The document discusses building powerful content to satisfy audiences and engage internet users. It emphasizes listening to audiences to understand their needs, creating relevant and useful content in an authentic voice, and developing a content plan with personas, topics, and a publishing schedule. The key is providing value through stories and information rather than just selling. An engaged audience will become loyal if the content is shared or solves problems for them.

1. Build Powerful Content
…or get eaten
Robyn Quinn

2. 2013
“The Year of Content”
How do we satisfy the content
monster?
You need to plan, develop and
manage it for your business or
organization.
Audrey from Little Shop of Horrors

3. GET TO KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE
There is no such thing as “the general public”
Two people in this crowd care about
what you care about.
Content will find them.

4. Make Your Flag

5. Create a persona profile. Give them what they want.
Who are your audiences?

6. The bad news: Internet users
aren‟t reading your content
 Eyes impatiently dart across
screens, looking for something
interesting.
 You may have 12 to 15
characters – max – to get your
visitors attention.
 If your content is fluff, or salesy,
prepare for quick exits.

7. The good news: Internet users are
loyal and appreciate relevant
useful content
 Telling a story engages
audiences in ways that selling
simply doesn‟t.
 Listen and be rewarded.
 Become their friendly and
trusted source of meaningful
information.

8. Three Phases of Content
Aggregate
Curate
Create
Have you stalled or
moved through?

9. You gather and share
interesting content
from multiple sources
as a discerning
publisher.
AGGREGATE

10. You become a
trusted filter for your
audience –
commenting on and
sharing interesting
content.
CURATE

11. CREATE
 Warning: Being a content creator is no
cake walk
 Find your authentic voice
 Avoid “brochure” talk
 Enjoy the experience
 Give yourself time
“Creativity is not a talent, it is a way of operating”
John Cleese

12. Make Your Content Plan
 Assess your current assets (existing content on your
website, in your user materials)
 Identify what you want as an outcome (changed
behaviour not a list of likes or followers)
 Draft a realistic editorial grid
 Create a schedule – based on your resources
 Outcomes and measurements specified/expectations
 Hire a contractor if necessary
 Listen
 Adjust, constantly

13. Example of a planning grid “outputs” layout. If you
have too much time on your hands:

14. Content Calendar Sample – good
idea to assign responsibility.
Another sample online:
http://www.ducttapemarketing.com/blog/2013/01/03/total-content-
plan/

15. Share or Solve:
Don‟t Shill
Great relationships are built on trust

16. Six Characteristics of a
Good Content Idea or Story
 True – real people, real situations, genuine
emotions and facts
 Relevant – what benefit for the reader/user
 Human – believable and universal
 Passionate – you have to care
 Original – so what?
 Surprising – look for a way to raise curiousity

17. Building the Right Content for
your Audiences
 LISTEN - OBSERVE
 Join social media conversations – discover how you
can contribute while raising company/organization
profile
 Survey results (yours and others)
 Use technical FAQs and customer feedback
 Stories - customers and staff
 Reviews of books, conferences, websites, webinars,
blogs

18. Video/Audio Content
 Visual is powerful – but make sure you have resources
 Post images – ask staff and customers
 „How to‟ videos
 Industry experts and forums
 Industry leader podcasts
 Product descriptions/explanations
 Speaking engagements
 Tour of your office/facility/factory
 HR related videos (staff stories)

19. Traditional Content
 Day in the Life Interviews with staff
 Company profile, timeline or history
 Interviews with senior staff
 Achievements and awards
 Testimonials from clients/customers
 Lists: 10 things, 7 tips, 5 mistakes…
 Community contributions

20. How Abe Books shows the way
 Niche Blogs
 Pinterest
 Website expereince
 Guest blogs
 Google+ community
 Forums
 Featured commentary on book news
Online used book source (Amazon) uses a
strong - and synchronized - content
strategy to successfully build trust in their
book communities.

21. Image based blog -
Abebooks

22. Abebooks uses Google+ –
reader community

23. Mari Smith, Social Media Camp 2013
Content is King.
But Engagement is Queen and she
rules the house!

24. Engagement – an outcome of
good content management
 Facebook community –
checking in for relevancy
 Sharing on LinkedIn
 Sharing and responding to
conversations on Twitter
 Posting on blogs, actively
responding
 Asking for opinions
 Brand champions
 Forums
 Podcasts
 Webinars
 Google Hangouts
 Pinterest Boards – monitor
audiences and which
posting get attention
 Positive profile

25. Content… the
good, the bad and
the damn scary

26. Crap content =
disengagement
Share information your audience needs,
values and cares about, or….
Risk the long term loss
of their respect, attention and support.

27. WHY BLOG?
MORE LIKE CAN I AFFORD NOT TO BLOG?

28. Have Fun
Example - HubSpot Blog Content Foodie Fun
 Raisin Bran - Useful, everyday posts. Practical how to advice
 Spinach - Healthy thoughtful posts. Establish your business
and credibility. Longer posts with info.
 Roasts - Big hearty projects. Take a lot of time, get attention
 Tabasco - Articles that start fires. Risky tough questions.
 Chocolate cake - The sweet stuff. Fun stuff like cartoons,
music videos and entertainment. These are the posts that get
shared the most on social media.

29. The "Let's Start a Blog" Blog
You know what these are like. The first post (which still
hasn't scrolled off the front page) says something like
"Test" or "I Have A Blog!" The next three posts are a little
less focused. And then nothing. It's a problem of access,
or too much of a good thing. A blog is a place to say
something, and even though they're freely available to
anyone who can fog a mirror, this does not imply that all
mirror-foggers have something to say.*
*These are not to be confused with people who do
have something to say, but shouldn't, like computer
programmers. Cracked.com

30. Blog Content Ideas
Technical content View from the top
(CEOs)
Image base
Tumblr etc
Industry
commentary
 Merchandising
content
 „Soft‟ perspectives of
company – charity
work, people
 Aggregator of
news/content

31. NOT EVERYONE SHOULD BLOG

32. Plan Elements
 Define what success looks like (metrics)
 Listen and research assumptions
 Understand your target audience needs (Persona)
 Stories – essential element
 Content development strategy – aggregate, curate or
create
 Create an editorial calendar and assign the “storytellers”
 Promote the content (pull) publicity, media relations and
social media
 Leverage your own expertise
 Reinforce website as hub – information source/contacts

33. Avoid Common Content
Management Mistakes
 Too much SEO
 Too sales focused
 Assume you don‟t have to listen
 Assuming you know who the audience
is…and what they need to know.
 Not sourcing aggregated or curated
information.
 Failing to adjust content for different
audiences
 Not adding content regularly
 Not having a plan

34. GETTING HELP
NOT EVERYONE IS A ONE MAN BAND

35. Action Steps – Ready?
 Establish your budget, internal experts and resources early
 Hire a writer – good ones are rare and worth the expense
 Invest in a social media dashboard - Hootsuite – monitor trends
and conversations and join.
 Conference programs – find content your audience already likes!
 Vimeo and YouTube offer guides for new users
 Others ?

36. People will forget
what you said.
People will forget
what you did.
But people will never forget
how you made them FEEL.
Maya Angelou
The real reason content works:

37. Thank you!
Remember to listen,
craft and share good
content to produce
great results
www.bigbangcommunications.ca
@PR4Science

38. Content Links
 http://youtubecreator.blogspot.ca/
 http://www.abebooks.com/blog/
 http://bookorithms.tumblr.com/
 https://plus.google.com/+abebooks/posts
 http://www.cracked.com/blog/the-8-worst-types-
blog-internet/
 http://marcomm3.com/digital-marketing/5-steps-
to-get-started-with-your-digital-marketing-strategy-
step-3/
 https://twitter.com/PR4Science
 http://solidsmack.com/cad-design-news/john-
cleese-on-creativity-creativity-is-not-a-talent-it-is-a-
way-of-operating