The biggest enemy of content marketing is the blank screen. The most difficult thing about creating content is getting started.
That blank screen brings fear. Your mind goes blank. No content is created. This is bad.
Sometimes you need some help to get the juices flowing. Sometimes the best content doesn’t come right out of your brain into a post. Sometimes, the best ideas come from a conversation.
Think about the phone calls or conversations you’ve had with experts in your company, colleagues, or even clients. Well, use this!
Using tools as simple as your mobile phone, GoToMeeting, or Skype, you can easily capture these conversations for use in your content marketing efforts.
Let’s take a look at Chris Penn…
The 5 Questions Case Study
We run a series here called “5 Questions with…” In these we ask experts 5 questions – putting their expert knowledge in front of our audience in an easy-to-digest post.
One of the smartest marketers I know is Christopher S. Penn, VP at Shift Communications in Boston. I read all of his books, get his newsletter (one of the best around), and love his blog. So, of course I wanted to share his knowledge with our audience.
He agreed to do the interview. I emailed him my 5 questions. Usually, I get the answers back in an email. But Chris recorded his answers in a quick video:
At first I thought Chris was showing off. But, what he gave me was another great idea to share with our clients at Wood Street.
I knew I needed the text of what Chris was saying in the video if this post was going to have decent SEO value. So, using Rev.com (just one example of many online transcription services) I got a rough draft of Chris’s answers in text format.
Then, I simply edited out any incorrectly transcribed words and formatted it into the normal 5 Questions layout. Didn’t really take long. And the cost to do the transcription was about $12.
You can see the final post here – 5 Questions with Chris Penn.
So, big deal, I put a video in a blog post and had it transcribed. Well, let’s think about how you can use a process similar to this to create amazing, useful, keyword rich content that Google will love…
Creating Powerful Evergreen Content With Video And Podcasts
Think about the resources at your disposal:
- Staff – there are experts walking the halls of your organization right now.
- Industry experts – it’s easy to access this knowledge base, just ask for an interview like I did with Chris Penn.
- Clients – your clients are walking case studies for why your solutions work.
If you could interview them in a quick video or audio format, think they would go for that?
Consider the alternative: you ask them to write a post for you. Ever asked someone to write for you? It’s like pulling teeth and herding cats all at the same time.
Instead, ask them for 5 minutes of their time. They just need to show up. You bring a list of questions or you can even just have a casual conversation about a specific topic.
You can set this up a few different ways:
- Using a tripod, interview them using the video camera on your mobile device.
- Set up a GoToMeeting, Skype call, or Google Hangout and record it.
- Hire a professional or audio firm to record and edit for you.
And don’t worry too much about it being perfect. You want the content. And if the video or audio turn out well, you can find some editing software to make it more pro – or hire a firm to edit it for you.
However you tackle the mechanics of these interviews, they are a win win. The experts win because they were able to contribute with minimal effort. You win because you are getting some amazing content.
Repurpose That Content
Now take that raw video or audio and get it transcribed. Extract all that great, keyword rich, utility content. With that content, you have tons of opportunities.
It’s much easier to edit than it is to create content from thin air. Take that content and start putting it to work:
- Edit the transcription and include it with the video or audio file in a blog post.
- Take that content and rework it into a blog series if multiple topics are discussed.
- Take that series and turn it into an eBook or white paper.
- Take the main points and work them into a PowerPoint presentation you can post on SlideShare.net.
The list goes on. For some great content ideas, check out Content Rules by Ann Handley and CC Chapman.
And don’t forgot about the video and audio content. You can share the video on YouTube or Vimeo for more exposure. To see the difference, check out this post from Digital Bard’s Whitney Hahn.
For the audio, start a podcast. There are tons of directories you can use to launch your company’s podcast series.
They are so many great marketing podcasts out there. Chris Penn has one called Marketing Over Coffee. Another of my favorites is Marketing Smarts with Kerry O’Shea Gorgone.
You could also take that audio and use it in an animated video. The visuals could be custom graphics using the audio to drive the points home.
Of course you might find that you want to go a little more pro with these. Sometimes you need something more polished. If you think you have the potential for a series, you might want to bring in some professional video or audio assistance.
Either way, the content you’ll get out of it will be powerful, evergreen, and useful:
- Powerful – it will drive qualified traffic to your site through SEO and social shares.
- Evergreen – as long as it lives on your website, it will continue to have SEO and marketing value.
- Useful – this is content your clients, potential clients, and fans can use, making you a valuable resource.
So, there, you now have no excuse. Go and create great content for your website, blog, YouTube, SlideShare, and beyond!
This article was syndicated from Business 2 Community: Video And Podcast Interviews – Powerful Evergreen Content
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