What comes after you hit the publish button? Do you move on to the next piece of content? Or are you taking measures to maximize the results of your newly published piece? Hopefully, you’re doing the latter.
Because if you aren’t, then you’re wasting time on a strategy that won’t yield the results your content (and brand) deserves. So if you’re not getting views, shares, comments, or conversions then it’s time to shake things up with your content plan.
And that’s what we’re here to help you do today. Let’s dive into the five simple steps you can take to amplify your content marketing.
Step 1: Have a Conversation
Take a real good look across the internet, and what do you see? Millions of conversations between people, content creators, and influencers. The launch and early popularity of Clubhouse is also an indicator that conversations are continuing to take center stage. Even companies are taking the initiative to join (and even start) some of these conversations. And in doing so, they’re standing out from competitors and humanizing their brand. And this focus on conversations and humanization of the brand leads to more followers, more leads and eventually, more customers.
If you want to be one of these companies, then your content strategy shouldn’t begin with a focus on algorithms or keywords. Instead, your focus should center around your audience’s wants and needs. Identify the key topics, pain points, and questions that relate most closely to your audience. And then look internally, and externally, for experts in these subjects. This gives you the opportunity to reach out and ignite these conversations and fuel your content creation pipeline. But don’t stop there!
Step 2: Record and Share It
It doesn’t matter whether you’re having a formal conversation via a podcast episode, livestream, or vlog, or a casual conversation with other colleagues. If the topic is important, then you should be recording it. Then after it’s recorded, you can share it with your audience by turning it into snackable content that can be used across your marketing channels.
You don’t always have to go into these conversations thinking that you’ll turn it into something to share with your audience, and they may not feel like the right topics to release outwardly. But by starting the practice of recording conversations, you’ll always have the option to tap into this information in the future. And raw and honest conversations reveal the passion that you have for these subject matters, and that will really resonate with your audience. It will come across as real, personable and genuine.
But don’t overlook a polished and intentional conversation either. Those conversations can also be incredibly passionate and authentic. For instance, with your colleagues and internal staff, you can pick subjects that they’re experts in, and really get down to the nitty-gritty and do a deep dive into their thoughts. And with external experts, you can reach out to well-known names and industry thought leaders, and bring them into the discussion, and get their insights.
And then after recording and editing these conversations, both with internal and external experts, you can share them across the company. You can bring everyone who works within the company into these conversations, and then you can also share the full episodes on social media, in blog posts, or your email newsletter. Keep in mind that the more channels you incorporate, the more convenient it’ll be for your audience. Let them decide how and when they want to consume your audio content.
Step 3: Wring It Out Across Other Channels
And then you wring it out. Don’t just leave your content as standalone pieces of content – take your podcasts, videos, webinars, blogs, and amplify them!
You can take the audio or video and turn it into clips and audiograms that you can post on LinkedIn and across your social media channels. You can take the most impactful points and turn them into blog posts, and then take those blog posts, and turn them into newsletters. And in both blogs and the newsletters, you can post the clips. See how that helps fill your content creation pipeline?
And you don’t have to stop with audio—you can turn the podcast into a video you share on LinkedIn, Facebook, and YouTube. You can post the full episode, as well as making video clips that can be used on social media. Or consider taking the topic from the podcast, and doing a livestream with it on your social channels, and then recording THAT video and wringing it out too!
Another option, if you’re looking to grow your email list, is to create gated content. You can take one of the conversations you just recorded, say an exclusive interview with a well-known expert, and use it to entice your audience to sign up for your newsletter. Or you can take the conversation, take out the key points from the topic, and turn it into a slide deck or ebook that people can sign up to receive.
Here’s how Lumavate wrings out its podcast episodes:
“Our episodes are about 30 minutes. The other day, I took one episode and created this whole content strategy around it. So, for example, I created three different mini-blogs based on the three main takeaways of that episode. You can create one overall blog post with the overarching theme of the episode. And then based on that, you can create as many as 10 to 15 different social media posts.
“Whether that’s just taking line-by-line little excerpts from the episode and just posting it on social. Or, like I mentioned earlier with the audiograms, some people don’t have the time to watch like a 30 to 45-minute episode. So those audiograms can really pick the most important snippets from your episode and then put it in a more digestible form of content on social media while you’re just kind of mindlessly scrolling anyways.
“And then you can take these little mini-blogs, and you can kind of put them together in a larger form, maybe like an ebook or an infographic of like, lessons we learned from this episode. And then you have the rest of your team create these different social media posts based on what resonates with them. So you can really kind of beat the horse to death on content generation with just a single podcast episode,” explained Michelle Lawrence, Content Marketing Specialist at Lumavate.
Step 4: Keep the Content Alive
Extending the shelf life of each podcast is easier when you begin wringing out your episodes. Every piece of content you develop around the conversation amplifies that episode (and each other). You can think of it as leaving bread crumbs from one content piece to the next.
For example, your blog post points to a newsletter, and your newsletter points to a social media post, and the social media post points back to the podcast episode. You’re developing a loop or wheel of content—all with the focus on integrating your episodes with all the formats and channels you use within your content strategy.
The idea is to populate all the marketing channels you’re using to engage your target audience. But don’t forget, your audience can change all the time. So make sure you revisit and bring back really popular topics, and the content you created around it, and repost and reshare it.
Step 5: Measure and Reflect
No, not just your podcast episode—you need to measure all the content you develop around it as well. This is now a campaign and requires proper tracking to determine success. And like with any campaign, you need to ensure you’re looking at the right metrics.
Some of the KPIs you want to include are:
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- Traffic to your episodes and content
- Time spent on blog posts and podcast episodes
- Shares of related content (blogs, episodes, clips, social media)
- Conversion from content
- Podcast episode shares
- Verbal mentions to team members (traced through your CRM, etc.)
- Revenue attributed to and influenced by content
It’s about seeing the level of engagement and conversations surrounding your campaign. The more action and “talk,” the better. For instance, are people visiting your website after listening to an episode? Or maybe they’re signing up to your newsletter after reading a related blog post.
Tracking their journey through your content helps you better understand your audience so you can develop a strategy around their habits. Then once you find what works, rinse and repeat the process using the data you’ve collected.
Start Over-Delivering Value
What makes these tips worthwhile is that it helps to take your conversations and turn them into high-value content pieces. And then they’re delivered in the formats and on channels your audience prefers. You have a group of people who have their own preferences, so by diversifying your content, you’re catering to everyone. You’ll actually end up extending your reach, and bringing in new listeners, new viewers, new people to your brand.
But it all starts with creating an integrated content marketing strategy. So take these five simple steps and apply them to your content marketing strategy playbook and sit back and watch the results roll in.
If you’d like more guidance on amplifying content, then head to our blog or schedule a chat with our team today!
