Content is just as much king today as ever before! People crave it, particularly chicken nugget-sized bits and pieces of it! But sometimes, we think we have run out of good content to share with our community. In today's social media society, sharing content is especially important, particularly if you want to lead the discussion and stay in front of your audience.
But where do we find content when we think we have run out of ideas? The truth is, you probably have more content hiding in the cushions of those organizational sofas that you can imagine.
Today's blog post includes a handful of tips and tricks to either find or generate content, whether for social media posts, articles for newsletters, or other scenarios.
1.) Interview your Officers, committee members, regular members, event presenters, staff members, etc. Ask them what they love about their job or being part of the association and non-profit sector. Ask them who their mentors are or what projects they have enjoyed working on the most. Interviews don't have to be long, even one or two questions will do.
2.) Have your testimonials lead the way. Use testimonials to start a thread about a particular topic and then extend the conversation by elaborating on your participation, your organization's participation or otherwise. Testimonials can be good "thought warmers" for more extended content.
3.) Offer up "Did You Know?" content snippets and factoids. You and your colleagues are experts in your fields and you know a lot, some of it worth sharing. A quick "Did You Know?" is a good way to share small details with your audience on a regular basis.
4.) Sign up for Google Alerts. Google Alerts will send you emails about whatever topics you are interested in from news sources from around the world. Add on your own thoughts about the topic, provide a source, then link to it from your website, newsletter, or social media post.
5.) Ask a colleague if you can repost their content. Sometimes, other people write about topics that may be relevant to your audience. Get their permission to repost it on your blog, perhaps writing a short introduction on why the article is relevant.
6.) Break up long content into smaller pieces to extend its lifespan. Maybe you have a longer article that can be broken up into smaller, serialized parts. This is also a good way to help ensure readers come back when the next part is posted. This tactic is known as "atomization."
7.) Data, Data, Data. As stated, people like to get little nuggets of data. Provide readers with a quick infographic about some part of a study. If using a third-party study, provide a relevant example of how that data has been used or validated by your organization.
8.) Outline or review a relevant book that has some connection to your industry. Better yet, interview the author for an insiders perspective. Now you're talking!
9.) Don't be afraid to recycle older content. Maybe add an update or commentary since it was last posted, but sometimes, what is old is new again.
10.) Share your knowledge! Just as this article provides 10 tips for digging up content, create a list of easy-to-digest tips that you know something about. It doesn't have to be 10, though. Start with 3 or 4 and build up your endurance to create "how to" lists!
There are probably several dozen other ways to dig up content. Feel free to share in the comments area below!