2-Step Content Creation Strategy

A simple 2-step content creation strategy so that you can easily create content and share it in a multitude of places on social media is a magical thing – and that’s what I’m covering in this edition of Shop Talk.

I’m going to share with you exactly what I do with my own content.

You see, I don’t really like to work hard – I prefer finding quick and simple ways to accomplish what I need to do. What could be simpler than a 2-step content creation strategy?

Here’s the approach that I take in my own content creation strategy.

Step 1 – create a really great video or live stream talking about a topic that would be of interest to your community.

I have a notebook full of ideas that I’ve collected from people in my Facebook community, from my Twitter and Periscope connections, and from people who participate in my programs. I capture those questions and I use them as inspiration for videos like this week’s edition of Shop Talk.

Look to the very people you want to connect with to find out what they want to know. Your audience is unique to you, and so your video topics will be as well. Answer their questions and share your knowledge – use your content creation strategy to empower your audience with your expertise.

Step 2 – get that video transcribed.

The reason that I get the video transcribed is that the transcript can be used in a multitude of ways, across a multitude of platforms.

The first way to use the transcript is on your YouTube video itself. The transcript allows you to caption the video. This simple thing opens up a whole new audience to your content by making it more broadly accessible. If you subscribe to my YouTube channel, you’ll find that the recent Shop Talk videos all have captions.

The second use for the transcript in your content creation strategy is to create a blog post from that copy that goes with the actual video. Not everybody likes to watch videos – some people prefer to read. I use the transcript as a foundation for a supporting blog post. That post (like the one you’re reading right now) is not an exact duplicate of the transcript. Rather, the post uses the transcript as a stepping off point to provide more detailed information and often, links to other relevant resources. The blog post also provides the opportunity to include keywords and phrases that are really valuable from an SEO perspective. Additionally, it connects the YouTube video with my website and ultimately a big part of any content creation strategy should be about driving traffic to your website.

The third thing that I do with a video transcript is look for tweet-ables. Those Tweets can be incorporated into the blog so that it’s more compelling to share the content. The keywords or phrases that are important for SEO are used to share the post in those tweet-ables. On my WordPress website we use a plugin called Better Click To Tweet which automatically adds a short-link back to my website and my Twitter handle, all wrapped up in a visually appealing layout. This can also be done manually using a bit.ly link that directs people back to the content that has been created.

Something similar can be accomplished with graphic images by pulling quotes out of the article or the blog post, creating a graphic with the quote on it (I use WordSwag to do this on the fly), and adding a bit.ly link to direct traffic back to the content you have created. Those graphics are easy to share on your social media channels.

There is a fourth thing we can do with that transcript – we can change it up and re-purpose it as an article someplace else. It could become a post on Tumblr, or an article on Medium. Perhaps it even goes on Huffington Post or Social Media Examiner. The version used in these instances will not be an exact duplicate of the blog post, but there’s a lot of information there that can be used in many different ways. The goal of your content creation strategy is to share your content with as wide an audience as possible.

There you have it – my 2-step content creation strategy – step one shoot the video, step two get the video transcribed and implement the 4 tactics outlined to leverage your content.

It’s exactly how I turn one piece of content it into a whole bunch of other things. Leveraging your content creation strategy this way gives you multiple ways to attract people to the same piece of content on various social media channels, all while driving traffic to your website.

So what will you do? What ideas do you have to take 1 piece of content and blow it up so that it does more for you? I’d love to hear from you – leave a comment on this blog post. Share your ideas for making your content go further so you don’t have to work quite so hard at creating content all the time.