3 Ways to Create Meaningful Content

Sitting at my computer on a Friday afternoon, I was reflecting on an advisory call I had just wrapped up with a client. We were talking about creating meaningful content and she told me she was going to go away and create 90 days worth of content ideas.

Maybe you’ve done this too? Felt the pressure to create the perfect content plan so you know exactly what you’re going to write about so it’s easy until…

You start to write and then you find that you are not inspired or motivated to write about that topic.

Instead, you avoid writing, you tell yourself writing is hard and that you’re not good at it, and you convince yourself you need someone else to do it for you.

You don’t.

Here’s what I reminded her:

“You’re a subject matter expert, you can talk about your line of work any time without needing a plan to follow. Instead of a content plan, start looking for ideas and inspiration around you all the time and then write about it.  Maybe it’s something you’re doing in your business, maybe it’s something that has happened with a client, or a trend you’re noticing. It could even be a current event, but here’s the thing…

“You can’t force creativity. You’ve got to build the habit of creating regularly and see every situation as an opportunity to share and help your audience. If you do this all the time, you’ll build up your writing skills and before you know it, you’ll have an engaged community of people who look forward to what you share.”

If you want to influence people and be known as a thought leader, you need to spend time thinking, observing and sharing what you see. You need to give your opinions and insights regularly and be able to take the mundane and make it interesting.

Don’t be formulaic when it comes to content creation. Instead, look for inspiration all around you and ask yourself, “How can I use this to help someone else?”

Stop being formulaic when it comes to #ContentCreation. Click To Tweet

You can do this. It’s not as hard as you think.

Here’s what I want you to observe right now:

1. Pick up the last book you read and ask how you can use something you learned for a blog.
2. Look at the home page of CNN and scan all the headlines and ask yourself, which one could you use as inspiration to write from?
3. Look at your calendar and recall a conversation with someone from the last week that might provide a topic you can talk about.

I would like you to share at least one idea you have for writing with me.

What did you find, and more importantly, what will you do? Leave a comment and share!