These days we have lots of platforms to share content (blog, Facebook, Twitter, etc) and almost as many people telling us that successful marketing depends on that content. The missing link in this fabulous equation is the time, energy, and ideas to create the content itself. It can be a daunting task, but we have 5 simple sources of content creation to make your life easier.
Picture Mania
Just because it’s a blog doesn’t mean it has to be all words. In fact, it almost never should be. Anyone who’s ever gotten sucked into a Facebook stalking marathon understands the captivating power of a pictures (not to say your cousin’s girlfriend’s sister’s baby isn’t very cute) Show pictures of your product in all of its awesome glory, so your customers get why it’s a good investment. Show pictures of your coworkers at the latest conference with the leading industry leaders to assert some industry cred. Does your office do community service days or fun group outings? Sharing appropriate pictures of the people you work with is a great way to humanize your organization and move your brand into the “friend zone.”
Survey Results
Humans are social animals. We’re interested in ourselves, and we’re interested in how we compare and measure up to those around us. Send a survey out to your customers, followers, or organization members. Ask them about their demographics, their interests, personal use information that relates to your produt or industry. Then write a blog post about the results. Bonus points if you use our Facebook App, which lets you create and send a survey right in Facebook, so it’s easier than ever to get your feedback (and more fun!).
Convert a presentation
The days of slaving away for weeks on a presentation that you’ll give once and retire to the dark corner of your filing cabinet are gone. Slideshare makes it possible to illuminate any presentation over the Internet in a way that’s engaging and accessible. Douglas Karr uses this technique to embed his presentations on corporate blogging into his blog for awesome, re-tweet-worthy content. It makes his ideas accessible, establishes him as an industry thought leader, and allows his work to live on after he’s done with it. Chances are any presentations you’ve given lately are on a topic that your audience already finds interesting. Just clean up your slides to make sure they’re clear and not too dense, and throw them up on Slideshare for instant, stress-free content!
Repurpose, Repurpose, Repurpose
Content can hide in the most obvious of places; you just have to know where to look for it. Did you write some great copy for your email blast last month? What about a white paper on industry standards? Even previous blog posts can be good fodder for new ones, as long as you take a different approach than the previous one. The key here is to think like Dr. Frankenstein, and create something new from pieces of what you have already. Think you can think like a crazy, evil genius? Good, you’ll be a content master in no time!
Contextualize
What’s going on in your time, place, and space? People make time to read about what’s going on in their lives in real time. By tying your post in with relevant holidays, conferences, cycles, and seasons, you can capture their attention and hold it. It can be as simple as wishing your customers a Happy Valentines Day and sharing a few local restaurants that are offering drink specials. Or you can step it up a notch and give a recap of the 5 best tricks you learned at the Blog World Expo. If it’s relevant to what’s going on in your life and industry, chances are it’s relevant to your followers too.
Conclusion
Creating content doesn’t have to be a big, daunting task. You just have to know where to look. It may feel unfamiliar at first, but just remember all the tools you have out there to help you create content—Flickr, Zoomerang (or SurveyMonkey!), Slideshare, your own blog, and your calendar—and you’ll be a content creating master in no time!
Subscribe by 
Follow us on 
Fan us on 
