ایده پردازی مطالب

Chapter 9

Content Ideation

An idea that is not dangerous is unworthy of being called an idea at all.

OSCAR WILDE

Ann Handley, author of the book Everybody Writes, believes in the Content Inc. concept for two reasons, Handley says in an interview: Number one … because it does put the needs of your audience first, in the sense that you see the audience as collaborative with your business … I like that audience centric point of view.

The second thing is that creating content isn’t just for marketing. It’s not just an external exercise designed to grow an audience; … the beauty of content is that it actually also grows the individual. So it grows the content creator at the same time. That means it almost forces you to evolve your thinking. When you’re creating content and you’re getting feedback from the audience it allows you to hone your vision, as well as embed your vision ultimately with whatever it is that you’re creating.

Look at any leading informational resource on the web. The content that is first developed upon launch is always significantly different than it is now. Over time, the content evolved to better meet the needs of the audience, and at the same time the content creators began to find their own sweet spot (which sometimes takes time to find, as we’ve discussed).

Finishing races is important, but racing is more important.

DALE EARNHARDT

To get to a point of Content Inc. success, we need to do the work. Now that you’ve identified your sweet spot and determined what differentiates you and your content, coming up with consistently compelling content ideas may seem daunting. Putting in the work makes all the difference.

Most entrepreneurs fail at developing ideas for their content because they fail to plan. If you are at a point where you are sitting in front of the computer waiting for inspiration to strike, you’re doing it wrong.

There is no one right way to develop ideas for your content projects, but you do need a process.

THE CONTENT AUDIT

Before you can determine what kind of content you need, you first need to figure out what you have. In addition, you need to determine whether what you have is any good at all or, better yet, whether you have some raw content that is still incredibly valuable that you can leverage throughout your Content Inc. strategy.

Why is this so critical? I’ve worked with dozens of companies that launched new e-books and white papers and hired freelancers and editors, only to find out midway through the process that much of the content initiative had already been created. Conducting even a simple content audit would have saved those companies time and money.

For a full overview of why and how to conduct a content audit, you’ll find a handy resource at http://cmi.media/CI-audit.

50 QUESTIONS

One of the amazing things about Marcus Sheridan’s success with River Pools & Spas is that he’s never actually installed a fiberglass pool, even though the majority of the world believes he is the expert. His secret: “The ultimate content strategy is listening.” Marcus listens to customers, to employees, to podcasts … he’s a consummate learner. Then he brainstorms for content ideas. “If you don’t come up with at least 50 questions, you haven’t tried hard enough,” says Sheridan. “If you write two times per week, that’s a whole year’s worth of content.” Open a notebook and make a list of questions your audience would like to know about. At this point, there is no wrong answer. Don’t stop and correct anything—just write questions. Finish your list of 50 questions and take a break. After a while, come back to the list to find the diamonds.

LEVERAGING FREEWRITING

Mark Levy (author of Accidental Genius) gave me a crash course in something called “freewriting.” Freewriting, also called stream-of-consciousness writing, is a writing technique where the person writes for a set period of time without regard for spelling or even the topic. Mark uses this technique with his clients to unearth the raw content at the heart of the content creator.

Natalie Goldberg, author of The True Secret of Writing, outlines the rules of freewriting to include: Give yourself a time limit. Write for a set period, and then stop.

Keep your hand moving until the time is up. Do not pause to stare into space or to read what you’ve written. Write quickly but do not rush.

Pay no attention to grammar, spelling, punctuation, neatness, or style. Nobody else needs to read what you produce.

If you get off topic or run out of ideas, keep writing anyway. If necessary, write nonsense or whatever comes into your head, or simply scribble: do anything to keep the hand moving.

If you feel bored or uncomfortable as you’re writing, ask yourself what’s bothering you, and write about that.

When the time is up, look over what you’ve written, and mark passages that contain ideas or phrases that might be worth keeping or elaborating on in a subsequent freewriting session.

HAVING FUN WITH GOOGLE ALERTS

Google Alerts is a free service (all you need is a Gmail account) that delivers web content to your inbox related to the words you are searching for. For example, if you are interested in content around the multiplayer game Minecraft, you could ask Google Alerts to send you a notification when Google finds a new page, say, on Minecraft tips or Minecraft releases.

You can receive alerts as they happen, every day, or every week. These articles can become new fodder for your content ideas.

Note: Also, don’t forget that Google Trends rising or hot topics is a great resource for this as well.

TWITTER HASHTAGS

As with Google Alerts, your industry may have a number of hashtags that can be a beacon for new content. For example, there are multiple conversations on the web going on around “intelligent content.” The hashtag for intelligent content is IntelContent. By searching Twitter or setting up a dashboard with a Twitter management system such as Tweetdeck, you can monitor what is going on around the topic in social media. You can also use hashtags in Facebook and LinkedIn, but I’ve never found it as helpful as Twitter.

ANALYZE YOUR ANALYTICS

Jay Baer would never have found his content tilt of social media without analyzing his web traffic. After publishing a post about social media, he was seeing double and triple the traffic versus his former topic of e-mail marketing.

Make a habit of looking into your analytics on a weekly basis. Find out what people are most interested in and how they are finding your content. It may make sense to create more content around what’s most important to your audience.

Note: While there are hundreds of analytics systems, Google Analytics is free and is relatively easy to install on your website.

EMPLOYEE DISCUSSIONS

So many employees are afraid to help you create content because they don’t understand that much of the value is added in the editing process. For your purposes, you want the “raw” content from them … the information that makes them subject-matter experts.

Relieve the members of your team of their worries by assuring them that the copy will be “polished up” during editing. Then get them rolling by offering the following tips: Record it. Just as in your 50 questions or freewriting exercise, just have them get it out. Get together for coffee with your employees and record the conversation. Simply talk with them about the challenges they are seeing. Before you know it, you’ll have 20 content ideas.

Storyboard it out. If the employees are having a tough time opening up, tell them to visualize what they want to say and write down key phrases or concepts onto sticky notes. They can even draw what they’re thinking on sticky notes. This is an especially great way to organize thoughts for a longer piece.

ASK YOUR SOCIAL NETWORKS

Although it’s important not to abuse this, asking your social networks can be helpful, especially if it’s around a specific area. The reason why you are reading this book right now, and not reading about another topic, is because the idea for Content Inc. was far and away the most requested piece of information my social network asked for.

READ A COMPLETELY IRRELEVANT BOOK

Every once in a while I dry up creatively. No matter what I do, I just can’t get focused on a compelling topic. In this case of last resort, I pick up a book that is completely irrelevant to my content area. I’ve always found that my best content ideas pop into my head while I’m reading a good book. I highly recommend Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein or classics like To Kill a Mockingbird or The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.

If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that.

STEPHEN KING

CONTENT INC. INSIGHTS

Before you create any new content, be sure to analyze the raw content you already have available.

Customer questions can be a gold mine for content ideas.

Nothing works better to see what’s working with your content than looking at actual content behavior. Make an appointment with your analytics program at least weekly to begin to determine what is catching fire.