sum up the topic
• Add simple images to the article – think logos or even photos related to the topic (this is great for SEO purposes!)