Easy Tips for Blog Content
It happens to the best of us - you're producing regular content, and you find yourself missing a post. Maybe it was a tight schedule. Maybe it was writer's block. Whatever the reason, you find yourself up against a deadline and need to put something up on your company (or personal) site.
For starters, don't fret. We've all been there. Thankfully, there are some easy tips and tricks to keep your content flowing.
1. Take advantage of recurring content. Recurring content is perfect when you need something to post on a short deadline. Maybe you previously wrote about something seasonal (i.e. your company's ongoing commitment to supporting a Toys for Tots campaign). Sure, you may have written a piece a year ago about how your company was collecting toys as part of the Toys for Tots campaign. But, this year is a new campaign. This year gives you the opportunity to paint a fresh picture, or give an update to last year's campaign. You can easily remind people that last year you were able to donate toys for 1,000 children and this year you'd like to increase that number to 1,500 children. Although you may not be in the running for a Pulitzer with the piece, you've been able to check off the blog post as completed.
2. Stock up on ready-use content. We've all had those days where we are on top of our workflow and have enough time, energy, and musings that we could easily pump out an additional blog piece or two. My suggestion? Take the opportunity when it presents itself to do just that. If you write an extra piece when you have the free time to do so, you can set it aside to use in a pinch. I try to have a small stockpile of pieces set aside and handy when I need them. The only catch to this one is to make sure the content isn't time-sensitive. If you put together a piece about some amazing new technology, for instance, it doesn't make sense for you to dust that piece off six months later. By that time, the content is no longer buzz worthy and you've missed the opportunity to capitalize on maximum exposure for the piece.
3. Take note of what's happening and write about it. There are plenty of times when you see something on social media, or a billboard, or in whatever magazine you happen to subscribe to and it strikes a chord. While the thought may not be something worthy of putting pen to paper for a blog post, it might be enough to get your mind moving in the right direction. Take our Keeping Social Media "Social" post, for instance. I was following a business on social media, and the only things they kept posting were negative comments about how their location discouraged people from stopping in and how difficult it was for them to sustain their business. (We'll cover the etiquette associated with those tweets in another post, but for this one, we'll focus on how those tweets got me thinking.) I was stupefied as to how a business could say such things. Instead of lashing out on social media, I opted to turn it around - writing a piece to offer a solution to some basic social media woes.
Sidekick Media Services offers a variety of services - from web design, to social media, to audio production, to full-service video production and live streaming. We'd be happy to consult with you about your project!