You need good content, and you need it right now. There are plenty of reasons why you might have an urgent need for content. If you’re new to content marketing and are just now creating your presence, you want to create engaging content quickly. You might have also been distracted by other, pressing business needs and simply gotten behind on creating good content. No matter what your reason is, these content creation hacks will help you go push out great content that your audience will be eager to share.
Get Your Users to Create Content For You
If you need content created quickly that will also be shared, crowdsourcing is definitely an option to consider. Crowdsourced or user generated content is exactly what it sounds like. You give your followers an incentive to share pictures, videos, stories, or advice that is relevant to your brand. That incentive can be tangible, such as access to premium content or a discount offer. It can also be something as simple as recognition.
One of the most successful user-generated content campaigns was Starbuck’s White Cup contest. Consumers were invited to tap into their creative sides by drawing on their coffee cups, snapping a picture, and submitting the results. The prize was that the winner’s cup would become the basis for a new Starbuck’s cup.
Of course, that might not be fast enough for you. In which case, you might consider a technique that has faster turnaround time. For example, you could come up with a daily theme and ask your followers to submit content related to that theme. For example, ‘Tuesday Tips’ could be a recurring theme where you share tips from your audience that are related to your products.
Modernize Old Content
Creating content from scratch is great, but you’re looking for faster solutions. So, why not consider rebooting your old content with some new features, or repurposing it into something new. One possibility is to text old blog posts and modernize them by turning them into infographics. How to posts can be turned into instructional videos. You can even mine your files for content that you’ve never made available to your followers. Check out your old PowerPoint presentations, for example, you might have something in there that could be uploaded and shared.
Another option is to take old content and make it relevant for today. Maybe you posted an outstanding blog post a couple of years ago. You could do a 2.0 version with information that has been updated. If you’ve previously posted an interview or a news article, you could share a brief follow-up. People really like, ‘whatever happened to’ stories. You never know what might become of content that you’ve decided to revitalize.
Find Great Content to Share
Don’t dismiss curation as a viable option when you need to get content out to your audience quickly. Yes, you will benefit the creator of that content as much as you benefit yourself, but this is a great way to bulk up thin content offerings. If you find the right content to curate, you’ll get more visitors to your social media pages, and that will result in more focus on your original content as well.
Knock Out a Few List Posts
‘Listicles’ might have more than their fair share of critics, and let’s be honest there are lots of lame list articles out there, but they are useful. First of all, they are hugely popular. People will read them, and they will share them. In addition to this, you can knock out a list post pretty quickly. After all, people aren’t looking for loads of details when they open up a top ten list. They just want the rankings and a little bit of information.
Use Tools And Resources to Create Shareable Content Quickly
Sometimes, the trick isn’t really a trick at all. You simply have to either become better at doing something or leverage tools to help you create content more efficiently. A well-selected tool can make it easier for you to produce content, proofread and edit that content, publish that content, and promote it. You can also use tools to create stunning visual content that is sure to get shared. You can also use tools to help you curate content Here are just a few tools that can help you get your content out to your audience quickly.
- Pinterest – Pin interesting content quickly to share with your followers later
- AllTop – Find the top trending stories, from a variety of sources, covering a wide array of topics
- Apester – Create interactive content that creates engagement and gives followers an incentive to share
- Smart Paper Help – A great 3rd party content writing service to help you get blog posts, articles, and more to your audience quickly
- Easel.ly – A web-based tool that you can use to create the most shared type of content of all, infographics
Create a Social Media Quiz
Which Disney princess are you? Do you know how to keep your computer safe from hackers? Which television mom are you? Where should you go on vacation this year? These aren’t just random questions, they are topics of social media quizzes. If you spend much time on social media at all, you probably see the results of these quizzes posted by your friends and family members quite frequently. This is because an interactive content is extraordinarily popular. It’s also easy to create. Find the right tool, and you can create and share a social media quiz that your audience will love. Just be sure to find a balance between creating a quiz that is interesting and that highlights how you are capable of solving your audience’s real world problems.
Conclusion
These content creation hacks are great options if you have an urgent need to create, distribute, and promote content quickly without sacrificing quality. Before you know it, your audience will be engaged and eagerly clicking the share button.
