August 24, 2010

How to create a content schedule (and engage users)

Note: This is part three of my series ‘How to Build & Sell through a Community’. Click here for part one.

Three weeks ago was a general run-down. Two weeks ago we covered the first part of forming a community. As I evolve this blog series I have further split down this section, today we will cover:

  • Blogging Content Schedules
  • Getting users to engage with content

Avoiding I’m too busy syndrome

A content schedule is crucial; you are defining what you will post, why and when. How often have you thought ‘I don’t have time to blog’ and skipped a post? (I’m often guilty). Your schedule should be a cohesive plan and re-frames this challenge to ‘I’m executing on a marketing plan for my business’.

I find it easiest to approach this challenge from two angles:

1. How much time can I dedicate weekly? (i.e. 90 mins) 1. What content attracts my readers? (marketing how to and commentary)
2. How many posts can I write in that time? (2-3) 2. How much content do I realistically need to produce to keep this audience engaged? (2-3 weekly posts)
3. If I could only write on three topics a week, what would be most important to my users? (marketing how to and commentary) 3. How much time will this take weekly (90-120 minutes)

This approach is simplistic in nature but is a good starting point. Some aspects, such as the content required to keep your audience engaged will need to be fine tuned with research and testing. I’ve tried posting daily, sporadically though-out the month and semi-regularly. For my audience I’ve found that 2-3 weekly posts has so far delivered the best results in terms of unique hits and RSS reads.

Now do some more research. What days do you think your readership will be most accessible? With the advent of e-mail lists, RSS readers and social networks publishing your content at the right time almost sounds irrelevant, right? Nope. I’ve personally found that the initial uptake on an article is still tied to how viral it generally becomes and let’s not forget we are creating a community here. We want a time when our readers are free to start a discussion.

Again, using this blog you find that I generally post on Friday, Sunday and either Tuesday or Wednesday. This is no accident and if your blog is new will take some fine tuning.

So now we know the volume of content we will produce, the general topic and when to propagate it. Write it down so you don’t forget. Again, in the case of this blog:

  • Sunday: Commentary / Opinion
  • Tuesday / Wednesday: How to
  • Friday: Follower Feature
Again, I feel inclined to mention that lately I’ve broken half of these rules. Do as I say, not as I do.

Always brainstorm ideas

It may feel easy now but coming up with blog topics can be hard work sometimes, we all hit our dry periods. I keep a word document in my blogging folder with topics I want to write on, ideas I have had or news I want to comment on. I’m always prioritizing and adding to this list as soon as I get ideas so I do not forget. You will find that instead of writing in dry periods you will have a nice list to pick from now.

As I lock an idea in I’ll generally write it in my Google Calendar with a 30-45 minutes blocked off to write the piece the day before. I know I’m posting tomorrow and I know what topic I am posting on. Why not sit down and write it now?

If you are in the mood, write

I can’t tell you how often I’ve hit periods where I want to write, only to blow them off because I’d just published an entry. In time I’ve learnt to take advantage of these periods.

Having time and creativity is something to take advantage of. When things get too busy there is something to open up and post which is well thought out, written and relevant.

Writing for Search, Viral or other?

Too many people forget ‘why’ they are writing individual articles. Are you writing your article sit down and ask if you are writing for search, viral or other. For example, my Social media is NOT new post was written to go viral as the title and content implies, yet my Social media marketing statistics was heavily weighted to bring in search traffic. Often something as simple as the title can dictate what you are targeting.

Instead of decide this for categories I suggest you do it for each individual posts. Some articles work best for viral, some work best for search. A strong company blog is balancing both of these well.

Viral articles are often lists (i.e. top 10), comparisons or commentaries. Search articles are generally written to answer user questions (how to) or provide deeper information on subject matter. In my experience search users spend longer on a website than viral visitors.

Getting users to engage with your content

What do I mean by engaging? Well, do you want users to read, retweet or comment your content? There is no secret sauce here, I’ve found the best way is to simply ask.

I don’t believe that ‘social proof’ (seeing other people have retweeted an article first) is relevant when it comes to blogs going viral. In fact, I argue the opposite is true and that individuals love to share new content.

What ever your engagement goals are the point is to make this easy for users. If you want a retweet have large tweet buttons to remind users. If you want more RSS reads have clearly displayed RSS buttons. Internet readers are busy, make it easyfor them.

What did you think? Drop me a comment below, e-mail or tweet me. I’m also known to fall in love with people who retweet my content. Next week we will finish off the ‘Forming & Planning’ a community section of this series with overall content schedules and sales funnels.