Content Explored...Not so much sharing, more of an Entrepreneurial Exchange!

The 3rd in our series of "Content Explored" blogs

At recent presentations and speaking engagements, I've been talking a lot about the power of sharing and how much you get back by simply giving away information and sharing knowledge. As author of "New Rules of Marking and PR", David Meerman Scott said in a video he very kindly did for me, "The more you give, the more you get". This advice is also shared by other luminaries like CC Champan (Content Rules), Mitch Joel, (Six Pixels of Separation) and Chris Brogan (Trust Agents).

I certainly concur with their beliefs. Through the New Media Breakfast and our Social Media Podcast, fatBuzz share information and knowledge that leads to engagement, enquiries, referrals, and ultimately more work. The New Media Breakfast, the Social Media Podcast, our blog, and some other speaking engagements are the only real form of marketing we do at fatBuzz - all of them involve sharing knowledge. It is true, the more you give, the more you get.

However, after speaking at an Entrepreneurial Exchange Supper Club event this week it occurred to me that what we get back is much more than referrals and new business. The format of these events is a short presentation by the speaker (in this case me) followed by a round table discussion over dinner about the speaker's topic (in this case Social Media Defined and Proving ROI). Therefore, I get to engage with 15 entrepreneurs about social media; I learn their views, fears, experiences, concerns, expectations, perceptions and much more.

How valuable is that for me? These Entrepreneurial Exchange members are experienced and successful business owners, their opinions matter to me because they are relevant and probably representative of many other businesses. By listening to them, I have a much clearer understanding about what people want to know and what they want to achieve through social media marketing. So, I reckon I finished the evening learning as much, if not more, than they did, so in this case I got something back immediately. 

One of the first things I tell people about content creation is to look at your FAQs; what do people generally ask you? This is a great starting point; create content that answers the questions people normally ask you. By listening to the 15 Entrepreneurial Exchange members I have a clearer idea about the issues and concerns they have about adopting social media, I can now create content that addresses these points and I'm sure it will be relevant to many more than the 15 business owners in attendance.

So, the next time you're asked to speak to your local business networking group, careers meeting, industry conference or, graduate's boot-camp don't think of it as a chore, think of it as an opportunity. The questions they ask you are relevant to that community, they will help you understand what it is they need to know about you and what type of content is likely to engage them.

To the Entrepreneurial Exchange members who were present at the Supper Club meeting, thank you for open and frank discussion, I learned lots, and I hope you did too.

Our recent fatBuzz Social Media Day for Charities

NOTES:

• If you would like to find out more about social media marketing please think about coming along to our Monthly New Media Breakfasts - Details of the next one are here
• You can learn more about Entrepreneurial Exchange membership here
• CC Chapman has just published his new book entitled "Amazing things will Happen", if it's anything like the first book it will be well worth a read.  More details here 

If you would like to discuss your content strategy please give us a call or drop an email to hello@fatbuzz.com, we will be delighted to have a chat.

If you've found this post interesting please use the share buttons below to tell your online community about it, there's a good chance they'll find it interesting too.

 

Content Explored...Angels' Share, Olympics 2012, Dragon's Den and 50 Shades of Grey

This is the second 'Content Explored' blog post where we look at how fatBuzz clients are using Content for marketing and awareness building. The first post was very well received; I hope this one will provide some inspiration and ideas for your own content.

The following examples are from recent social media activity by a number of our clients.  Where possible, I have provided links to each so that you can actually see the comtent and how it was used and shared.


Angels' Share

I'm going to start with a lovely blog posted earlier today by Dean's entitled, "The Angels’ Share - of Whisky and Dean’s Shortbread". The post is about the care and attention that goes into the baking process at Dean's; this would be a good post at any time, they genuinely do take great care over the production of their products and they have a fantastic story to tell. However, Dean's cleverly associated this with the recent release of the film, 'Angels' Share' which is centred round the 2% loss of product during the maturation process in whisky making.

Like in the film, Dean's lose up to 10% of the ingredients to evaporation during the baking process; this could be reduced if they baked the shortbread faster, but that simply wouldn't be Dean's.

This blog post prompted me to write today's 'Content Explored' post about how you can use the calendar and events as a source of material for your content; Dean's tapped into the film and its storyline, you should look for any similar opportunities.

London 2012
Along the same lines, our friends at Morton Fraser tapped into the enormously successful London 2012 Olympics by creating a special blog to feature the Olympic Sports in the run up to the event. The blog was extremely successful and highlighted their expertise and services offered by the Sports and Tourism Team. Some of the posts from the blog were published as articles in newspapers and magazines and Morton Fraser got the credit.

Morton Fraser also created podcast content looking at issues associated with hosting the Olympic Games.

This is one of our favourites: Mitchell's Dairy in Inverurie placed an 'A' Board outside their shop with the simple message, "Good Luck Hannah" ahead of Ms Miley's Olympic swimming event. They then took a picture of the 'A' Board and uploaded it to their Facebook page - this post, and the subsequent 'well done' posts, received massive support with in excess of 1100 likes and lots of comments and sharing.

This example serves as a useful reminder that content can be a simple thing like a snap shot taken in the spur of the moment - who would have guessed this would have created so much engagement?

50 Shades of Grey
On a much lighter note, our friends at John Dick and Son created a light-hearted post entitled, "Shades of Grey at John Dick and Son'. This post tapped into the incredible popularity (at least with half the population) of the book, '50 Shades of Grey'. They also ran a small competition on their Facebook page to sum up the book in three words - the winner received a lamp (with a grey shade!).

Following on from this, they created a blog post during the Olympics entitled, 'Gold, Silver or Bronze...be inspired'. This post featured some of the metallic finishes they have available in wall coverings and fabrics, cleverly tapping into Olympic fever.

Dragon's Den
During the last series of Dragon’s Den the contestants were tasked with finding deals to be sold on the Groupon site; this presented a clear opportunity for our clients, Today's Great Deal. During the programme they posted messages on Facebook to invite their community to say which of the deals they liked so that Today's Great Deal could source similar deals in Glasgow and Edinburgh - they got over 200 comments on the Facebook pages during the one hour programme

All of these are great examples of how you can use special events and regular calendar events to create content; is there something coming up that you can tap into for relevant content? Perhaps the forthcoming Bank Holiday, September Weekend, the Ryder Cup, or the Commonwealth Games in 2014?

Please also bear in mind it needn't be a major event; if you are a local business, tap into local events or an industry event that is specific to your target audience.

If you would like to discuss your content strategy please give us a call or drop an email to hello@fatbuzz.com, we will be delighted to have a chat.

If you've found this post interesting please use the share buttons below to tell your online community about it, there's a good chance they'll find it interesting too.

 

Content Explored...Divorce, Extremists, Sock Drawers - It's all good stuff

The most common topic of conversation when we speak to people about social media is Content; people struggle with the concept of creating it and, they are unsure what constitutes good and bad Content. It is perhaps the biggest barrier to businesses becoming social yet, if they don’t get to grips with it their efforts are almost certainly doomed to fail.

Fear may be too strong a word, but certainly lots of people we meet have extreme reservations about their ability to create regular engaging Content. Some don’t fully understand what it is, others think no-one else will be interested in what they have to say, some are wary about saying the wrong things and, others still confuse Content with Copywriting.

A Copywriter is a person who writes the text for advertisements or publicity material; it’s a skill but it is very different from a Content Creator. The truth is we are all Content Creators; whether it’s a Tweet, blog post, caption on a picture, video footage or, a comment on a status update – it’s all content. In fact, curating and sharing other people’s content is also content creation.

One of the first places we advise people to start when thinking about what to say is their frequently asked questions; write content that answers the questions people ask you on a regular basis. Therefore, in keeping with our own advice, I have decided to start publishing a regular blog post purely about Content, we’ll call it ‘Content Explored’. To be more accurate, I will feature some content created by our clients; I hope it will give you a good idea about the variety of content you could consider and, hopefully some inspiration for your own Content.

For the initial Content post I would like to feature the a small portion of the content being created by Morton Fraser, a full service law firm with offices in Edinburgh, Glasgow and London. You may wonder what a law firm can say on social media without breaching client confidentiality or, risking conflict of interest or even incurring the wrath of the regulators. The cynical among you may even be shocked at law firm giving away free advice.

The truth is, Morton Fraser creates a vast array of content on a wide variety of topics – all of it interesting and engaging for the target audiences. I would also stress this is not advice - it is information and, lots of it.

It would be impossible to cover all of the content in a single blog post, it’s better you check it out for yourselves however, I would like to draw attention to a few things that will demonstrate the depth of their Content which helps them demonstrates the depth of their talent pool and expertise. I will also include some links at the bottom where you can see the range of Content they create.

Here is the selection I have picked out, I know you will also appreciate from this that they have also embraced the need to make content available in different formats to appeal to different audiences.

BLOGS
There are eight blogs on the Morton Fraser web site – yes 8! You must bear in mind Morton Fraser is a “full service” law firm so they work in many areas of the law. You may then expect each blog covers a different area of law but you would be wrong. You see, Morton Fraser realise it’s not all about them, they write about things that interest their target audiences rather than pushing services. Therefore, the Sport and Tourism Law Team currently have an Olympic blog with lighthearted summaries of each sport.

Austin Legal UK is a blog from Austin Flynn where he “thinks out loud” and includes “ramblings“ and “rants” – how refreshing is that form a high profile corporate lawyer.

“It’s a wonderful life” is the blog dedicated to the things you need to know at different stages of life, and so it goes on…

Each blog is very different – they’re meant to be. Each writer has an individual style – this truly helps to humanise the organisation. In short, the blogging activity is very successful – it works and, it makes enjoyable reading, I recommend you to explore them in more detail.

E-BULLETINS
If you’re involved in the property industry, it’s difficult to imagine a better resource than the Morton Fraser Property E-Bulletins. Morton Fraser realise the curation of content is also creation of content. The E-Bulletin is full of links to articles and news from the Property Sector thus making it a timesaving resource for others; all of the important stuff is available in one place – The Morton Fraser Property E-Bulletin.

Likewise, the Employment E-Bulletin is a comprehensive resource for the latest news and legislation about Employment Law.

PODCASTS
The archive of podcasts is growing very week and a quick scan of the precious episodes gives a quick insight into the diversity of the services available from Morton Fraser but, as with the blogs, these are not pushing services, they are a unique insight into the world of Morton Fraser.

The podcast topics range from the exploration of Rural Diversification to Proceeds of Crime and, Choosing a Divorce Lawyer to War, Extremists and the 2012 Olympics. The podcast entitled “Do you have a digital sock drawer?” is a fascinating look at what happens to your on-line stuff when you die! This clearly demonstrates their ability to create interesting and engaging content that highlights their expertise without actually selling you anything.

Podcasting is still a very popular form of content and should not be overlooked in any communication strategy. It is intimate; you talk directly into the ear of someone who has chosen to receive your information. Please take a moment to look at the range of podcasts topics Morton Fraser has already created Click Here. You may also wish to have a listen to our own Social Media Podcast Click Here.

This is just a very quick look at some of the content Morton Fraser create – there’s much more available on the site. I have included links to the main content here:

Blogs • E-Bulletins • Podcasts • Articles • Factsheets • LinkedIn

In addition to these, Morton Fraser is starting to make use of video content to introduce their team members in a less formal manner. You may also like to connect with them on their new Facebook pages at one of the following links:

Facebook for Morton Fraser Business

Facebook for Morton Fraser You and Your Family

Look at the ‘Who Are We’ Tab on the Business Facebook page; it’s a good example of the type of content you can include on a Facebook page.

Morton Fraser create great content; the variety and quality is testament to the depth of knowledge and expertise within the firm and, the fact they make it so widely available clearly demonstrates they are indeed a business that is truly social.

I hope you have found this a useful introduction to our ‘Content Explored’ blog posts. If you have found it interesting please use the share buttons below to tell others in your online community, remember sharing is a form of content creation.