Sometimes ideas for content creation come easily. When your company is about to launch an exciting new product, you detail all the possible uses for your company’s revolutionary hoverboard. When the newest installment of your favorite film series comes out, you simply can’t resist explaining how your product or service relates to Star Wars.
But from time to time, you’ll sit staring at the computer screen and typing “asdfjkl;” repeatedly until you come up with an idea.
You want to release fresh, fun, and effective content frequently to keep your followers interested. But you also want to avoid those hand-cramping moments where your fingers hover over the keyboard for hours while you think up an idea.
How can you solve this conundrum? With a playbook.
Blending Football and Content Creation
The NFL playoffs are starting up, and it won’t be long until most Americans are watching the Super Bowl—or at least the Super Bowl commercials. From Pop Warner to the professional leagues, every football team relies on a playbook for consistency. If the quarterback had to design a new play in every huddle, we’d see a much more chaotic brand of football.
To help your own business generate great, consistent content, we’ve put together a content creation playbook. Inside the playbook, you’ll find 12 effective plays you can turn to whenever you’re stuck.
As you read through the playbook, you’ll find plays such as:
- Off-tackle: Mimic this classic offensive play by creating a narrative around a problem your industry solves.
- Play-action pass: Respond to a previous article in a new, surprising way.
- Wheel route: Don’t let your customers fall for the pump fakes in your industry. Debunk some myths and gain trust with your readers.
- Naked bootleg: Surprise defenders and readers alike by taking an unexpected turn after introducing a popular topic.
Each play presents a general strategy that you can tailor to your company’s needs—just find one that interests you and start writing.
Adding Social Media to the Mix
As a companion to each content play in our playbook, we’ve also included 12 social media plays to help you share and promote your content. Content creation and social media often go hand in hand. Compelling content gives you something to share on your business’s social media accounts, and shrewd social media practices help your content reach a broader audience.
With each content creation play, you’ll find a related social media play. Here are some examples:
- Hook and lateral: Just like its football counterpart, this social media play requires a great deal of teamwork to pull it off.
- Trap: Lead off your new post by updating the post’s meta data on Facebook.
- Quarterback sneak: Follow the crowd by using tools like Google Trends and Twitter Moments to determine popular topics.
- Option: Read your surroundings, and then react to the questions and feedback you receive online.
Don’t scramble for ideas every time you need to post content—use our content creation and social media plays to develop a bold new blog post or jump on a trending Twitter topic. Your business and your brand name will grow as customers notice your consistent and relevant content.
Are you ready for some football? You can download our Content Marketing Playbook here.
