Content Bootcamp: Step 1 - How to Grow Ideas

One of the biggest obstacles to rolling out a content marketing program usually centers around the big question: what are we going to create?
When the business or entrepreneur suddenly realizes that content marketing requires work – and often a lot of it – the hopes of a full-scale content marketing program begin to soften.
But fear not: with a little bit of planning and intuition, the content marketing program will take off and sustain itself in surprising – and profitable – ways.
This article will explore ways to make things easier for everyone – while not straying from the core goals and intended results of a content marketing program.

Dust Off What You Already Have
Authenticity is the heart of content marketing. Images or videos of your office, workspace, products, and equipment can be made beautiful (thanks to simple editing and design tools of Instagram and even YouTube) and shared with your customers and prospects.
The camera on your smartphone or tablet is good enough for this exercise. Be creative and have fun!
Also, think nostalgia. Any old documents, menus, and photos can be scanned and uploaded to social media channels as a way to share with your customers how far you’ve come. (Are you about to do a website re-design? Save screen shots of your old website and save them for a future ‘look back’ at your company.) Everyone loves nostalgia, and uploading images and documents of what your business looked like just a few years earlier will intrigue your customers – while strengthening the idea that you have survived and plan to continue going strong into the future. How’s that for using content marketing?

Repurpose, Repurpose, Repurpose
Anything creative that’s been developed for your business is ripe for re-use in a content marketing program.
Was your business reviewed by the local newspaper or by a popular online review site? Perfect! Here is what you can do to use that for your content marketing program:

• Regularly tweet the review, including the link back to the review webpage. Be creative with each tweet, perhaps using different hashtags to highlight your business’ products or services
• Do the same for your Facebook Page. Facebook’s publishing tools will automatically capture a thumbnail photo from whatever images are available at that webpage, giving the post an instant graphic, which is very efficient.
• Was it a print newspaper or magazine mention for which there is no link? No problem: scan the portion of the document that mentions your business, and then upload that to Twitter and Facebook and do as you would above.

Remember that copying word for word may infringe on copyright issues, so using only part of what’s been published by others keeps things ethical while still providing a teaser into who you are or what your business provides.

Final Thoughts: Content is readily available in the most random of places. Anything related to your business – a review, a photo – can be repurposed and used for content marketing. Creativity begets creativity – have fun and let the content tell your story.

ChangeU: For your independent study….

How To Use Instagram To Promote Your Products http://bit.ly/1DGLPpP
Tips for maximizing Instagram to build an audience of prospects and clients.

Yelp for Business Owners http://bit.ly/1DGSznP
A step by step approach to establishing a presence on the review network.

Nostalgia Marketing: Harnessing the Power of the Past http://bit.ly/1wdt7kQ
From marketing automation provider HubSpot, some reasons behind using memories to market the present.