Starved for Content? Feed This.

Creating content from other content isn't about repeating or copying. It's about repurposing. Start with a rich source, then add to, expand upon, enhance, comment about, or -- in this case -- condense from that source. Voila! New and different content. 

Recently, I downloaded Curata's eBook, "How To Feed the Content Beast." And now I have my own blog post, short 'n sweet.

In other words, learn and share at the same time.

1. Turn an ebook into a series of blog posts, or a series of blog posts into an ebook.

2. Create a transcript so content “snackers” can scan the information from a webinar.

3. Host a real-time tweet chat and republish it as a crowd-sourced blog post.

4. Pull sound bytes out of a long-form report and use them as tweets and Facebook updates.

5. Give quotes new life as graphics for use on visual platforms like Facebook and Pinterest.

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Leftovers To Feed the Content Beast

1. Turn an ebook into a series of blog posts, or a series of blog posts into an ebook.

2. When you host a webinar, create a ride-along transcript so content “snackers” can scan the information. Later, turn the transcript into a slideshow.

3.  Capture a real-time tweet chat and republish it as a crowd-sourced blog post.

4. Pull sound bytes out of a long-form report or white paper and use them as tweets and Facebook updates.

5. Give quotes a new life as graphics; use them on visual platforms like Facebook and Pinterest.

6. Always read blog comments; they serve as both fodder and inspiration for tweets and short blog posts.

7. Use Evernote to snatch tidbits from all over the web; use liberally.

8. To keep readers abreast of change, revisit last year's article as the basis for a retrospective (e.g., "That Was Then, This Is Now.")

9. Rely on white papers for blog wraps like this one. (And thank you, Curata, for your ebook, “How To Feed the Content Beast.” You inspired me.)

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Short-Form Content Gets the Look

Marketers today need content and plenty of it. Ebooks and whitepapers make great giveaways, but, increasingly, users demand their info in bite-size chunks. Enter short-form content.

By definition, short-form content is created quickly and consumed even faster. Widely used examples include tweets, Facebook and/or LinkedIn status updates, Instagram photos, and even truncated blog posts and articles.

Josh Schwartz, a data scientist at  traffic analysis firm Chartbeat, took a look at how people scroll through Slate articles. His data shows that readers can’t stay focused. "When people land on a story, they very rarely make it all the way down the page. A lot of people don’t even make it halfway."

Popular apps and software like the following confirm that users are hungry for short and sweet.

• Vine, a mobile app that features seven-second video clips. Example: Airbnb.
• Tapestry, an app that employs digital index cards by which users tell a "short story," one card at a time. Example: Patch.
• Infographics that turn complex textual information into a picture. Example: 10 Ways To Use Infographics.
• Pinterest, a collection of photos gathered from around the web to tell a particular story. Example: Amnesty International.
• Flipboard, software used to "build" your own magazine on any subject, simply by aggregating web content. Example: Evernote.
• Snapguide, an app that lets users create and share concise step-by-step "how-to" guides. Example: School of Architecture, Kingston University London.
• Snapchat, a mobile photo and video sharing service developed by Stanford University students. Talk about short! Messages posted to Snapchat self-destruct after they're viewed. (P.S. Snapchat is H-O-T, having recently turned down a $3 billion buy offer from Facebook.) Also consider SnapChat Stories, eager to grow in ever smaller ways with  VC money  waiting in the wings. Example: Sorry, no examples are available; they've all self-destructed.

There's one more short-form app I'm compelled to add because it's so futuristic. This app -- Summly  -- generates short content for users automatically. Developed by a 17-year-old Brit and recently sold to Yahoo for a rumored $30 million, Summly delivers machine-generated news summaries to mobile users. 

Happy Thanksgiving, INDEED! Digital Sherpa, You Rock!

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I Did. And It's Basic,
But It's Good.

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Another 2012 Prediction (You Won’t Like It)

Luxuriate in the Fresh Air of a Wholesale Dump! Take in the Aroma of Original Content. Ahhhhh!

Yes, my friends, I’m talking about the murder of “content aggregation.” It's an early demise, I know, since aggregation just got born in 2011. But, if I have anything to say about it, "content aggregation" is going to wither and die in 2012. For somebody who's done a fair amount of "aggregation" this year, the prediction hurts. But it's inevitable.

Why? Because we Can't HANDLE it.

When Chris Brogan began unfriending people left and right in March, he called it getting rid of a mess.

Margie Clayman, too, is wondering if smaller social media might not be better social media.

The real issue, though, isn’t what you call it, or even how you do it. The nugget here is the sense of panic human beings are grappling with under the information tsunami. And "aggregation," which has the potential for exponential repeat, retweet, rehash, and regurgitate, has got to go.

A Case In Point
I got a brilliant e-newsletter from Brad and Steve at bscopes. I don't know why I read it-- I am way too busy to read any enewsletter -- except that it used the phrase "RSS bankruptcy" in the first sentence and alluded in the second paragraph to feeling a tremendous sense of relief at wholesale dumping of articles collecting dust in the reader.

I had to write to bscopes. “I don't think I've received your email before. I tend to throw stuff out, but this post caught my eye and I read it all the way through. You're right, information-choke is a HUGE problem and the "just throw it away" process doesn't work. I think part of it starts with a better email client coupled with, perhaps, the growing professions of "virtual assistant" (not kidding)."

But that was just a stab in the dark. The real solution lies with Brogan: Just turn it off.

Why Are Human Beings Reacting This Way?
Amid the “anxiety of not knowing” [something, everything, more, enough!], we find ourselves facing the reality that there is no way to know enough. Suddenly, this year, in 2011, as we drowned in the tsunami, we realized everything we don’t know. Fact is, we’ve never known… it’s just that we didn’t know we didn’t know (if you know what I mean).

There’s more. The more we delve into a topic, the more anxious we become about not knowing.
Well, how about crowd-sourcing, then? Can’t these other people tell us what to eat, think, feel, buy? No, because as soon as we start listening to crowd-sourced comments, we realize all that opinion is worth the paper it’s written on. There's just too much of it and nobody agrees anyway.

Instead, when we need to know, proactive researching is our best option. Sure, we'll come across a lot of junk. And, if we think it’s all relevant, we're a dead duck. So, we're going to need to use our own judgment.

With information as with everything else in life, less is more. I do believe that in 2012 many many of us will start by simply "turning it off" and then rebuilding: consciously, purposefully, intelligently. The skill of "curation" will be invaluable here, but aggregation is headed for the landfill.

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What Can Home Invasion News Teach Us About Content Marketing? These Eight Realities.

Three months ago I conceived homeinvasionnews.com. The content strategy was three-fold:
1) demonstrate my ability to create content for any topic, including one with which I had no experience;
2) demonstrate the added value of content displayed in a dynamic format;
3) demonstrate the various formats in which content can be presented.

I was able to take Home Invasion News from concept to launch in 30 days. Since launch, I have been maintaining the site, adding new content daily. I will launch a PR push in the next few weeks, but the site is already ranking on page one of Google in a variety of home invasion related topics: news, statistics, safeguards, laws, etc.

Here's are eight realities that confirm the validity of the original three-point strategy:

1. Content development is about intelligent content curation. If you have a body of knowledge at your disposal, content will come. If you don't -- but if you know how to research on the Internet -- you will find all the content you need: statistics, expertise, opinion, case studies, definitions, and controversy for any topic, any project.

2. The best content adds something extra: A viewpoint, a sense of humor, a different take, an unusual way of presenting. In short, the best content starts with dry information and adds YOU.

3. How you present content makes all the difference. Give the reader/browser something extra to look at, chew on, think about. At Home Invasion News, this something extra would be the active layout of the homepage and the editorial point of view.

4. Specialized infographics can play a key role. The top menu bar of the site features "Faces of Home Invasion." That link jumps to an interactive graphic used to publicize the site through press releases.

5. Video has a place. In the case of HIN, limitless video is free for the asking and we embed it everywhere. Most any topic you can think of has related video somewhere on the Internet. Most of it is free and easy. Figure out how to use it and do so.

6. RSS feeds are good -- both for content curation and for readers' viewing pleasure. HIN features a feed based on the term "home invasion." The feed is continuous and it creates great fodder for daily consumption, as well as background for the "top story" weekly blog post.

7. Content curation sites like Scoop-It help track national stories. For some sites (like HIN), linking to your Scoop-It site on a separate page makes for solid, in-the-moment content. [Tip: You can set up Scoop-It to make sure your own site is first on this feed.]

8. Understanding the various e-media possibilities -- video, slideshows, webinars. etc. -- helps guide content development. For example, we recognize that -- as resources grow -- interviews and podcasts are a natural progression in the Home Invasion News effort.

A final thought: Sites like WriterAccess aggregate a pool of writers looking for content development projects. The last time I checked, WriterAccess had 3,800 writers signed on. Perhaps this model creates work for journalists closed out in the newspaper shrinkage. I certainly hope so. In any event, WriterAccess is a huge step up from content sweatshops I wrote about awhile back. On the other hand, lining up with 3,800 other writers feels a bit like trying to land a job -- or locate a Chief Marketing Officer -- on MONSTER (not that there's anything wrong with that :-)

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Today’s “Show Me” Website Is A Content Marketer’s Dream

A content marketer’s job is to share what an organization knows. We can do that piecemeal in blogs, videos, slideshows, whitepapers, articles, and so on. But nothing puts it all out there like a “show-me” website.

I just finished writing a short ebook (free for the asking) that describes how to launch a show-me website in 30 days, from concept to launch – and that’s starting with zero content and no background in the topic area.

To demonstrate this could be done, starting on May 17 with only a topic in mind, I developed enough original content for Home Invasion News to go live on June 17. When I searched the generic term “home invasion news” on Google this morning, the site had moved up from seventh place, to fifth and sixth positions on page one, just behind recent TV news reports. We’re also ranking on the first page for “home statistics,” and “FBI home invasion statistics.”

Is this some sort of extraordinary achievement? I don’t think so. If you are still reading this article, I am absolutely certain you can do the same.

But why bother? I mean, why is launching this sort of a website so important right now? Ho-hum websites without color and a profusion of choices for the visitor are worse than ineffective. They are a detriment to the content itself.

Information consumers today are used to splash and dash. They don’t want to think about how to find and navigate content. That part should be easy. The show-me website is the architecture content marketers need to make their work shine and succeed.

To clarify, the following list presents a quick run-down of ways a show-me website makes content marketing so much more effective.

1. Offers Instant Choices. At first glance, a show-me website offers a visitor many, many intriguing content choices.

2. Creates Information Categories. Navigation of a show-me website is intuitive because information is so beautifully organized.

3. Ignites the Imagination. The visuals on a show-me website are dynamic, shifting, changing, sliding, and colorful. The user gets excited deciding to what to look at first.

4. Dances As a Unit. On a show-me website, all content marketing options harmonize. Rather than appearing to be separate “chunks” of information, video, slideshows, podcasts, images, articles, and stories create a tight symphony.

5. Facilitates Natural Advertising. Show-me websites can be constructed to make ads a seamless part of the presentation.

6. Encourages Play. We may be used to information delivered in static columns when we’re reading, but when we’re playing on the Internet, we want a dynamic grid that’s more like a movie than a book.

7. Invites Infographics. Infographics as content are growing in popularity. Show-me websites incorporate options for presenting and cycling through multiple samples of these popular visuals.

8. Makes the Content All About the Visitor. Because of the way a show-me website organizes and displays content – by content category – the focus remains on what the visitor is looking for, not what the organization is selling.

9. Matches Contemporary Information Delivery. The show-me website breaks the typical Internet website static-column gird. The show-me website helps content marketers emulate the information presentation tactics employed by leading magazines and newspapers.

Finally, if you’re wondering what a show-me website looks like, the book gives 30 examples, including these: GQ Magazine, Atlantic Monthly, and National Geographic. You’ll notice right away that these and so many other amazing show-me websites are loaded with content, delivered within a framework that makes information pop.

If you’d like a copy of the ebook “How To Launch Your Own Show-Me Website in 30 Days,” please send a request using the button on the right.

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I’ve Got Awesome Content, But My Blog Rank Sucks Nails

Over the weekend, I tested my blog rank with Alexa and learned I was off-the-charts – literally. They could barely find me. They’re telling me my rank is 13,237,557. That sounds pretty bad to me, so guess what?

I’m just gonna “fuhgeddaboutit.”

I mean, really. I’m posting good, original content, with great external links. My headlines are compelling; I feature internal links, too. I post often and have done so consistently since I launched Marketing Brillo in 2008.

Why is Marketing Brillo such a zero? It’s Google’s fault, I think.

Alexa notes that the top search queries for Marketing Brillo are related to the “brillo” part of things, including brillo technology (whatever that is), brillo fumes (I actually like the way my computer smells) brillo selling points,” (the shape of the box, the color of the little pad, it’s ability to attack and destroy grease) and other crazy-ass stuff unrelated to marketing. So, apparently, none of the people searching for “brillo’s” stench are coming to my website. How the term “marketing” got lost in the mix beats the heck outta me? I mean that’s the FIRST word guys.

Even more distressing is that my rank for www.nancyscott.com is almost as bad --5,879,932. I do know there are a LOT of Nancy Scotts in this world because – as the primary and first holder of the obvious gmail account, for years I have received gmail meant for many of the hundreds of other Nancy Scotts on this planet, and confused with a few more (including the murderer and the highly respected prosecutor)…. but I’m pretty sure I AM the only nancyscottDOTCOM on the Internet.

Clearly, I have no idea what I’m doing. But, like I said, I don’t care. If anybody wants help with writing or curating content for their website, I can do that. And I’m not going to fuss with my page rankings to accomplish it.

Instead, I’m going to keep guest posting to the content marketing section on B2C, The Digital Nirvana, and, of course, Marketing Brillo. I’ll persist in finding the newest and best content for the DMAW newsletter I edit and for the blog I write for a Metro DC production company. I’m going to keep LinkedIn and Facebook/Marketing Brillo updated so my colleagues and clients know what I’m up to. I’m going to go on “commenting” when I have something to offer, and I’m going to continue supporting the people I’ve chosen to follow, every one of whom is chosen carefully. In short, I’ll do most of what Robb Sutton says I need to do (great article, Robb, thank you) because, after all, being ranked (or rank) isn’t what I’m about.

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Yummy Content Makes My Mouth Water!

I’ve been coming across all kinds of content marketing projects that I’m sure are doing a tremendous job for their clients and organizations. Here are five of my recent favorites.

This fantastic little video from the editors of Printing Impressions enewsletter is a tremendous testament to genuine educational value that costs very little, uses in-house talent, makes a great point, and knocks the whole thing out in 120-seconds flat. Part of PI’s “Fold of the Week” video series, this one features Chief Folding Fanatic Trish Witkowski demonstrating a beautiful pop-up mailer from Westland Printers in Laurel, MD. Nice job guys!

The WhichTestWon “landing page optimization” webinar series has been outstanding. I got not just one, but two blog posts out of this superb free content from Anne Holland, publisher of WhichTestWon.com and her co-presenters.

Nobody rounds up infographics better than Randy Krum, president of InfoNewt. If you need an illustrative way to say something, take a look at Randy’s blog, Cool Infographics. You’ll still need a graphic designer to execute a good infographic (it’s much harder than it looks), but at least Randy’s blog will give you an idea what a good infographic looks like.

This week, I put up a few web pages using Shareist, a new content aggregation website that lets users “build” web pages based on content the program pulls from around the web. It took me about 20 minutes to build Content Marketing and Content Curation pages that I can refresh whenever I want by selecting “curate.” I stumbled a bit here and there simply because I didn’t follow directions, but was reassured by an email exchange with Shareist founder Scott Jangro, who patiently explained that Shareist actually has a “How to get started” video. Sites like this are the reason that content grows exponentially .. and a fundamental reason that technology is thrilling.

A podcast interview with Bryn Mooth, the immediate ex-editor of How Magazine, shares the angst of a long-time professional who’s “out on her own” for the first time. Mooth talks about her first week as a freelancer after 20 years as a work-for-somebody-else writer/editor. How’d she do it? For starters, she turned her blog into Writes4Food.com. Going forward? Unknown, she says, but I'm betting she won't be sorry.

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