How to Come Up With Great Content Ideas

Great social media campaigns  provide quality and engaging experiences for audiences on an ongoing basis. This is different from just shoving out (whatever) messages to as many people as possible.

Providing these ongoing and engaging experiences requires creativity. My last post was about social media being more of an inner game. Creativity is certainly a part of it.

Creativity can seem like a daunting, unattainable, fleeting quality to some.  Others might feel strange or intimidated if they have never thought of themselves as being creative. I've seen people get pretty competitive and egotistical over it, as in, "who's the most creative of all?" Creativity is not a source of power that puts you ahead of everyone else. As kids all of us had easy access to it. It's the conditioned adult mind that covers it up.

For now, let's just focus on your campaign. If you are interested in coming up with fresh, ever evolving material practice these tips.




Brainstorming

Brainstorming is a great way to access ideas that normally don't occur during the course of your regular day. There is no right or wrong way to do it. This is why I am noting the points below in bullets as opposed to numbers.


I personally like to use blank sheets of plain paper. But if you'd like, you can use a journal instead.

• Clear your mind of any thoughts and feelings centered on obligations (e.g. I have to come up with the greatest ideas and insights in order to be successful at this, or I am just going to get this over with)

• Write your question or focus at the top. Don't pressure yourself to come up with great ideas. Simply jot down whatever comes to mind, no matter how unconventional or strange it may seem. Many times little epiphanies don't even have words attached to them. They occur as little blips of insights that you need to translate into words. These are often more valuable than actual statements that come to mind.

• Pay attention to how these ideas feel to you in your gut. Do they feel like something that has been rehashed from another source? Do you experience a strong sense of conviction about them? It's important to really be genuine and honest about how these ideas genuinely feel to you.

• Put away your paper or journal and let the ideas marinate in your subconscious. Revisit the ideas again the following day and again, see how these ideas and insights feel. You may come up with a flurry of other enhancements and new possibilities.  It's really important to refrain from judging yourself or feeling fearful and constrained by other people's opinions (i.e. "what will they think).

• Practice jotting down ideas and revisiting them as many times as you can. The more you do this, the easier the process will become. It's really important to go back to what you have written down so that you can see it with fresh eyes and make any refinements and adjustments as needed. 

• Enjoy the process. Try to put yourself in the exploratory frame of mind of being a kid as opposed to an adult trying to get to the next level. The more you can put yourself in this flow, the better the results will be.

Ideas for Tweets, Blogs and Other Content

Use the tips in the above to create new material for your campaign. As you'll notice, my second bullet was about clarifying and writing down your focus. For your social media objectives, ask yourself what your audience would genuinely be interested in hearing or knowing about. New media is a two way dialogue, as opposed to just pushing sales driven messages.

Go ahead and practice the brainstorming tips above. See what ideas come about.

Another angle you can take is to go through your saved bookmarks and links. Write down, or note what qualities you liked about these materials. Are they humorous? Unique? Daringly honest? Ask yourself how you can incorporate these qualities within your own content strategies.

Maybe even start a compilation of links and sites you don't like. Practice what you preach and use these insights in your own campaign.

Alternatively, you can also note all the links you chose to share with your friends or associates. What was it about this material that compelled you to do this? Does your existing content reflect these qualities?

Practice, Practice Practice!

If this all seems new to you, you might feel a great deal of resistance to these suggestions. The practice of brainstorming may frustrate the heck out of you. If this is the case, just put away whatever you've written. The important part happens each time you revisit your ideas and continue to refine them and align yourself with your gut instincts.
 
Commitment

Don't just keep these ideas in the back burner. Incorporate them into your work process. Turn them into tweets, blogs, videos, podcasts, or whatever outlet you feel is important. You might find it necessary to schedule out your ideas. And once they are out, brainstorm some more!

The Inner Game of Social Media

I think most of us know how fun it is to go online, post or share content and connect with others who share our interests.

If you really look at those who are successful at building actively engaged audiences, it's pretty evident that they truly enjoy what they do. Social media gives them a chance to share their perspective. They can show others who they are and what they do best.

The other day, I posted a tweet about how some of the most recognizable names that we hear on the internet are actually kids- like Justin Bieber and Tavi from Style Rookie.

Kandee Johnson is a popular make up artist on You Tube. She joined You Tube in January 2009. As of now, her videos have received 41,611,838 views. And she has 255,950 subscribers.



In the grown up world, we think of mom bloggers as examples of powerful influencers Marketers love to connect with them because they have a lot of engaged followers and they are able to invest time in quality posts.

On the business side, the question is always, how can we build a massive audience of loyal "users" and be able to monetize these efforts?

With the examples I gave above, I don't think these people really approached social media from the same angle as business professionals. I just can't see them fretting obsessively over their ROI and traffic stats on a daily or weekly basis.

What is common to all of them is that they are passionate about specific areas of interests and enjoy sharing what they do. And if you don't like the examples I gave, by all means, feel free to pick your own. Either way,you will notice the same dynamic as well. Top online influencers invest most of their time and energy on their interests, with the sincere desire to share this with others.

Harnessing the power of social media for business brands would not follow the same dynamic through stringent and overly organized efforts (I'd like to emphasize the word "overly." While being systematic and organized is a good thing, going to extremes can be stifling). The results are often artificial and contrived.

As much as people love to think that social media successes are the exclusive result of having the coolest, most sophisticated technology around, I will take the stand that social media is ultimately more of an inner game, where you need to harness the fun energy and balance it within a business framework.

Unless you are in a position of not having to worry about finances at all, you still have to create an organized system of action to channel your passions and interests in a given area. Being able to tap into the joy of wanting to share, create and communicate is something that is not easy for many people to accomplish at will. Oftentimes, the fears of not being able to meet certain goals and objectives becomes the driving force of many social media campaigns.

Tools and Solutions Are Two Different Things

"Social media innovation will no longer be limited by technology. We will see a move to leverage existing assets, turning information to wisdom and insight to action."- ReadWriteWeb on trends for 2010.

Technology is cool. It has created numerous new possibilities for us. However, let's keep in mind that these innovations are just tools. Tools are good. But skill is even better.

In the area of social media, many professionals are enchanted by fancy technology. Before they even have an audience, they are wondering how they can track and measure conversations around their brand. Before they have a real bona fide community around their brand, they are looking at what implementations would really pimp their social network.

Losing sight of the big picture is not the best scenario. I've seen many instances where clients spend a fortune on the technological side of their marketing and have no budget left for a solid marketing campaign. A few months down the line, they are crying and upset that their plans are not going in the direction they intended.

Tools and solutions are two different things. Besides social media, I also love music and art. Being able to play or compose riveting music and art pieces requires passion, skill and talent. Anyone can buy a piano or violin. Anyone can buy a paintbrush and a paint set. But its skill and the desire to produce quality performance that drive these tools and instruments. 

Going back to the world of social media, it's important to think about how technology can be used to help deliver quality messaging about quality offerings. If you really think about it, social media itself is really just a tool to help brands reach their audience. It cannot replace the need to evolve your offerings and create effective messaging. If you are not excited about your brand and how it's different from everyone else selling the same product or service, then no one else will be either.

A while ago, I wrote a post titled after the book, In Search of the Obvious. The list of quotes are a great place to start thinking beyond the scope of just  having technology and actually turn insight into action.

Conversions & ROI: Creating Baseline Metrics

As a marketing professional, people ask me questions like, "How many unique visitors do you think you get me in a month," or "How many sales will you be able to generate?" Being the truthful person that I am, these types of requests put me at a loss for words because reliable figures take time to generate. 

My last post was about the challenging issue of predicting ROI and conversions. Again, these types of metrics can be viewed as a way to assess the performance of what has already been done. This is obviously different from wanting to know what will happen during the course of your campaign.
   
Reporting and analysis during the beginning stages should be focused on collecting solid baseline data. Baselines are used in science research. They can be thought of as snapshots which tell you about the average level of performance for a specific part of your campaign.  For example, you would have a baseline for Twitter and a different one for Facebook.

Wordnetweb.princeton.edu describes the concept of baseline as, "an imaginary line or standard by which things are measured or compared."

Getting reliable "snapshot" data requires that you collect information on numerous instances.  More is better. For example, if you are trying to determine the average number of Facebook fans acquired per month, it's better if you had data for 18 months as opposed to 2.

So if your campaign did exceptionally well during the first two weeks, it's silly to use these numbers to gauge your success for the next two months. I'm sure this sounds really obvious. But a lot of people do this. Looking at large spans of time will only serve to help you in the long run.
 
Once you establish solid baseline figures, you can measure the performance of any new advancements or additional components to your campaign.

Because my original background is in science, it's natural for me to see how basic practices in research design would have a fitting role in marketing. I was thrilled when I found this article which outlines a very practical method for measuring your ROI.

http://www.stayonsearch.com/how-to-measure-social-media-roi

This is definitely a post to not only bookmark, but to use as well.

The Reliability of ROI's and the Scientific Process

http://sociallogic.blogspot.com/2010/04/conversions-roi-creating-baseline.htmlMost of us are aware that the issue of predicting conversions figures like ROI, for example,  is a tricky one in social media marketing. Clients obviously want to make wise investment choices. And in this economy, no one wants to throw money out the door. Marketing professionals obviously want to win projects and are pressured by the need to provide assurance on the value of their time and efforts spent.

Making quantitative assessments requires the obligation of providing valid and reliable predictions. Understanding why it is tricky to promise conversions and ROI during the initial planning stages of a campaign can be explained by understanding the scientific process.

We depend on scientists to tell us valid information. A knowledge of  basic research concepts will help us make better decisions in social media marketing. 


Multiple, Interacting Variables

Before I elaborate further, let's think about how conclusions are derived in the scientific world.

1. You have an independent variable. This is whatever is conjectured to cause a specific effect.
2. You also have a dependent variable. In simple terms, think of this as the label for the results that you are testing.

In other words, the independent variable is supposed to cause the dependent variable to occur.

In a controlled experiment, you can only test one variable at a time. If you have several variables occurring, you would not be able to conclude that the results were caused by a specific factor.

Campaigns occur in the real world, not in controlled settings. There are too many variables interacting with each other.

The success of Twitter campaigns, for example, depend on factors like

• The quality of a brand's offerings
• The popularity of a brand's offline presence
• Whether or not a brand is natural social part of our culture. (i.e. do people talk about toothpaste and paper towels?)
• How well the Tweets are written

In the planning stages of a marketing campaign, not all the variables are identified up front. As they say, there is usually a huge gap between theory and practice.




During the course of a campaign, other variables and dynamics often occur. Although a marketing specialist can have extensive experience with a particular vertical, they also have to take into account their client's individual characteristics as a brand. There is no point for a brand to be exactly like everyone else. They have to differentiate themselves in order to survive. These points of differentiation introduce other variables into the picture.


Repeatable Testing
Large numbers of people are necessary to form valid reliable conclusions. Are you going to make global strategic conclusions based on a group of 20 people? Or would it make sense to utilize knowledge based on hundreds or thousands of members in your target audience

Scientific conclusions are founded on numerous tests on large numbers of subjects to ensure reliability. Sometimes a result occurs due to chance. Repeating experiments is necessary to rule out chance occurrences.

Campaigns can be tested and measured to some degree (e.g. display ads). However the market, for the most part is dynamic and in constant motion, as opposed to static and predictable.

Establishing quantifiable parameters around a given marketing campaign is not an impossible feat. A lot of thoughtful consideration needs to be done to form any type of conclusion that is reliable.

* Now that you are aware of the challenges of predicting ROI and conversion figures, here is a solution.

"How To" Advice: When There is Too Much Of It.

Headlines that offer to advice on how to do something to make your life better are very catchy.

• 10 Ways To Monetize Your Social Network
• How to Use Customer Insight to Improve Your ROI
• Smart Tips on Reducing Clutter in Your Home or Office
• 4 Mistakes You Should Never Make In Your Marketing Campaign.

These are just a few examples that came up with off the top of my head. But the list is potentially infinite. It seems like everywhere you go, people are offering advice. Sometimes all these lists get overwhelming.

Don't get me wrong. I like advice. I like to give advice and consider the helpful information of other people. I'm all in favor of people making efforts to improve and do better.

Advice is an attention getter. It implies a promise to help make our lives better. And this is what causes us to immediately respond.

It makes us feel good when we've read through the information. But do we ever really follow through and implement a new plan of action based on this new knowledge?

If the advice was something that we actually searched for, then I would say yes. But if the advice was something that we stumbled upon, it's easy to just leave it on the back burner, even though it offered helpful insight. It becomes easier to collect information than it is to implement it.

I've been through this many times before. I feel guilty when I don't take action to change something or move to the next level.

This is a perpetual cycle for a lot of people. The best way to address it is to really make a commitment to continuously evolve ourselves and our work. We can make the choice to be one of those people who reads a lot and overly indulges in the intellectual aspect of it. Or we can make the choice to make real changes happen. 

Just as metatags help in web development, metacognition is something we can use to manage the information we come across on a day to day basis. Metacognition involves having thoughts about thoughts.

• So the first thing to do when we find information that we plan to use is organize it. Create folders in your bookmarks list and organize all the links that you plan to revisit. If its a loose piece of paper, punch holes in it and save it in a binder. If you are reading a book, underline what is most relevant to you. And even take steps to type up an actual workable list for yourself that you will revisit as many times as needed.

• Then instead of trying to tackle the entire list, ask yourself which piece of information is most directly relevant to an issue that you are trying to solve in your life. It's usually best to go with your first instincts as opposed to your rationalized thoughts. 

• Most importantly, commit this information to paper and stick it on a corkboard or tape it somewhere so that you won't forget about it. Try to mentally see how this piece of information applies to you or your project. And again, commit this to paper so that you will remember to actually implement this new piece of information.

Taking these steps may seem really cumbersome. After all, it is about breaking the cycle of the idea junkie of just collecting information and neglecting to take action. In the end,  this investment of time is worth it if you want bona fide results and bigger rewards.

Threadless- A Social Media Campaign to Learn From

When people first start to consider social media as part of their marketing efforts, the first thing they think of is "money." This is natural tendency of course. But thinking of dollars every minute throughout the duration of your campaign will only stifle it instead of moving you towards increasing returns.

A healthier perspective is to ask yourself, "how can I interact with my market and build a stronger relationship with my customers?" A name and a logo don't give people a strong enough reason to choose one company over another. A personalized engagement is. Aren't you more likely to choose a company whom you've had a positive personal interaction with. Or would go with one because you liked their  name, logo and tagline?

"People will forget what you said. People will forget what you did. But they will never forget how you made them feel." I used this quote in another post by Maya Angelou. But since it is an important lesson to keep in mind, I thought to include it again.

Threadless is an example of a company who executes social media successfully by prioritizing quality interactions above everything else. In case you are not familiar with the name, they are a youth culture T-shirt company that lets their target market participate in designing and voting for shirts. Here is a video with Bob Nanna of Threadless.





As you can tell, their social campaign is quite thoughtfully done. It's a great example that illustrates how returns will follow with consistent quality engagement.