Creating Extendable Ideas
Content is one thing that is always there, never complete and always with room for improvement from marketers. When any brand opts to use social media, email, content marketing, video, audio and the like, marketers are making a commitment to 'feed the beast' regularly with fresh, valuable content people will want to discover, consume and, ultimately, share with others.
Committing to content creation can be a daunting task. There's an ever-present need for more, and the benchmark for quality is set higher and higher as marketers compete with a growing number of fellow content creators in the form of competitors, other brands, and even friends and family.
With content being such a challenge, it's important for marketers to strive to make sure everything they create extends as far and as long as possible. This not only better allocates resources, but it helps keep the quality of content up. When businesses are tasked with creating something unique all the time, creation becomes a machine of disposable, meaningless content. When brands extend content into multiple forms, channels and delivery mechanisms, time is spent creating big ideas that can live in more ways than one.
Content with Legs
Content ideas should not be limited to a single post, tweet, video, article or pin. Every content idea should have legs and the ability to be articulated in a variety of ways across channels where it can be recreated, reinvented and reimagined.
That's really where the value of a brand blog shines. This doesn't mean every brand needs a blog, but it should mean that marketers may benefit by exploring a content idea the same way they would a blog post — looking at it from a variety of angles to see how one idea can be executed many ways.
For example, one blog post or topic can be turned into a YouTube video and podcast in which you interview experts on the topic before crafting your post. The blog post can then be turned into a variety of tweets and updates to share with your audience. It might even be able to be turned into an infographic or even a Slideshare presentation if it makes sense for your audience.
An optimal use of resources and approach to quality means creating content that is not a one trick pony that lives for a short amount of time in one place. Spend the time upfront to approach content that revolves around bigger, more extendable ideas. Those ideas will offer more support for your business and employees and be more valuable for your audience.