We’ve written a lot about the importance of creating and sharing regular content but, as we highlighted in a recent blog, there’s a cost to producing that content. Even writing a blog means a member of your own team giving up their time for a couple of hours or paying for the resources of a freelance writer. Good photography, eye-catching infographics and video can also be expensive to create. There are ways though to create content which is effectively free or is less time-consuming to produce.
Here are our top tips:
SHARING CONTENT
While it’s important to create original content, it’s also good to share relevant content.
Keep an eye on the news – whether that’s your local media or your particular trade publications, television and radio or bloggers working in your sector. If you see a news story about your industry, then share it and comment.
A LIBRARY OF CONTENT
Some companies in specific industries such as accountancy and law, where there are updates to be shared regularly, sign up to news outlets which share relevant articles straight onto their website (and sometimes via email to their clients too). While it’s good to publish content, it does help from an SEO perspective, if that content is original. Your firm could be sharing the same article as many hundreds of others – so it may not benefit your SEO.
There are also news feeds which you can register for and then appear on your website. Typically, you can select what type of stories you’d like to share. Again, if you are an accountancy firm, then it could be tax and business articles.
In addition, there are some companies which give you access to a library of blogs, again typically for a monthly fee. While these provide interesting content for your visitors and keeps your website fresh, this approach might not necessarily benefit your SEO if the content is being hosted elsewhere as well.
USE YOUR TEAM
If you don’t have somebody available to write your blogs in-house, then why not spread this responsibility amongst your team? If you create a schedule and assign particular times/subjects to different members of the team, then that’s another collection of blogs written. A plus point of this is that every team member has a different skill set or experience – so it will be a good way of covering off some more technical blogs that, even if you do have a marketing person available to write them, needs a technical eye.
If blogs seem a bit too much to ask your colleagues to write – then maybe suggest they provide a list of hints and tips. And, if they aren’t keen on writing it down, why not think about videoing them?
The important thing is to make sure the staff member understands that – while different from their normal job – writing a blog is an important task. This means they shouldn’t be expected to do it in their own time; bosses should allow time for content creation.
Of course, sometimes it’s hard to motivate team members into doing something which doesn’t obviously fit into their job role. There are ways to encourage them though – perhaps by offering an Amazon voucher for every blog submitted or the chance to be entered into a monthly draw for a hamper.
There are other people you could potentially ask to write a short blog. If a customer has had a good experience of using one of your products – see if they’d be happy to write about what they like about it and how they use it.
USE YOUR SUPPLIERS
While we are used to sharing our own business story online, many companies work closely with suppliers and it’s increasingly common to see their stories being told too.
This is particularly true of the large supermarkets, who often share photo stories and videos about farmers who supply them – highlighting the way they work and their credentials. You might also want to highlight the fact that your business only buys from local suppliers.
GUEST BLOGGERS
Many businesses invite guest bloggers to contribute to their content writing. This could be an industry expert or somebody you collaborate with in some way. Typically, they will want to use your platform to raise their profile and you could both win from this scenario – particularly if it’s an industry expert who then shares the blog they’ve written for you.
TESTIMONIALS
We all known how important reviews are for any type of organisation – whether it’s left on Facebook or a Google review. If you get a good review, then share it across all your social media channels. Some businesses might have a visitors’ book or receive ‘thank you’ cards or emails. Save them and share them.
If you’ve got a particularly happy customer or client, then consider asking them if they’d be happy to be interviewed for a bigger case study type piece. It might even be worth asking a local writer to craft it for you. Video testimonials work really well too and are great for sharing on social media.
PHOTOS AND VIDEO
Content isn’t all about words – you could share photographs as well. While there’s a cost to hiring a photographer for an event, you could take a few photos yourself when you attend an event such as a new product launch or conference. These can be shared fairly quickly – once edited if they need to be – and you’ve got some ready-made content. Always use your own images if you can and, if they aren’t your photos, make sure you have permission to use them.
While video is more tricky to create – you could video something brief on your phone and share that.
If you want to find out more, do get in touch on tel: 020 3397 3222.