CREATE ORIGINAL CONTENT BY FOLLOWING THESE TIPS
In a world where content creation is now part of a marketing strategy from online brands and companies alike, it’s even harder to stand out from the pack. It is still possible to make waves with one key idea: create original content.
Creating original content sounds much easier to say than do, and at worse, is a social media cliché.
So first, let’s define “original content” as content that takes a new angle or approach to either solve an old problem or illuminate a situation. We’ve broken down creating original content into a series of 7 concrete steps that will have you standing out in no time.
1. ANSWER QUESTIONS PEOPLE ARE ALREADY ASKING
In his eBook about writing eBooks, Pat Flynn of The Smart Passive Income blog and podcast says he’d find topics to write about by answering questions he found online.
With Quora, Yahoo Answers, and message boards, there’s no shortage of places where people can ask questions. Your job is to find relevant questions to your industry, and answer them.
Not only is this a way to create original content, you’ll be adding value to your given industry. This can pay off in tangible ways, like getting links and hits to your websites. But people may end up viewing you as an expert in your field, too.
2. INTERVIEW A THOUGHT LEADER
Interviews are a great way to create content that specific to your brand. We’ve done our fair share featuring industry leaders such as Ted Rubin and Ann Handley.
There are many ways to conduct interviews, but since we are discussing original content, you’ll want to ask questions that dive deeper into the topic at hand.
3. ACTIONABLE CONTENT PROVIDES VALUE
When you read the title of this post, “7 Ways to Create Original Content”, it’s clear what you’re getting into.
But even more than that, this post aims to give you concrete, specific things you can do to be original and create content that stands out in your digital industry.
While giving actionable advice isn’t necessary to create compelling content, it gives readers a reason to return to your posts.
4. RECYCLE AN OLD POST – WITH A NEW PERSPECTIVE
We’ve discussed in the past why creating evergreen content is so important to your blog. But instead of taking just your most popular posts and putting a new spin on them, any post can be remade – as long as it’s relevant.
The key here is to add a new take. For example, you may have written a post in 2012 about the importance of passion when running a business. Three years later, with numerous changes and advancements provided by a shifting digital marketing world, how has that changed? What have you learned since then?
These new perspectives can provide priceless value for years more to come.
5. CREATE A QUALITY LIST
Lists are often seen as the black sheep of content creation.
But we think content should not be judged by the form, but the quality of the content itself. If you have an innovative list, something new that provides readers a different perspective on a topic, by all means, put it out into the world.
6. HAVE A CUSTOMER MAILBAG POST
Just like asking a question you’ve always had, answering customer questions is a great way to engage a larger audience.
Chances are, if one of your customers has a question, then many more have that same question but aren’t asking. So by creating a post dedicated to FAQs with proper SEO tags, you can help strangers along with your customer base, which results in an increase in online traffic to your site.
7. TELL YOUR BRAND’S STORY
Whoever tells the best online stories stands out in the digital space. Creating original content centered around your brand is a great way to both engage the audience while producing something that’s specific to you.
And that explains why you should create original content: to produce something both unique to your audience, and unique to your brand. Follow us on Twitter @NaoMediaCo to read the original content we tweet from there!
