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What is content? – Part 4: How to be an engaging thought leader in 2016

It’s 2016, and the internet is hungover from the content overload of 2015. Thought leadership is still as relevant ever as a way to build your brand, but there’s too much of it floating around left unread.

As we mentioned earlier, the production of content is going up as engagement goes down. To ensure your thought leadership piece doesn’t get left behind, follow these six tips.

Look for your industry’s pain points. Before just writing what you know, do some research on and offline to find out what’s bothering people in your industry. As industries are becoming increasingly digital and offline activity goes mobile, there are lots of unanswered questions. Not sure what the future holds? Prediction pieces always make for great hits.

Take a stance. Having a strong opinion doesn’t mean pushing your ideas on other people, it means encouraging a dialogue and inspiring others. If there’s a topic dividing your industry, consider taking a side you believe in and go with it. As long as you know what you’re talking about it can be a positive to be a bit controversial, especially with the huge volume of copycat how-to blogs out there.

Give anecdotes. To make it seem like a really organic thought, give short windows of situations that taught you a lesson. You could also share a staff journey that can inspire others in their own careers.

Skip the cliches. Cliches can over simplify certain concepts and ideas. Using your own words and examples will help you establish your own voice that will be easier to remember.

Name drop. People want credibility in thought leaders. If you studied at a prestigious university, worked close with an inspirational leader, or worked at a Fortune 500, mention it.

Don’t have the time to produce your own thought leadership? Let our skilled content writers do it for you. Contact us at [email protected].

What is content? – Part 3: LinkedIn for the entrepreneur

LinkedIn started out as an online resume site, and it’s still one of the biggest resources for recruiters. Over time, it has also evolved into a content marketing platform, serving as a place for businesses to engage with potential clients and partners. So, how can you leverage this?

Tighten that bio:

More than half of LinkedIn’s engagement is on mobile, so tailor your message to be read accordingly. A longer, more flowery summary of yourself might be passable for a resume, but for B2B keep it short and sweet. The recipe for a good bio is:

Some personality
Clear and concise description of your service
A call to action (CTA) for people who aren’t able to send you an InMail.

Example:

Whether through written or video content marketing, I help young companies communicate their vision in the most human way possible.

Do you need more effective content? Get in touch with me directly at [email protected]

Spruce up that photo:

Nice pic from da club… but your LinkedIn profile image should be as professional as possible (avoid cheesy real estate pictures!) The photo you choose to represent yourself and your personal brand is a measure of trustworthiness and professionalism.

Tips for a good LinkedIn photo:

Choose a recent photo. We know it’s not Tinder, but if you’re already misleading about what you look like, it’s not a good start for business.
Forget the metaphorical mountain summit pic, make sure your face takes up at least more than half of the photograph.
Over exposed, blurry, poorly cropped photos are all over LinkedIn. Taking the time to take a proper photograph will actually make you stand out from the crowd.

Beef up your profile:

Now that you have the basics, it’s time to turn your details into a resource.

LinkedIn Pulse: You can’t say thought leadership’ without LinkedIn. Generously sharing your expert opinions and insights is a great way to build trust with your consumer before ultimately turning that lead into a sale. But nowadays there are a lot of opinions out there, and it’s not all being read. Make sure you have a really strong opinion on a topic that can add value to your reader’s life.

Slideshares: If you’re not the most eloquent writer but have ideas to share, use Slideshare. It’s a cost-effective way to get better traffic and ranking on Google. Make sure you have a clear idea of how you want to educate the reader.

Videos: In this crowded market, videos are dominating as the preferred way to consume content. LinkedIn lets you upload directly onto your profile, allowing you to showcase your work. If you don’t do video marketing, upload TV spots you’ve been featured in, your startup explainer video, and event coverage.

LinkedIn is growing as a content platform and it’s the first place clients and investors look to see a cohesive body of your work. Let us help you create content that best content for your profile. Get in touch at [email protected].

What is content? – Part 2: 10 Steps to writing blogs that convert customers

With the intense competition for businesses that promote online, the web content you use to talk about your company has to be easily digestible. Here are some key tips for killer site content.

Strong info hierarchy. Before typing your first letter, ask yourself whether the headers on your site are in the right order and easy to find. Depending on the type of company you have, do some research to determine what information people want to know first. If your concept is really complicated, make sure your “About Us” page is within easy reach (i.e. Should what you’re doing come before why you’re doing it?). Today’s app generation is also very impatient; if you’re going to boast about a feature, make sure the reader can act on it immediately by sprinkling calls to action throughout your home page.

Consistency. This is your credibility. There needs to be one style and format to all of your text. If you’re switching from American to British English and the tones of each subject are different, it’s going to look like your content was farmed out to freelancers around the world. If you remember from our article “What is a content strategy”, this doesn’t mean just one blog and that’s it! A content strategy refers to how your content looks as an entire body of work.

Break it up, people. Do you ever just read the first line of a paragraph and wish the rest of it never existed? That normally happens when you have a “wall of words” – an unbroken piece of text that’s normally more than five lines long. This makes people automatically want to skip to the top or bottom of the page.

One sentence paragraphs. The best part about writing for online compared to print, is we’re allowed to have one-sentence paragraphs.

That’s right, you can change the rules.

We went there.

Fragments. Another cool thing about writing for web is you’re occasionally allowed to have sentence fragments because the web content should be conversational. Use these wisely, otherwise your blog is at risk of reading like a tumblr account.

Economy of words. “So, there was this guy who had been going over to the back of the store to get boxes” vs “This guy got boxes”. Feel the difference? Imagine every time you’re writing for the internet, you get fined $1 per word. Use your words wisely, because the more wordy, the sooner your reader will lose interest.

Killer headlines with keywords. We know, balancing between a catchy title and making your content SEO friendly is tricky, but if it comes down to the two, always pick a clicky title. Think about creative ways to phrase your story. Instead of “Speedo cup sales increase in China,” how about, “China’s economy isn’t the only thing getting bigger”?
Connect. Write about issues that are concerning your audience and make sure your content connects with other people. Content isn’t just content anymore – your content can actually come alive. Don’t be shy to imbed posts, share, tweet at someone, and make it easy to connect your media.

Make it easy to scan. Upon first skim, can the reader figure out who’s doing what, when, where and how? With first time bloggers, there is a tendency to yammer on about your internal thought process. That’s alright, just delete it all once you’ve figured out your point and place it at the top of your paragraph.

Don’t miss a Call-To-Action. Now that you’ve proved you can truly help people, it’s your chance to direct people to the next step. Don’t let your reader leave the page without signing up, subscribing, sharing, commenting, clicking, or coming back.

Need help with your content? Drop a message to [email protected]

What is content? – Part 1: An effective Twitter bio

The “About me” section in your professional Twitter profile is like a little digital business card. It’s one of the first things that comes up when potential customers search for you, so when writing your bio, think about your ideal client and how you can explain how you can help them.

Here are 3 key things to keep in mind with your Twitter bio. We’ve paired our tips with tech companies that nailed theirs.

Have laser focus

What are you a master of and how can you help? An overly descriptive explanation of many things your company does doesn’t sound reliable. State the key skills or services you’re are really good at and say why you’re qualified to gain their business.

Likewise, if you’re an individual, listing off a bunch of professional fields you’re into will make you sound like a jack of all trades and master of nothing. i.e. “Writer, yoga instructor, DJ, singer, tech genius, ad tech expert.”

This bio from travel data analytics company, Sojern sums up what they do succinctly:

Write to attract leads, not followers

Followers you can buy, engagement you can’t. Don’t hard sell on your bio, make it conversational. If you can’t think of one, imagine how you would introduce your company to a stranger at a conference. Hammer in your key messages and keywords. Then, leave enough space for a call to action with your contact.

Check out this bio from Eyeota:

Lay off the superlatives

Likewise, don’t over compensate. Are you really “The world’s leading…” with just 300 followers? Twitter has only been around for a decade, but it’s already riddled with cliches. It’s better to be understated than exaggerate. If you’re an individual doing a professional bio, for cliche sakes don’t be a “guru”, “junkie”, or “ninja” of anything.

Here is a perfectly understated bio by one of the world’s most successful startups:

The square bracket takes the smoothness out of the bio, just pretend it’s not there.

Beyond Twitter, have consistency across social media channels, but change your tone. LinkedIn is business, Twitter is engaging with strangers, and Facebook is about friends – but everyone is a potential client. Don’t have the same tone for each platform; pick a key consistent message you really want to push and repeat its in each bio.

Most of all, have fun with your Twitter bio! Here is our personal favourite Twitter bio:

Stand out from the crowd and let us help you create an amazing bio. Contact us at [email protected].

What is a content strategy?

Writing one epic post isn’t enough anymore. In order to reap the benefits of a content marketing strategy, you need an entire body of work that serves to tell your brand story to the right audience, while adding real value to their lives. Tricky, isn’t it?

There isn’t enough word count to wax on about how disruptive your company is, so focus your message around what your company can do for its target audience.

Why is content marketing so hot right now?

The offline world has moved online – from booking a taxi or a housekeeper, to fixing a light bulb or searching for holidays – and people are receiving too much information. Ad blockers are making it harder than ever for display advertising, so smart and creative content marketing is the solution to all of this.

A strategy isn’t simply sending out a company-wide shout-out for a blog post. It starts with a goal and an overarching theme over a longer period of time.

For example, content you need to think about might include:

Your Twitter Bio
Your LinkedIn Summary
LinkedIn account and activity
LinkedIn Pulse strategy
Website copy and tone
Thought leadership articles

Over the next few articles, we will go more into depth on individual content pieces. Stay Tuned!

Need help with your content strategy? Drop a message to [email protected]

Why Words? A brief interview with Joseph Barratt, CEO

Content marketing works, but there’s too much of it out there and engagement is dropping.

The world of content marketing is saturated and people only have time to read insightful articles tailored just for them. This is what we do at Words.

We help businesses engage professional copywriters for services ranging from website content to proofreading and editing. Our parent company, Mutant Communications, is a leading public relations and content marketing agency. However, the digital consumer is evolving, so we’re adapting with a site solely dedicated to your Words.

So, why should you trust us with your content?

To save you time, Words Content Manager, Jane Leung, sat down with Words CEO, Joseph Barratt, to grill him on why clients should be using our service.

JL: Joe can I bother you for a sec?

JB: Well, I’m actually-

JL: It’s about Words!

JB: Oh, what’s up?

JL: Can you tell me why you started Words? How does it differ from what we do at Mutant?

JB: Well, Words is targeted for clients who need ad-hoc and on-demand content. It’s for businesses who don’t necessarily want to jump into a full-blown PR package immediately, but could still use the wit of our wordsmiths to better articulate their brand messages.

JL: Sounds good. Remind me why we’re the best again?

JB: The content at Words can be produced quickly, with an average turnaround of 3-5 days. We only use in-house, experienced former journalists and media professionals like yourself, who know how to research content to help brands scale their content marketing strategy.

JL: What’s special about Words?

JB: You tell me, you’re the Content Manager

JL: Well, we’re real human beings writing words for real human beings.

JB: That’s true.

JL: Cool, thanks, for the info.

JB: Can I see a final copy of this?

JL: No, bye!

Well there you have it!

Need help with your content? Drop a message to [email protected]