Tuesday Tip: Monthly Content Creation with 1st Degree

Coming up with new marketing and social media content each month can be a daunting task. Just when you finish one month of content, it’s time to start on the next. It can feel like you’re on a hamster wheel.

Developing and building good content takes time, research, creativity and, often, a good brainstorming session with colleagues. Our team has some tips for curating ideas and getting the most out of each month.

How to Find Your Topics

Every day is a holiday, and while it may be fun to post about “Bring Your Dog to Work Day” or “National Spaghetti Day,” it’s important to draw a correlation to who you are and how the holiday fits your marketing efforts or campaigns. At 1st Degree, we choose to anchor our social media and marketing for the month around already relevant content either with what we do or what we are working on for our clients. We look for ways to highlight the great work we are doing and call on our followers to draw the correlation on how the specific content relates to the work that we do. The ideas are endless!

Research Hashtags

Hashtags are a helpful way to discover what people are talking about on social media. Hop onto Instagram or Twitter and do a quick search to see how relevant and ‘hot’ a topic is. Write down other hashtags that users associate with your subject to expand your audience reach. Hashtags are a great way to become a part of the conversation, discover similar organizations and build your audience based on mutual interest.

The Power of Symbols

Tapping into creativity is a big piece of what we do at 1st Degree to come up with fresh and engaging content. One of the creative brainstorming approaches that often works for us is focusing on symbols. Recently we worked with a client whose symbol was an anchor. After a deep dive into the word, history and relevance, we had our slogan. Choosing a symbol as a key image of your marketing campaign can add a powerful punch – it is something your targeted audience can easily reference and remember.

What Has Already Been Done

Researching what has already been done is one of the most important steps for creating great and relevant content. This kind of research can serve as an inspiration or a warning sign to steer clear of a topic if it was not well-received. When creating new content, try to put a unique and fresh spin on it. This will help your article stand out amid the approximately 4.54 billion pages of content on the internet!

Brainstorm a Catchy Headline

A good headline is one of the most important ways to get your content noticed. Ensure that your headline is catchy and optimized for search engines. SEO-friendly headlines are typically between 50-60 characters long and contain keywords that are discussed in your article. Headlines should give insight into what your audience will get from reading the article, while also enticing them enough to read it. “Spring Cleaning Tips” can be spruced up with a call-to-action like, “7 Office Cleaning Tips from 1st Degree to Put a ‘Spring’ in Your Step.” This headline is far better than the first draft for a few reasons. It explains exactly what the reader will get: seven steps to cleaning. It highlights the company name: 1st Degree, and it has a catchy phrase to grab the reader: ‘spring’ in your step.

Curating articles with fresh content and social media campaigns each month can feel overwhelming, but with these tips, discovering relevant topics can be a breeze. Don’t have enough time on your hands to tackle the monthly creative push? 1st Degree can help your organization produce relevant articles and social media content to create awareness around your brand. Visit our website to learn more!