These content creation concepts will keep you on top of your game!
There are different types of content, they serve different purposes and, for best results, it’s a good idea to mix ’em up!
G’day, my name is Trevor Young and this is my newsletter about positioning ourselves to take advantage of the opportunities that come with being an active participant in today’s ‘Reputation Economy’. You can subscribe by clicking on this button:
Some time back I collaborated with Mark Masters on his You Are The Media Month of Learning initiative. It was a month-long program of learning featuring different presenters/teachers each week, with 'sidebar' interactive study groups and Q&As sessions: a terrific concept!
My week of teaching focused on the topic of ‘distribution’; more specifically, standing for something, getting your content out there, and making your mark through a combination of owned, earned and social media.
During our ‘all-in’ discussion with participants, content strategist Sonja Nisson (who led the group in week one) shared a blog post she published in 2011 about ‘stock and flow’.
[ SEE PREVIOUS NEWSLETTER ARTICLE: PODCAST INTERVIEW WITH SONJA, IN WHICH WE TOUCH ON THIS VERY TOPIC ]
According to Sonja: “The concept of stock and flow originates from the world of economics but Robin Sloan on the Snarkmarket blog has insightfully linked this to the production of content.”
Sloan wrote in his piece:
Flow is the feed. It’s the posts and the tweets. It’s the stream of daily and sub-daily updates that reminds people you exist.
Stock is the durable stuff. It’s the content you produce that’s as interesting in two months (or two years) as it is today. It’s what people discover via search. It’s what spreads slowly but surely, building fans over time.
I too love this analogy! It’s a good reminder that there are different types of content that serve a range of purposes, and that if we’re trying to effectively build our brand out there in the marketplace, we need to do both.
Breaking content into three 'mediums'
I’ve used the diagram below for many years to explain to marketers and business owners the breadth of ways we can produce content today.
It's similar to the 'stock and flow' concept, but with an extra category included:
What I refer to as ‘premium signature content’ is similar to what Sloan described as ‘stock’ content: it’s the meaty stuff that makes people sit up and take notice, and if the topic is evergreen in nature, it should hang around for a while and thus becomes a valuable resource for your audience (as well as an asset for your brand).
For me, it’s my book Content Marketing for PR and the occasional webinar. For others - my clients, for example - it's the ebooks or the specialist 'deep-dive' guides they produce.
What I call ‘day-to-day presence content’ is similar to what Sloan calls ‘flow’.
This content is about keeping up visibility for your brand, or what I like to call ‘respectful reminders’. This content is what you see on social media, plus blog articles, one-off YouTube videos, etc.
I’ve added a third category of content, what I call ‘recurring sub-branded media properties’.
These are essentially episodic 'shows' that your audience can subscribe to and watch as soon as they're published, or consume in one hit. A pre-recorded (or live-streamed) video show, or podcast, are good examples of this.
[ Check out the Goulet Pencast, by The Goulet Pen Company: a good example of a recurring sub-branded media property in action. Ditto, my podcast Reputation Revolution ]
Standalone recurring sub-branded content properties provide business and personal brands with both substance and continuity over time, but they can be difficult to get going and maintain.
What I like about them, however, is the way they provide the public with 'side-door access' to your brand: people may not have a reason to come directly to your website, but they might find you via your podcast and become interested in your offering that way.
Think like a TV network
Digital marketing guru Jay Baer once wrote an article explaining what he saw as the “three types of content shows” you can create for your brand (here’s the article, scroll down a bit).
Jay says we need to think like a television network and “create shows”. I love how he couches it:
Binge-worthy shows: “These shows are big, steady ongoing content initiatives that have the same theme and format” e.g. video or webinar series.
One-time shows: “These shows are special quarterly or yearly shows that attack a major customer pain point or topic” e.g. white papers, research papers.
Regularly-scheduled programming: “These shows are ongoing content initiatives that round out your calendar, and they don’t have to necessarily connect completely or be 100 percent consistent in theme” e.g. blog posts.
Jay's TV show metaphor is similar to both Robin Sloan's 'stock and flow' concept, and the idea behind my model of the three content mediums.
At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter which of the above content concepts you gravitate towards, the key lesson here is:
There are different types of content, they serve different purposes and, for best results, it’s a good idea to mix ’em up!
Onwards!
👇
If you’d like to better understand how the various content models might work for you and your business, please reach out to me here OR send me a DM via LinkedIn OR book a Zoom 15-minute (or 30 mins) Zoom call, no obligation whatsoever 👊
Cheers,
Trevor