I buy the pre-chopped cilantro at the
grocery store.
Before you start telling me how it
costs $2.99 to buy cilantro pre-chopped; an extravagant waste of money, since you
can buy an entire bunch of cilantro for 34 cents. And before you add that it
takes less than 5 minutes to wash and chop that 34-cent bunch of cilantro, let
me tell you something: I don’t care.
I don’t care that it takes only 5
minutes to wash and chop cilantro. Because I don’t have 5 minutes (or more
realistically, I’d rather spend that 5 minutes elsewhere). I’ll pay the $2.99
and take my 5 minutes, thankyouverymuch. Heck, I’ll pay $4.99 for
organic chopped cilantro to be hand-delivered to my house in a horse-drawn
carriage if it means I can spend that time doing something way more valuable to
me.
Anybody else?
*Cue a million marketers raising their
hands.*
So, we got to thinking… if $2.99 can
buy you 5 minutes at dinnertime, what would it take to buy 5 minutes at work? Because,
at least in my mind, when you have to fix the retargeting ads and write 2 blog
posts and create a lead magnet all before 5 o’clock, 5 minutes is worth a whole
lot more than $2.99.
Or even better, what if we could chop
an hour—which is $59.80 in cilantro time—off of our content marketing work each
week?
Well we can.
Here are 6 easy ideas that can start
saving you time right now.
Focus on 1 (or 2 Max) Social Channels
Social is a powerful tool for promoting
content, but if you’re feeling like you’re spending more time figuring out how
to promote your content than you are creating it, we recommend you channel your
social efforts.
Do a quick inventory of which social
channel always seems to perform the best for you. For example, if your target
market is B2B small businesses, then LinkedIn and Facebook will likely be your
best bets. If you’re marketing something that’s absolutely beautiful and
appeals to a millennial audience, then we’re guessing Instagram is your go-to.
Once you’ve figured out your best
channel or channels, focus 80% of your attention on creating posts that work on
that channel. You can throw up a quick post on other channels, but target your
creative efforts and creative time on the channels that work for you and your
audience.
Write Email and Social Copy at the Same Time You Create Content
Do you sometimes treat your marketing
team as an assembly line? We admit that there are some benefits to having one
person write the blog articles, one person write the email copy, and one person
screw the bolts onto the tires so the car is ready to roll.
But the truth is that with content
marketing, working in isolation can sometimes be detrimental to both the
quality and efficiency of your marketing efforts.
If you’re finding yourself and your team spending way too much time writing promotional copy, see what happens if you have your content creators make promotional assets at the same time that they write your articles or create your videos.
Use the Facebook Save Feature
If you ever find yourself frantically
googling trying to find content marketing inspiration, then this trick is for
you.
Throughout the week, use the Facebook
save feature to save anything you see that triggers your interest. Then, when
it comes time to put together content for your own marketing efforts, you’ll
have a bunch of content ready to inspire you.
Splinter Your Content
Similarly, if you have a blog article
or video that has done really well for you, try splintering it. Choose one
section of the previously published content and build it out into a second
article.
This not only will save you time (half
of the research and writing is done!) but will also create a great content
cluster that will improve SEO on your site.
Create an End Time to Your Content Creation Party
It’s happened to you, hasn’t it? You
clearly said that the party ended at 2, but that one guy just stays and
stays and keeps on talking, even though it’s an hour after the party ended and
all you want to do is make a cup of tea and put your feet up.
It’s frustrating at a party, but even
more frustrating when you’re creating content and you just keep going back over
that one line over and over again and editing and re-editing and then changing
it back to the way it was.
Step away from the blog article. Make
yourself a cup of tea.
We’ll let you in on a little secret: That
post isn’t permanent.
If you post something that you later
decide you want to change… you can do that. So, leave the party at 2 o’clock
and let the content be. It was a great party, but it can be over… and we
promise, that one line will be just fine.
Try Creative Sprints
It’s amazing how much you can get done
in a half hour if you don’t allow yourself to be distracted even a little
bit.
Don’t believe us? Try it.
Set a timer for 20 minutes and just create. Don’t get up to get
a cup of coffee. Don’t answer your text messages. Don’t stretch your arms
a bit. Don’t do anything other than write/design/edit/create.
When you’re done, set that project
aside for a bit and then come back to it with a clear mind. We bet you’ll
not only save time, but your product will be better.
They key to all of these tips is
limits: Time limits, word count limits, limits on how much cilantro you
let yourself put on each taco.
Because as the old adage goes, even if
you only have a little bit of cilantro, your taco will still taste
great. Okay, there’s no such adage, but there should be. Because you need
some extra hours in your day. Oh, and some tacos. Everyone needs more
tacos.
The post 6 Easy Content Marketing Tips That Will Save You At Least an Hour This Week appeared first on DigitalMarketer.
To discover more visit: digitalmarketer.com
