public relations techniques
Rachel Moffett

#ContentWritingChat Recap: How to Use Public Relations Techniques to Grow Your Brand This Year with Michelle Garrett

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Is public relations necessary for your brand, even if you’re a small business?

If so, how should you be incorporating public relations techniques into your overall strategy? And what changes can we expect to see in the year ahead?

We answered all those questions and more in the latest #ContentWritingChat! If you’re ready to start taking PR seriously for your business, you’ll want to read all the amazing tips our community shared!

#ContentWritingChat Recap: How to Use Public Relations Techniques to Grow Your Brand This Year with Michelle Garrett

Our guest host for this month’s chat was Michelle Garrett. She’s a freelance writer, content creator, and a public relations consultant. When it comes to using PR within your business, Michelle had a lot of great tips to share with us. So, let’s go ahead and dive into the recap!

Q1: Should brands be utilizing public relations in 2018? If so, why is it important?

While some may argue that public relations isn’t necessary, it’s actually essential for businesses both big and small. If you aren’t sold that it’s worth investing in, here’s why it’s so crucial to have a PR pro by your side:

As Michelle said, public relations is more relevant than ever. She feels PR is important for reputation management, boosting SEO, and more. Plus, she knows just how useful those public relations skills can be in other areas, like building relationships and influencer marketing.

Jason knows how important it is for a brand to stay true to their mission and make sure their audience sees them in a positive light. Public relations can help with that.

As Dave mentioned, the public can easily interact with your brand now more than ever, which is really thanks to social media. That means managing your reputation online is more important than ever.

Shawn is spot-on when he says that every brand has a story to tell. By investing in public relations, it’s easy for brands to craft and share their story with the world.

Mike also agrees that public relations is essential to strategic storytelling. He also mentioned that it’s important PR coordinates with marketing, community, and other efforts. It’s important that everything works together and that everyone representing your brand is on the same page.

Q2: Do companies need to hire someone or can they manage their public relations efforts themselves?

Is it worth investing in an outside source to handle your company’s public relations or can you hire from within? Here’s some great advice to help you make the decision:

As Michelle said, brands can absolutely manage public relations on their own. However, having an experienced professional by your side can be incredibly beneficial. The important thing here is that you don’t ignore public relations. Make sure someone has a handle on it.

Whether it’s someone in-house or an outside agency, having someone to manage your public relations tasks is a must. Narmadhaa knows this isn’t a waste of money, but something that’s going to be valuable for the long run.

Whether or not you have someone within your company handle PR or you outsource it will depend on a few things. For instance, how big is your organization? Bigger companies are more likely to have the budget to outsource PR to an agency, while smaller businesses will probably have to handle it in-house.

Jason feels the same. If your company is on the larger size, you definitely want a PR manager by your side.

One great thing about hiring someone externally to handle the job is that it gives you outside perspective and fresh ideas. That’s a huge bonus!

Plus, hiring a PR professional is also helpful because they’re going to have the knowledge you and your team might not have otherwise. At the very least, take Lexie’s advice and consult with a pro in the field before moving forward.

If you have someone on your team that is skilled and can take on the work, go for it. Otherwise, you’ll want to outsource it!

Kathryn shared a great tip as well. You want to make sure you hire someone who is actually excited about the work. Passion for the job goes a long way!

Q3: What can go wrong if a brand doesn’t hire a public relations professional?

If you aren’t sold on investing in someone who knows their stuff when it comes to public relations, these responses from the chat just might change your mind:

As Michelle pointed out, brands are always tripping up. They rely on their PR team to have their back and remedy the situation as quickly as possible.

It’s pretty easy to offend the general public today. One wrong email or social media post can spell disaster for your brand. That’s why you need someone who has your back in these times just in case something does go wrong.

Not having a public relations team on your side could cause more problems for your staff. And no one wants to deal with that!

As Maria pointed out, silence can definitely reflect poorly on a brand when something goes wrong. With a PR professional to help, you can craft a message to help resolve a negative situation you might be in.

Without a public relations team, you could miss out on a lot of great opportunities for your company.

And hey, if you need a little more convincing, Googling PR disasters should be all the convincing you need.

And as Kathryn said, everything can go wrong if the wrong person (or no one) is driving the bus. It’s better to be safe the sorry, so hire someone who knows their stuff.

Q4: Share some major public relations nightmares and what can be learned from them.

We’ve all seen public relations disasters happen, but what are some of the biggest ones that will stick with us forever? Learn from the mistakes these companies made:

Michelle shared a fairly recent incident regarding the Red Hen restaurant. Unfortunately, a totally innocent restaurant was attacked after the whole debacle. Even though they were actually involved, they still needed to handle the situation the right way, otherwise it could reflect poorly on them.

Julia shared some great examples of PR nightmares. For instance, there was a ridiculous typo from a presidential candidate, a failed trend jacking incident, and an offensive commercial. Yikes!

Accidentally posting a personal message to the company Twitter account? Not good!

Even large companies like Facebook and Uber aren’t immune to public relations fiascos.

Q5: How can brands use public relations to their advantage in the year ahead?

To help you make the most of your PR efforts, you’ll want to keep this advice in mind:

Michelle’s mission is to get clients to better integrate public relations, social media, and content marketing. When everything works together, you’re going to see much better results!

We love this tidbit from Gene: start building goodwill wherever you go. That’s such a good reminder! Don’t forget to educate your employees on maintaining a great brand image because they’re out there representing you. And of course, have a plan for when things go up in flames!

Get your PR and marketing team together to discuss campaigns before publishing them. It helps to have an extra set of eyes on your content to avoid any potential disasters.

A world where marketing, PR, and social media all worked together? We agree with Shawn that it would be amazing!

Q6: What role does social media play when it comes to public relations? What should brands know to build a thriving presence?

When you make smart choices with the public relations techniques you use, you can really stand out in social media. Here’s some advice to keep in mind for the year ahead:

Michelle feels that public relations and social media really need to be under the same roof or at the very least, coordinating with one another. It helps to craft a consistent message and keeps everyone on the same page. Plus, your PR team may often use paid social ads to gain exposure.

The two are really synonymous and you want to make sure they’re working together.

Michael mentioned that social media plays a big role in your PR efforts. Through social, you can get instant feedback from your audience, which is essential.

Q7: What do you predict for the future of public relations, from the rest of 2018 and beyond? How is it changing?

What’s ahead in the world of public relations? Here are some predictions you should know about:

AI is one thing Michelle says you should keep an eye on. She also thinks the use of visuals, such as video, will continue to be huge for brands.

Jason feels PR is taking on a more social component. All the content you produce needs to portray your brand in a positive light.

Julia feels it’s important to pay attention to how social media evolves because that will impact public relations overall. She said to stay on top of the trends and incorporate them into your strategy.

As Zala said, PR pros aren’t just one-way communicators. They’re active in the content creation process, so you should absolutely embrace that moving forward.

Automation continues to be more popular, but it is limiting since there’s no human touch. You don’t want to go overboard. Like Michelle, Michael also mentioned virtual reality playing a role in PR in the future.

Want to join us for the next #ContentWritingChat? Our Twitter party happens on the first Tuesday of every month at 10 AM Central! Follow @ExpWriters and @writingchat to stay updated!

personal brand on linkedin
Rachel Moffett

#ContentWritingChat Recap: How to Nail Your Personal Brand on LinkedIn to Grow Your Network with Nicole Osborne

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Could your LinkedIn profile use a little sprucing up?

If so, you’re in luck!

During this month’s #ContentWritingChat, we had a LinkedIn pro join us to share her best tips! With this advice, your profile is sure to shine and help you attract tons of new connections!

#ContentWritingChat Recap: How to Nail Your Personal Brand on LinkedIn to Grow Your Network with Nicole Osborne

Our guest host this week was Nicole Osborne. She’s a Chartered Marketer and the founder of Lollipop Social. She’s been working with businesses for nearly 20 years to help them get “sweet results” with their social media marketing. And now, Nicole is helping you through our chat!

Q1: How can LinkedIn benefit your marketing?

Perhaps you’re not on LinkedIn? Or maybe you have a profile that you’ve been neglecting? Either way, you might be wondering how LinkedIn can be beneficial for you. Here’s what you need to know:

As Nicole pointed out, there’s a good chance your audience is on LinkedIn, which is plenty of reason to be there yourself! She feels it’s your chance to grow your network, position yourself as a thought leader in your industry, make connections, and generate leads for your business.

Ben knows LinkedIn can be great for many brands, especially those who are B2B. It’s your chance to reach a wider audience and introduce them to your offerings.

Jason said LinkedIn is a great way to establish your brand authority. You just need to share valuable content regularly and focus on engaging with others. In time, you’ll begin to see results!

Warwick feels LinkedIn provides a simple way to deliver your message to your audience, as you can easily share both long-form content and videos.

For John, LinkedIn is a great platform for sharing long-form content, as well as finding clients for your business. He’s found many opportunities this way.

Whether someone is looking for a service or a job, many are turning to LinkedIn. If you’re there and have an active profile, there’s a good chance you’ll be discovered.

Q2: Why does creating a top notch personal brand for LinkedIn matter, especially if you are the brand?

So, why does building your personal brand on LinkedIn even matter? Here’s what some of our chat participants had to say:

Nicole knows it’s important to show off your skills, your personality, and your credentials. That’s going to help attract people to your profile in the first place. By building your personal brand on LinkedIn, you can stand out from your competitors, establish trust with your audience, and get your content noticed.

Warwick brings up a great point about how you shouldn’t leave your career to chance. Instead, you want to take control of your digital presence and ensure you’re giving people a strong impression. Through LinkedIn, you’re able to establish both your authority and credibility.

As John said, people want to interact with personal social media feeds more than company pages. By building your personal brand there, it helps you form that connection and establish trust with your audience.

Andrea agrees, stating that people don’t choose brands, but they choose people. Having that relationship with the person or team behind a logo makes a huge difference.

Sarah pointed out that if you and your brand are the same, this is a much easier task. Simply focus on marketing yourself as the expert in whatever it is you do and people will start to see you as such.

Q3: How can you identify your personal brand values and content approach to achieve an authentic style?

To create content that resonates with the right people, you need to be yourself and communicate your brand’s values. These tips will help you do that:

Nicole shared some helpful tips that’ll guide you in figuring out what your personal brand values are. She said to think about your why, what you stand for, and what makes you different. If that’s a challenge for you, ask someone in your life like a friend or family member who can offer honest feedback.

From there, Nicole says to pick three values that showcase how you want to be perceived.

Once you have those values in mind, think about what that means for your clients and how you can reflect those values within your content.

Start with what you know, instead of trying to be something you’re not. If you aren’t true to yourself, people will see right through.

These are fantastic questions that Jason shared! Answering these will help guide you in building an authentic personal brand on LinkedIn that truly resonates with the right people.

Find a way to stand out on LinkedIn, which you can do by sharing your thoughts and opinions on topics. If you have something valuable to say, don’t be afraid to speak out. And of course, you always need to interact with others on the platform.

Julia’s advice is to be strategic about what you post on LinkedIn and when you’ll post it. She also feels consistency, quality, and originality are important when crafting content for the platform. Make sure you’re also connecting with others as well!

Q4: What are your top tips for creating a personal brand on LinkedIn?

To nail your personal brand on LinkedIn, keep this advice in mind:

Nicole suggests being sociable, tapping into people’s emotions, asking questions and adding value, using a great photo of yourself and on-brand visuals, and trying out the new features.

Warwick knows it’s important to have a point of view. That’s important because you don’t want someone to think you’re just like everyone else on the platform. Be yourself and voice your insights on topics that are important in your field.


Always be yourself. And of course, make sure you know who you’re trying to reach and what you hope to achieve with your content. That will always guide you along the right path.

Don’t be afraid to experiment to see what truly resonates with your audience.

Make sure you give your followers what they want! Jeff’s advice is to share actionable advice instead of vague tips. Give up what you know to better serve your audience.

These are great tips from Julia that everyone should be implementing on LinkedIn!

Consistency, content, and connect are the three C’s of LinkedIn for Andrea.

Having a consistent voice for your brand goes a long way in making sure your content is easily recognizable.

Engaging is key, no matter what social media platform you’re using!

Q5: How can you optimize your profile on LinkedIn to increase its impact?

One important factor in your LinkedIn success is to make sure your profile is optimized. A great profile is going to stand out from the crowd and help you make new connections. Check out these tips to spruce up your profile:

Nicole shared some must-do tricks to help you optimize your LinkedIn profile. She suggests making it searchable with the right hashtags, experimenting with different headlines, telling a story that makes your audience care, and more.

Don’t forget to maintain your bio. You want to keep your profile updated, instead of letting it get out-of-date. Make sure everything is easy to consume as well, otherwise people won’t be bothered to read what you’ve published on your page.

John’s advice is to use keywords in your headline without being too long, stating the problem you solve for your audience within your summary, including your contact details early on, and using emojis to spice up your lists.

Use keywords in your bio that are going to reflect the services you offer, write a great introduction about yourself, and post articles you’ve written, awards you’ve received, and places you’ve worked. Make sure you use hashtags too!

Warwick suggests pinning media to your profile, writing articles or repurposing content, and using keywords to help people find you.

A recent image and fresh content are key! Take Lexie’s advice and keep your profile updated.

Q6: How can you use video to make your brand more relatable on LinkedIn?

We all know that video is pretty powerful and it can play a major role as you work to nail your personal brand on LinkedIn. But if you’re wondering how to make sure your videos are getting great results, keep these tips in mind:

Nicole knows that video is a fantastic opportunity to help your audience get to know the person behind the service. Things don’t have to be perfect with video. You just need to do it and see how your audience responds.

Julia’s advice is to keep your videos under six minutes, use captions, and add titles and effects to keep things interesting.

Tony said to use video to inform, not sell. By informing your audience, you’re building trust, which leads people to buying anyway (when done right).

As Sarah said, who doesn’t love video? It’s a chance for your audience to get to know you better, so take advantage of it!

Tell your story and share your knowledge with the videos you post on LinkedIn.

These are some awesome video ideas from Andrea. Give people the behind-the-scenes look into your work, create a tutorial, share testimonials, or introduce a new product. The ideas are endless here.

Q7: How can you increase engagement with your posts on LinkedIn to increase the visibility of your brand?

Is there anything worse that when your LinkedIn posts go unnoticed? As far as social media goes, probably not! To make sure your personal brand on LinkedIn is getting the attention it deserves, here are some tips:

Nicole suggests engaging with five posts before you post your own, avoid sending people off LinkedIn with external links, post your blogs as long-form articles and tag contacts, and check your notifications twice a day.

Always think about what your audience wants and create with them in mind if you want your content to succeed.

John shared some great tips that are worth trying out!

Don’t be afraid to tag people and employers when relevant. Use hashtags as well. Both are ways to helps you expand your reach.

Comment on posts from others and share their content. They just might return the favor!

Andrew says to diversify your content. Share blogs, graphics, videos, etc. to see what performs the best. You can also ask open-ended questions to get the conversation going.

Q8: How can you build up thought leadership on LinkedIn to grow your network?

We all want to position ourselves as thought leaders within our industries, right? Well, this advice will help you craft a LinkedIn presence that does just that:

This advice from Nicole will really have you standing out on LinkedIn!

As Julia said, don’t be a copycat!

Sarah suggests bringing a new take to an old thought. Your audience will appreciate it.

Providing updated, valuable information is key to building your thought leadership. Make sure you’re engaging as well!

Want to join us for the next #ContentWritingChat? Mark your calendars and be there on Twitter for the first Tuesday of every month from 10-11 AM Central! Just follow @ExpWriters and @writingchat for all the latest.

creative writing
Rachel Moffett

#ContentWritingChat Recap: How Creative Writing Taught Me to be a Better Digital Marketer with Stoney deGeyter

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Do you do any creative writing, whether it’s for your job or for fun?

If not, you might want to consider making it part of your regular routine!

Besides helping to get those creative juices flowing, doing some fiction writing can actually help you become a better digital marketer. And who wouldn’t want that?

But how is that possible, you ask? Well, that’s exactly what we discussed in this week’s #ContentWritingChat! So, let’s dive into the recap for all the tips!

#ContentWritingChat Recap: How Creative Writing Taught Me to be a Better Digital Marketer with Stoney deGeyter

Our guest host for this week’s chat was Stoney deGeyter. He’s a digital marketer, an author, and a speaker. He’s learned a lot about becoming a better digital marketer, thanks to his passion for writing sci-fi. If you want to learn his tips and how creative writing can help you as well, just keep on reading!

Q1: Have you done at creative writing, whether in your career or for fun? If so, tell us about the work you’ve written!

To kick off the chat, we decided to find out just how many of our chat participants have dabbled in creative writing. Here’s what some of them had to say:

Stoney used to write poetry in his high school and college days. He also has experience with music, as he shared he wrote some songs with friends while in a band. Now, he’s focused on writing his novel about time travel.

Danielle grew up writing many short stories.

Gene would write stories about robots when he was a kid.

Finishing his two fiction books has been on Bill’s bucket list.

Ben has written songs in the past as well!

Q2: What storytelling tactics that work well for fiction writers can be implemented in a digital marketing strategy?

Are there any storytelling tactics you can use in digital marketing as well? Try implementing some of these tips to take your content to the next level:

Stoney said you always want to have a problem to solve. As he pointed out, people are rarely searching the web for fun. They’re typically looking for something and you have to be able to deliver it. Figure out what your audience is looking for and what is prompting their search. That’s going to help you create the content they’ll love.

Make sure you also understand the type of person you’re writing for. This will allow you to get inside their mind and determine what’s going to hook them and make them want to read your blog post or story.

Lexie knows that captivating your audience is no easy task. But when you can do this successfully, you’ll have them hooked!

For Ben, he focuses on the setup, the conflict, and the resolution.

Make your audience feel something with your writing!

Think about the characters, the plot, and the challenges your audience faces.

Julia made a great point about including graphics in your content. It’s a great way to provide some visual interest and hold attention.

Q3: Are there any rules you should keep in mind when doing creative writing or handling your digital marketing tasks?

Here are a few rules our chat participants think you should be sticking to:

Stoney suggests always starting with the best practices, such as the hook, the setup, the characters, and more. But as he pointed out, you also have to consider what works best for your audience and your industry.

Of course, you always need to know who your audience is and create with them in mind.

Follow your style guide and focus on readability, accessibility, and grammar.

Danielle said you always need to answer what’s in it for your audience.

Proper grammar is always important, so don’t skimp here!

Shawn also agrees that proper grammar is a must. If you aren’t editing for grammar and spelling, you can turn writers away.

Q4: When writing any kind of story, it’s important to stay in character. How do you make sure you’re doing this when creating online content?

Are there any good tips for staying in character when you write? Check out these suggestions straight from the chat:

Find your voice and stay consistent. As Stoney said, it’ll be hard for readers to feel like they know you if you’re writing sounds like it has multiple personalities. Write in a voice that’s genuine to you and that will appeal to them.

Julia suggests creating style guidelines for your brand. This will help you stay consistent with your voice, plus it’ll help if you have other writers on your team.

Megan agrees that a brand guide is a must!

Know what attracted your audience to your site in the first place. Make sure you keep that in mind when you write new content.

As Steven said, you need to have a firm understanding of your audience. This will guide you in writing in a way that appeals to them.

It can also help to create an outline of your content beforehand. Once you’re done, have someone else look it over and do any editing before publishing. A second pair of eyes can help catch anything that needs to be changed.

If you don’t have someone to edit for you, you can always walk away from your content for a few hours and then come back to review it.

Tools like Hemingway are also fantastic for writers to use!

Q5: Why is it so important to start with the end in mind when creating anything? How will that guide you along the right path?

If you don’t create content with your end goal in mind, it’s such a missed opportunity. Here’s why:

Stoney made a great point about how your story leading up to the end can’t be lacking. If it is, it won’t inspire people to take action. And then, you won’t be able to achieve your end result.

As Lexie said, how can you get from Point A to Point B if you don’t know how to get there?

Knowing your goal will really come in handy throughout the planning and execution phases. Andrea said you’ll avoid going down any useless roads when you know where you want to go.

And if you don’t have a goal in mind, how will you know when you’re done? How will you know your content served its purpose?

Q6: How can you tell whether or not your audience is actually resonating with the content you produce, whether it’s a book or a blog post?

It’s important to track the success of your content after it’s published. But how can you know if your readers actually enjoy it? Check out these tips:

Make sure you’re keeping an eye on your analytics for online content. Are people visiting your content? If not, revisit the piece itself or see if you could do additional work on social media to spread the word.

Julia suggests tracking your rankings, conversations, traffic, and leads.

Conversions are very important! Are people making purchases, joining your list, etc.?

Sarah agrees that conversions are a must! She also suggests keeping an eye out to see if people are engaging with your content, linking to it themselves, or sharing it with their audience.

Lexie suggests looking at behavior metrics. How long are people spending on your site? Are they clicking on any CTAs in the post or are they bouncing? These are all important things to keep an eye on.

Relations and conversions are a must!

Narmadhaa said to pay attention to responses and engagement your content receives.

Q7: How do you make sure you’re always learning and growing as both a writer and a digital marketer?

Continue strengthening your skills by keeping these tips in mind:

Stoney’s advice is to set aside time to educate yourself each week. You can read a wide array of books, plus check out some of the blogs in your industry.

For Chelsea, she loves to read industry-related articles on Inc. and Forbes. She also sets Google Alerts to stay updated.

Danielle knows Twitter chats are a great place to learn and better your skills.

Andre suggests paying attention to what’s trending, being open to new experiences, and not being afraid to take risks.

Be prepared to be criticized for your work and make sure you’re actually learning from those critiques instead of letting it drag you down.

Want to join the Twitter chat fun? #ContentWritingChat happens on the first Tuesday of every month at 10 AM Central! Follow @ExpWriters and @writingchat to join us!

episodic content
Rachel Moffett

#ContentWritingChat Recap: Episodic Content for Better Storytelling, Engagement, & Online Results with Chris Strub

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Are you creating episodic content to build your online presence?

If not, you should really consider it! As you’ll learn in this week’s #ContentWritingChat, it can help boost engagement and provide better storytelling.

CTA-EW-02

So, how do you get started with episodic content? Just keep reading for all the amazing tips shared during our chat!

#ContentWritingChat Recap: Episodic Content for Better Storytelling, Engagement, & Online Results with Chris Strub

Our guest host this week was Chris Strub. He was previously on our very own Write Podcast talking about the same topic, so it only made sense to invite him onto our Twitter chat as well! Chris is an award-winning roadtrip marketer and had some great advice to share with all of us. Let’s dive in!

Q1: How do you define “episodic content” in the context of social media?

If you aren’t familiar, you might be wondering what episodic content actually is. Here are some answers from our chat that should give you a better understanding:

Chris says episodic content is bringing value to your audience on an ongoing, repeated basis, as part of a consistent, regularly schedule and public plan. He knows that having a content plan is important to your success. After all, planning ahead allows you to be strategic and helps you stay on track with your goals.

As Cheval said, episodic content takes a person on a journey. That’s exactly how you should think about the content you create online.

Eddie feels episodic content can build suspense and create anticipation for your audience. That’s a great way to keep them coming back for more in the future.

Each piece of content is like a brick that builds one on top of the other. That’s a great way to look at it! You want to keep your audience invested throughout the journey.

Sabina said episodic content is all about creating content in some sort of sequence. This will help you plan out your content in advance to ensure everything flows and works together.

As Julia mentioned, episodic content can be shared on your blog, a podcast, video, and so much more. You can get creative and find the formats that work best for you and your audience.

Don’t forget you should always build off of and learn from the content you’ve previously published.

Q2: Why is it beneficial for content creators to think episodically?

Now that you know what episodic content is, you’re probably wondering what the exact benefits are. Here’s what you need to know:

As Chris pointed out, people want to know what’s next and what they’ve missed. It creates excitement and anticipation when they know what’s coming up. And when they can easily see what they’ve missed, they’re able to get caught up without any trouble.

Julia said episodic content is beneficial because it helps you build real connections and loyal fans. That’s crucial for creating long-term success online and positioning yourself as an authority.

All of your content should be strategic and work together. As Sabina pointed out, thinking episodically helps you create links between your content pillars.

It’s all about bringing visitors to your site down a funnel towards your end goal. Episodic content has the power to do that with ease when done right. Sarah said you need to build on the story and build the relationship, which you’d do by adding more content that leads them down the path.

Jason said you don’t have to feel pressured to tell a story in just one piece of content. You can break it up and spread the value across several pieces of content. This is easier for you to create and better for your audience to consume.

If you let people know what’s coming next, you give them something to look forward to. As Olivia said, if they invested the time to read the first part, there’s a a good chance they’ll come back in the future.

And when you give people something to look forward to, they keep coming back for more. That’s going to help generate repeat traffic to your website, which is important.

Ken feels episodic content creates a feeling of comfort and expectation for your audience.

Q3: Is it important to be explicit about our broader episodic content strategy?

If you’re going to start creating episodic content, do you have to inform your audience ahead of time? Here are some opinions straight from Tuesday’s chat:

Chris feels it’s beneficial for you and your audience to recognize the bigger strategy at play. Plus, as he pointed out, authenticity is important. Your audience respects that. At the very least, Chris suggests informing people what the next piece of content in your plan is. This way, they can anticipate it.

Gene agrees that it’s important to set the expectation. As he said, if people are expecting episodic content and you don’t deliver, it can break your trust. So, if you’re going to go the episodic route, make sure you take it seriously.

Eddie said the easier you can make it for your audience to consume content in the way they want, the better the engagement you’ll receive.

By being upfront with your audience, Jason says your audience will know about the journey they’re on. Those that started at the beginning will know what’s coming up and those that discover it later on can go back and see what they missed.

Lexie feels that being explicit about your content will help you build trust with your readers.

From a reader’s perspective, Narmadhaa likes to know where thing are heading. She also feels it’s easier for the writer when they’ve planned content and know what they’re working toward.

This is a great response from Shawn. As he said, your audience is going to let you know what works and what doesn’t. Pay attention to them.

Q4: Which social media mediums — text, video, audio, photos, etc. — are most amendable to episodic content marketing?

Is there a certain medium you should be focusing on to bring your episodic content strategy to life? Or can it work with a variety of formats? Check out these answers to this question:

Chris feels any medium where people are consuming your content can be effective. This is when it comes in handy to really know your audience and what resonates with them.

Sarah agrees that it depends on your audience and their interests. Think about your message and how your audience is consuming content. Do more of what they want to see.

Lexie feels the same way! She also recommends using a variety of social media mediums to deliver your content.

Alexandra feels a combination of at least two mediums is the most effective.

For Cheval, it’s all about live streaming and podcasting.

Eddie likes the idea of creating video, which can then be repurposed into a variety of formats.

Social media gives you so many options. Twitter allows you to create a thread of tweets or a Moment. You can also create stories with Snapchat or Instagram. And that’s only the beginning! Get creative with how you use social media for episodic content.

Q5: Can I go back and modify content I’ve already made to make it episodic?

If you have an archive full of content, is it possible to make it more episodic? Here’s what you should keep in mind:

Chris said you can absolutely go back and modify content to make it episodic, such as blog posts and podcasts. He said simply adding a number to a podcast episode, for example, can help.

Jason knows this is a great reason to go back and update your older content.

Eddie suggests taking long-form content and breaking it up into smaller content pieces that can be posted on your social media channels.

Q6: What are the best ways to “string together” my episodic content?

Now, how do you put all of this episodic content together in a way that flows? These are some great tips from the chat:

There are a variety of ways you can string your content together. You can add episode numbers to your content, like with a podcast. You can also organize YouTube videos into playlists. Chris feels seeing those numbers or an extensive playlist showcases your knowledge. As he pointed out, Twitter is great for combining content, especially when creating a Twitter Moment.

But of course, one of the key things is to create a content calendar. This is your opportunity to plan ahead and ensure everything works together.

Simply letting people know that there’s more content coming in the series lets them know what to expect.

You can also use the same image design or color schemes to connect episodic content. You’ll also want to consider titles and hashtags as well.

And don’t forget to interlink those related blog posts! It’s a great way to keep people on your site longer.

Q7: Which social media storytellers do an outstanding job creating content that is episodic?

Are there any online storytellers that really stand out to you? These people are all worth checking out and learning from:

Chris has a few favorite storytellers, including Brian Fanzo and Ross Brand.

Julia thinks Madalyn Sklar, Ai Addyson-Zhang, and Chris are all doing a fantastic job.

Q8: Chris, you’ve written two books you categorize as “Roadtrip Marketing.” What is “Roadtrip Marketing,” and why is it such a great example of episodic content?

Here’s what Chris had to say about his books and Roadtrip Marketing:

As you can see, Chris has done some pretty amazing work! If you haven’t already checked him out, make sure you do!

Want to chat with us? #ContentWritingChat happens on the first Tuesday of every month at 10 AM Central Time! Follow @ExpWriters and @writingchat to stay updated!

promote your books on social media
Rachel Moffett

#ContentWritingChat Recap: Authors: How to Successfully Promote Your Books on Social Media with Lori Anding

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Calling all authors and aspiring authors!

It’s no secret that the success of your book largely depends on how you promote it and spread the word to your audience. After all, you need to get your book into the hands of as many people as you can, right?

If you’re wondering how to effectively promote your current or next book on social media, we’ve got you covered with this week’s #ContentWritingChat.

There are tons of promotional tips that you can use, no matter what genre your book is! And there are some great tactics in this recap.

#ContentWritingChat Recap: Authors: How to Successfully Promote Your Books on Social Media with Lori Anding

Our guest host this week was Lori Anding. Lori is a frequent participant of #ContentWritingChat. She knows a great deal about how to successfully promote your books on social media so you can increase sales. Keep reading to find out her tips and advice from other chat participants!

Q1: Do you have an e-book or self-published book? What strategies have you used to get them in the hands of readers?

To kick off the chat, we asked everyone to share whether or not they’ve published a book before. And if so, we wanted to know what they did to spread the word. Here are a few responses:

Kathryn knows that building relationships is key to getting your books out there to your audience. People are more likely to support someone they know, like, and trust.

Although Lexie doesn’t have a book, she shared a great tip about contacting book bloggers. You can give an advance copy to some of the top book bloggers and have them review it. It’s a fantastic way to gain more exposure.

Although Annette said she’d do things differently now, she used to give her books away and sell them at poetry readings. That can be very effective if you attend events where your ideal reader is hanging out.

Q2: You’re in the process of writing a book. When should you start thinking about book launching strategies?

At one point in time do you start considering how you’ll promote your books on social media? Do you wait until it’s done or get started earlier? Here are some thoughts from Tuesday’s chat:

Lori said you should begin thinking about launching strategies before you start writing. This will allow you to build your audience and engage with them long before the book is available. That way, they’ll be primed and ready to buy when it launches. She pointed out that social media is a fantastic way to do this, so begin building your audience there now.

Julia said to think about how you will promote your book at least one year before you publish. Even better, she advises you to think about it before you start writing. As she said, you want to have a warm audience ready and waiting to buy your book.

Lexie said to begin thinking about your launch once you have your book topic and idea.

Maria agrees that it’s important to think about promotional strategies early on. It can help raise awareness and build engagement around the book.

Q3: What does it mean to think with the end in mind in terms of launching a book to your audience?

So, what does it mean? Check out these responses from the chat:

For Lori, thinking with the end in mind means knowing how you want to promote your books on social media. You may be relying on organic reach if you don’t have the budget to pay for promotion, which is totally fine. You have to determine what’s going to work for you.

She did share some great advice about organic promotion though. If you begin building your audience early enough, they can actually help you spread the word about your book. That can deliver tremendous reach!

Julia said it’s important to become an expert in your field and earn your authority before you start writing. People will be more likely to purchase your book if you’ve already established yourself.

Q4: Your book is finally complete! Does this mean all of the marketing is taken care of? If not, what’s left for you to do?

What happens after the book is all done? Do you get to kick back on the beach and relax? Or is there still work to be done? Here’s what you need to know to promote your books on social media once it’s complete:

Lori knows that the marketing doesn’t end once your book is on the shelves (or listed on Amazon). You still have to take action to get your book out there to the world. She suggests holding giveaways, which can generate a lot of excitement. You can also be a guest on relevant podcasts because you want to take advantage of any opportunity to talk about your book.

She also said to encourage people to pre-order your book. This is a fantastic way to boost sales and it could help get you a little closer to being on that Bestseller list.

Another tip Lori had was to record an audio version of your book as well. Many people listen to audiobooks while on their commute or when getting ready in the morning. You don’t want to lose potential buyers because you lack an audio version.

Julia’s advice s to create a specific sign-up page before launching the book. This is a great way to gauge interest. Plus, when the book is live, you can directly contact those people and let them know it’s time to buy.

She also suggests promoting a tweet or Facebook post with a video, emailing your current list, and linking to your book in all of your online bios.

Gene knows getting the word out on social is very important to your book’s success. He also suggests doing a book tour. If there’s enough interest and you have the funds, this is a fantastic way to boost sales.

As Terry said, we live in a digital age where there are so many ways to get creative with how you promote your book on social media. Some ideas he shared include: doing a YouTube series, running a contests on Twitter and Instagram, going on podcasts, running ads on social media, and doing book signings.

This is a great reminder from Zala. The networking never stops when you’re an author! There’s always going to be an opportunity to promote your book.

Q5: How can you use social media to generate more awareness of your book?

We all know that social media can really come in handy when it comes to spreading the word about your book. But how can you truly take advantage of what it has to offer? Check out these tips:

To promote your book on social media, Lori suggests holding giveaways/contests, being a guest on podcasts, and sharing the process on Instagram Stories. Giving potential readers a behind-the-scenes really helps develop a relationship with them. They’ll feel connected to you and more compelled to buy the book since they’ve followed your journey in creating it.

Don’t forget to be social on social media. It’s important to build relationships with people so they actually want to support you. Another tip that Kathryn shared is to create quote images with snippets from your book. It’s simple, but effective.

Lexie suggests using paid ads on social media to expand your reach. Just make sure you’re choosing the platforms your ideal reader is actively using. She also said you can target audiences who like a book that’s similar to yours, which is very smart.

Zala’s advice is to: build an audience, build a community, join Twitter chats, cross-promote on chats/blogs/podcasts/videos, and ask your network to help spread the word.

You can even share teasers, answer questions related to your book, create videos, and so much more.

Doing an Instagram Story where you visit book stores and find your book on the shelves in a fantastic idea that Terry shared with us. He also suggested doing a selfie contest on Instagram or Twitter where readers take a picture with the book and share it online. Give a signed copy or something else to a couple of people who participated.

You can post snippets from the book, ask readers to share reviews, and hold AMAs to generate interest. AMAs are a great way for the audience to get to know the author better.

Don’t forget to make use of trending and relevant hashtags to promote your book on social media!

Q6: What are some specific Twitter strategies you can implement to increase your book sales?

What can you do specifically on Twitter to see major results when you promote your book? Here’s some great advice from our chat:

Lori suggests creating graphics and videos to get people insight and host a Twitter chat about your book.

Zala said to include your link in your Twitter bio and take advantage of a pinned tweet for promtion. These tips are simple, but often forgotten!

Julia also suggests using a pinned tweet. She said dong a video works really well.

You can also add an image of your book in your Twitter header, plus a quote from the book or one from a reviewer.

Make sure you’re engaging with your audience and getting them excited about your book.

Q7: Once people have purchased your book, how do you get them to leave a review?

Reviews are crucial for authors because it can help them sell more books in the long run. But when everyone is so busy, how do you get readers to stop and write a review? Check out this advice:

Make sure you’re building a relationship with your community online. Lori feels this will increase your chances of getting a review. Plus, you can also send advance copies for people to review ahead of time.

Don’t be afraid to just ask people for a review. Sometimes they need the reminder and a little push!

Terry suggests sending out email reminders to encourage people to leave reviews. You can offer some sort of incentive as well.

Another great tip is to include a thank you page at the end of the book, which gives you the chance to ask people to leave a review now that they’re done reading.

Would you like to join us for the next #ContentWritingChat? We’ll be chatting next Tuesday from 10-11 AM Central! Make sure you follow @ExpWriters and @writingchat so you don’t miss anything.

Julia McCoy

What’s Ahead for #ContentWritingChat, Express Writers & Julia McCoy (Announcement: Switching to 1x/Month in June 2018)

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This Friday, we’re doing a #ContentWritingChat “recap” in a slightly different style.

First, it’s Julia here, sharing the direction #ContentWritingChat is headed, in more depth.

I’m sure you all were shocked by our Tuesday announcement, sharing that we’re moving to a once/month format!

Before I get into the “why” behind the switch, first things first… I want to thank each and every one of you that show up every Tuesday.

It’s a big deal that we have so many “regulars” on the chat. It’s rare to find a community that contains this much loyalty.

Just take a look at our last 90 days of data from Keyhole, a Twitter real-time tracking tool. It shows quite a bit of traction.

keyhole #contentwritingchat stats

Plus, we have people from all over the world joining us during the live hour… even Russia!

keyhole #contentwritingchat stats countries

So, if you’re one of our regulars, serious gratitude is in order. We couldn’t call it a “community” without you!

Next, as you heard, we’re switching our chat to the first Tuesday of every month. This is a big change from our weekly chat hour, every Tuesday.

There are two big reasons why I’m making this change. Let’s get into them.

2 Big Reasons We’re Changing to Once/Month Format for #ContentWritingChat

1. I’m Focusing on More Strategic Moves Ahead

A few things, focused and honed-in on, can be much more profitable than focusing on many.

My word for 2018 was “strategic.” And I’ve been applying it to EVERYTHING. I invested more, chose higher-level routes, and sunk my teeth into some deep things this year.

One of those deeper things was launching my first ever live masterclass, an introduction to my 6-week training program, The Content Strategy & Marketing Course.

An even more far-reaching project of mine for 2018: I’m writing my third published book, Woman Rising, which will be a memoir of my success story thus far in live. How I left a cult at the age of 21, where I was controlled heavily, mentally and physically abused growing up under my dad’s religious regime. I left this abusive environment six years ago in the middle of the night, went through a journey of emotional and mental healing, and forged my own success: start a company that now has 75+ team members, write two bestsellers and make it to the top 30 in my industry.

This story is heavy. It’s beautiful. It’s going to be a raw, rich, storytelling-style read. This particular style of writing is my favorite. I truly believe I’m tapping into my most gifted realm by writing it. I have a close circle of 10-12 friends reading it, and they’ve been absolutely blown away so far.

What I’m finding as I write each chapter (I’m on the 5th) feels a lot like punching through a new barrier. Last week, talking to some people from my past that have also left the same cult, I found out that my grandfather’s cult is heavily active and there could be hundreds of people, especially women (this particular religion hits hardest on women – both my mom and I were beaten) in abusive situations now. As we speak, my dad’s cult goes on. My siblings are in his house, and my mom is there, too. My grandfather’s cult lives on in another state in the U.S.

With this story, I have many goals. The horizon is broad, and huge. I want to reach women on a massive scale, and show them that success can be had for the taking–that they have what it takes to be whoever they want to be. No matter what they’ve been told.

To make this HUGE story happen, I need more time.

I need more mornings where I can focus on this book.

#ContentWritingChat comes secondary to this gigantic project, and getting three more Tuesday mornings back in my month will be huge for better focus on Woman Rising.

2. Express Writers’ Growth

This year, more than ever, I’m focusing on growth at Express Writers.

In the past months as I’ve researched, tested and analyzed, I see very few connections from our Twitter chat that lend directly to our growth.

Most of our attendees are writers, so they have no interest in the content creation services we offer directly from Express Writers. A few have traveled directly to my book and course, which is great! But, that’s been 1% or less.

Given that very simple fact, it doesn’t make sense to pay hundreds of dollars in time, investment, and design to run #ContentWritingChat.

We’re not a publicly-funded company, and we have zero VC investors. So, every dollar that goes into producing the live hour you join every week is from my pocket. I have to make sure we’re getting ROI out of our carefully-delegated funds.

When you run a business, you quickly realize that channels where money is going must mean ROI. And if they don’t, it could be time to cut back.

Final Word: Join Us Once a Month for an Even BETTER #ContentWritingChat Experience

The good news is that switching to once-a-month means that we can devote more care and attention during that once-a-month period and provide a education-filled experience for our participants.

We’re also listening to your answers from this Tuesday and we’re going to modify the format just a tad: more Q&A time, and a little bit of actionable “to-do” homework at the end! This is to make the live hour go even further and mean more, for each one of you. I want to treat it like a live class and put extra attention into it, which is more possible if we slim down to once per month.

Thank you all for joining us live this Tuesday!

And now, I’ll pass the “pen” over to Rachel, who is going to share with you a few key tweets from our live hour this Tuesday, May 15.

#ContentWritingChat May 15 Live Recap: Highlights

Many chat participants are just like Bill. They want to join a discussion they can confidently contribute to. For that reason, we’re all about covering the topics you are interested in!

Tony knows that a great chat guest host engages with the other participants. This is something that we want to make sure always happens with each #ContentWritingChat. That interaction with the audience is crucial!

And of course, you always want to make sure a guest host knows their stuff! With our switch to a monthly format, you can still count on us bringing in amazing experts who can really bring the value.

What makes a chat so special is the people who join during every live session. They’re the ones who are engaging, sharing their thoughts, and making the conversation happen.

Another change we want to add is wrapping up each session with a Q&A featuring the guest host. It’s the perfect opportunity for participants to get their questions answered. We love what Alexandra said about a Q&A making the chat fell more exclusive and high-level.

To make the chat more actionable, we’d love to add a “homework” feature. This means there would be a task assigned to you at the end of each live chat. Don’t worry though, it won’t be anything too crazy!

Many of you seemed excited for this addition, including Maria. As she said, it helps motivate people to take action instead of just talking about it.

Gene feels a group assignment provides accountability and creates a tighter community.

Not everyone was cool with the homework idea though! But that’s okay because you won’t get a failing grade nor will you be banned from future #ContentWritingChat sessions for not participating. Haha!

We also asked for suggestions on where we can improve. One tip was to decrease the amount of questions. This could make it easier for people to keep up with other responses that have been shared.

Darcy is all about continuing relationships outside of the chat so we can all support one another.

And of course, we’re glad to hear many of you love the chat as is. Don’t worry, Eddie! We won’t be changing things up too much!

Ken doesn’t want to see too many changes either, but he’s ready for the homework!

We’re excited too, Rachel! And we hope all of you will continue to join us on the first Tuesday of every month.

blog content
Rachel Moffett

#ContentWriting Chat Recap: How to Create Blog Content That Sells & Ranks

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How would you like to create blog content that ranks on the first page of the search results?

Wouldn’t you love it if your blogs could sell your products and services on autopilot?

It sounds like a dream, but it’s totally possible when you have the right strategy in place!

And luckily, we’re here to help you make it happen with our latest #ContentWritingChat.

#ContentWritingChat Recap: How to Create Blog Content That Sells & Ranks

This week was our monthly community chat where our participants are in the spotlight. They voted for the chat topic, but since it was a tie, we decided to combine the two winning options for one amazing conversation. Let’s dive into the recap!

Q1: How do you plan your content strategically to ensure you’re reaching goals in terms of sales and ranking higher?

If you want to see major results online, you have to get smart about your content. But how exactly do you do that? Here’s what you need to know about strategic planning:

Jeff suggests building a content calendar around your key goals for the year. This will ensure you’re being smart about the work you publish and achieving major results online.

It may help to try Bill’s tactic! He suggests working backwards by determining your end goal and figuring out what steps a reader needs to take to get to that point.

Lexie’s advice is to learn all about your audience. You need to discover what they’re looking for in terms of content so you can deliver it.

Creating a series of topics can be a fantastic move since everything will connect with each other. It’s the perfect way to interlink your blog posts.

You can also learn a lot from looking at your competitors! See what they’ve done in the past and what you can learn from them.

Q2: When seeking sales online, what tactics can you use to promote your products/services through blog posts?

If you aren’t actively promoting your offerings through your blog posts, you’re missing out! In order to boost sales online, try implementing these tactics to generate income:

Julia’s advice is to get to know your audience and develop a content plan that answers their questions. She also mentioned how we use CTAs at the end of our posts to drive sign-ups, sales, etc.

Make sure you’re providing value, solving a problem, sharing your own experiences, and encouraging people to take action.

It’s so important to build a relationship with your audience. Lexie knows this is essential to establishing trust with your readers, which will make them more likely to purchase.

Amanda’s advice is to build relationships, offer advice, and then give it to your audience. Don’t forget to ask for the sale as well!

Try writing blog posts about the products or services you offer. It doesn’t have to be done in a salesy way, but it can be a how-to guide, best practices, or a case study. Even placing banners in your sidebar can be helpful!

Share the research, facts, best tips, and how-to advice that will get a reader’s attention.

Bill suggests telling a story or sharing a case study.

Both Jeff and Sarah urge you to not forget that call to action!

Q3: How can you determine if your blog posts are actually leading to sales?

Once you’ve implemented the previous tips, you’ll need to keep an eye on your metrics to see what kind of results you’re getting. You have to know if your efforts are effective, after all! Here’s how you can see if those sales are really rolling in:

Be on the lookout for conversions. Are sales consistently coming in? That’s what you need to watch for.

Erika suggests setting up goals in Google Analytics because this will help you track the most important metrics. And she said to use UTMs when sharing content.

It’s all about the analytics! Sarah suggests even paying attention to the keywords your audience is searching.

Take full advantage of Google Analytics because it holds so much data.

And if you’re still not sure, don’t be afraid to ask people how they discovered your products/services and what made them buy.

Q4: If you aren’t seeing sales from your posts, what improvements can you make to turn things around?

The sales are coming as plentifully as you would have liked… Instead of sending yourself into a panic, you need to make some changes! Here’s some advice:

First, you want to look at why you aren’t making sales. Lexie suggests seeing if users are bouncing right from the post. She said you may then need to change your CTA or take other steps to lead people to your offering.

Bill said you might not be seeing sales because of poor messaging, poor distribution, or wrong timing.

Sarah suggests changing up your layout, imagery, headline, or CTA. There are a number of things that can be done to boost sales. That’s why you always have to test!

Spend time getting to know your audience better and make sure you’re delivering the content they want to see from you.

This is great advice from Kim Garst that was shared during the chat!

Q5: What are the most important factors in creating blog content that ranks on the first page of search results?

So, you want your content to show up on the coveted first page of those Google search results… In order to make it happen, there are a few things you need to know!

The content should be properly researched, contain long-tail keywords, provide images and stats, should be written in a way that’s easy to understand, and should solve user intent.

This is great advice from Neil Patel’s blog!

As Erika said, your content needs to be the best if you want to rank on the first page. She suggests discovering what the gap is with the pages that are currently ranking at the top. How can you improve and make your blog post better?

Always determine what’s in it for your audience and make sure it’s clear to them.

Don’t forget to examine your website itself. Sarah said that your user experience needs to be good, which includes fast loading time, clean coding, and more.

Q6: Are there any other ways you can boost your organic reach for your online content?

Besides relying on Google, how else can you grow your organic reach? Try out these ideas:

These are all great ideas from Himani!

There’s nothing like a great blogger collaboration! Guest post on their site while you guest post on theirs! It’s a fantastic way to expand your reach.

As Sarah knows, generating those links is very important online.

Try participating in Facebook groups or LinkedIn groups. Amanda knows how useful they are for making connections online.

If you have employees or influencers you work with, have them share your content as well.

And always remember that a great visual can really do wonders for your content!

Q7: What are your favorite tools for seeing how well your content ranks in search results?

There are plenty of tools to help you track how your content ranks! These are some favorites among our community:

For Jeff, it’s all about Moz.

Erika relies on Moz, BuzzSumo, bit.ly, and Google Analytics.

SEMrush, Moz, and Google Analytics are must-have tools.

Julia’s go-to tools are worth checking out!

Q8: Which online resources have help you to become a better, more strategic blogger?

Twitter chats provide so much value!

Andy Crestodina definitely provides amazing content!

Julia enjoys learning from Content Marketing Institute and Joe Pulizzi, Caitlin Bacher, Ann Handley, Copyblogger, and HubSpot.

Darcy loves ProBlogger, Blog Tyrant, and SmartBlogger.

How would you like to join us for the next #ContentWritingChat? Follow @ExpWriters and @writingchat on Twitter, then be there for the chat on Tuesday at 10 AM Central!

spring cleaning for your content
Rachel Moffett

#ContentWritingChat Recap: Spring Cleaning for Your Content: Boost Your Reach & Profitability with Julia McCoy

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Are you updating your blog’s archives?

Or are you letting that older content collect virtual dust?

If it’s the latter, it’s time to make a change and luckily, this week’s #ContentWritingChat has all the tips you need! We talked all about spring cleaning your content to keep everything fresh.

#ContentWritingChat Recap: Spring Cleaning for Your Content: Boost Your Reach & Profitability with Julia McCoy

Our guest host this week was our own CEO, Julia McCoy. Updating older content is something she’s spoken about before, so she had a ton of great tips to share with everyone! If you want to polish your archives, this is one recap you’ll need to read. Let’s dive in!

Q1: What’s the purpose of updating and “spring cleaning” our online content?

So, what’s the big deal with spring cleaning your content? Is it really necessary? Will it really bring in some big-time results? Here’s what a few people from our chat had to say:

Julia knows that giving your older posts a refresh can give you a boost in ROI. You don’t want to miss out on that, so make updating your archives a priority.

As Sarah said, you want to keep everything updated for your readers. No one wants to stumble upon a post that’s terribly outdated with old information.

Lexie said you want to make changes to your content that will help get it in front of more readers. You also want to make sure it’s accurate for when they do visit your site to check it out. After all, you wouldn’t want to risk hurting your authority.

As Gene said, it’s possible you’ve learned something since you originally published the post. This is a great opportunity to update it with the new information you’ve picked up.

Q2: For someone who wants to get started with spring cleaning their blog, what are the first steps they should take?

Now that you’re ready to get started with your spring cleaning adventure, you might be wondering where to begin. After all, a big archive of content can certainly feel overwhelming! Here’s some advice to help you out:

These steps from Julia will help you identify where to begin when it comes to spring cleaning your content. Consider if you’ve had any branding updated, what could be better optimized, etc.

Sarah and her fellow team members take a look at their analytics. You can see what’s bringing in the most traffic and update those posts to ensure they’re accurate and continue to perform well.

Lexie said you can also see which blog posts have a high bounce rate and work to reduce that.

Maria’s priority includes making sure every post is full optimized. She also looks out for any broken links that need to be updated.

Think about which of your blog posts are doing well and which ones aren’t. Determine what improvements you can make to boost the results of the posts that are slacking.

If your content isn’t getting the reach you hoped for, you can always make improvements to generate more views.

Q3: How can you determine if a post from your archives is worth updating?

With so many posts that you’ve published, which ones do you start with? It depends what your goals are! Check out these suggestions:

Julia encourages people to track and update the blog posts that rank highly. If you have something that’s ranking on Google, but it’s outdated, make that a priority. She relies on SEMrush to help out with this.

Determine if the post is still relevant to your audience and whether you have anything new you can add.

Make sure you’re updating those posts that continue to attract readers.

After all, it’s important those posts keep performing well!

Q4: Once you’ve found a piece to update, what changes can you make to improve it and boost its success?

There are all kinds of improvements you can make to your blog posts to keep them fresh. But here are a few suggestions to help you get started:

Some things you’ll want to update include: new meta title and description, updated copy, refreshed stats, improved voice, and new CTAs.

Gene suggests adding new ideas or going deeper into the topic you originally wrote about. He also suggests cleaning up the formatting, as this will enhance readability.

As Lexie said, you’ll want to update your meta description to take advantage of those extra characters Google gave us a while back!

Don’t forget to update images, statistics, and any design elements you’ve incorporated.

You can also add recent news and more visuals. Make sure you also test all links so you know they’re still working.

You can even get creative and add more content variety. If you’ve recently gotten into video, consider creating a video for some of your older posts.

Q5: From an SEO standpoint, how can updating your older content be beneficial for your blog?

So, what is all of this going to do for your blog’s SEO? Here’s what you need to know:

If you’re not updating content, you could be missing out on more rankings. Don’t let that happen!

As Sarah said, search engines want to see that you’re offering the best to readers, plus they love fresh and relevant content.

Search engines will notice those updates and that can improve the credibility of your site in the long run.

Maria knows making updates will keep your content relevant. Very crucial!

And by making these updates, you increase your chances of attracting more readers.

Q6: What can you do to ensure you get the most reach once you’ve updated an older blog post?

Your post is all updated, now what? You need to make sure plenty of people are checking it out, so you’ll want to try out these tips:

Julia suggests sharing your updated post on social media and sending it to your email list.

Gene agrees! It’s important to spread the word wherever you can.

Let everyone on your go-to social media platforms know you’ve freshened it up with new information.

You can even tag people who might be interested in seeing the updated version of your post.

Share it with social media followers, online communities, and your newsletter. Don’t forget to consider ways to repurpose the post to generate more traction.

Q7: Which tools can help you effectively spring clean your blog?

To help you clean up those archives, check out these tool suggestions:

SEMrush and Google Analytics are just a couple of tools Julia turns to.

Lexie relies on SEMrush as well, plus a few others.

For writing, the Hemingway App certainly comes in handy. But if you’re updating graphics, Canva or Buffer’s Pablo tool can really help.

Gene also suggests Hemingway, as well as Grammarly.

Canva, Google Analytics, and BuzzSumo are just a few must-haves!

A lot of love for Google Analytics and SEMrush!

Q8: Are there any brands that are doing a great job at updating their archives and keeping content fresh?

Take a cue from these brands because they know how to give their archives a major refresh!

As Julia said, Content Marketing Institute and SmartBlogger have done a great job at updating their archives.

Carla said ProBlogger has done a great job at this as wlel.

Another one in favor of Content Marketing Institute!

Come join us for the next #ContentWritingChat! Follow @ExpWriters and @writingchat, then be on Twitter every Tuesday at 10 AM Central.

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thought leadership
Rachel Moffett

#ContentWritingChat Recap: Community and Thought Leadership on Social Media with Gene Petrov

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Are you hoping to one day become a thought leader in your own industry?

Well, you just might want to read this #ContentWritingChat recap first!

In this week’s chat, we talked all about the importance of community and establishing yourself as a thought leader. What do you need to know to truly stand out online?

We have the answers!

#ContentWritingChat Recap: Community and Thought Leadership on Social Media with Gene Petrov

Our guest host this week was Gene Petrov. Gene is a regular here at #ContentWritingChat. He’s a leadership and management consultant and he had tons of great information to share with us. Let’s dive into the recap to see what he had to say about thought leadership!

Q1: What are your first thoughts when you see or hear the words “thought leader”?

To kick off the chat, we asked everyone to share what comes to mind when the term “thought leader” comes up. What do they think of? What does that mean to them? Here are a few responses we received:

Gene knows there’s an important connection between a thought leader and their community. He also said the title needs to be earned.

For Bill, it’s all about having a unique, industry-impacting perspective.

Thought leaders are truly shaping the conversations in their industry and influencing the community they’ve built.

Sarah views thought leadership as being innovative in your thinking within your field.

Thought leaders are typically well-respected and provide a lot of value to their community.

Maria feels a thought leader is leading the charge on a specific topic and is knowledgeable in that area.

It’s also about being an expert on a topic and brining new ideas to the table.

Q2: How do you define a thought leader?

How would our chat participants describe what a thought leader is? Here are a few of their answers. Are any what you had in mind?

Gene knows it’s largely about the experience someone has, as well as the trust they’ve built with their community. Many thought leaders identify trends early on, which is something to always be on the lookout for.

One key aspect that Sarah brought up was confidence. Thought leadership requires you to be confident in your skills and your thoughts.

Since thought leaders have established themselves as an authority, their audience typically looks forward to the content they produce.

Curious, experimental, and willing to explore new territory are all great characteristics.

Q3: Who are some examples of thought leaders in your field?

These are great examples who you can certainly learn a lot from:

Simon Sinek and Mark Schaefer are just a couple thought leaders that Gene follows.

Julia looks up to a number of people, including Joe Pulizzi and Brian Fanzo.

Ray enjoys content from Michael Port, Guy Kawasaki, and others.

Some of Ben’s go-to thought leaders are Madalyn Sklar, Brian Fans, and Gary Vaynerchuk.

Zachary also suggested Gary Vaynerchuk as being a thought leader in his field.

Q4: What common connections might you see between these thought leaders?

Do the thought leaders in your industry share any similarities? There’s a good chance they have a few traits that are the same if you look close enough! Here are things many thought leaders have in common:

Gene shared many similarities of those in a thought leadership position. They include high intellect, emotional intelligence, a sense of service, and dedication to their craft.

Lexie knows that risk taking and courage are two important characteristics!

Sarah mentioned that they can’t be afraid to fail or to be wrong. If you mess up, you have to pick yourself back up, fix it, and move on.

For Shawn, it’s all about understanding, communication skills, and passion.

Julia shared a few great characteristics that are all important!

Fresh ideas and interesting perspectives go a long way in helping you stand out from the crowd. Warwick also said that sometimes thought leaders are the ones to say what everyone else is thinking, but are too afraid to speak up on themselves.

Excellent marketing skills certainly come in handy as a thought leader!

Terry knows that caring is one important quality thought leaders should have.

Q5: Why is community so vital to the thought leader?

We all know that community is hugely important when building your presence online. But why is it so important for a thought leader to have an engaged community? This is what you need to know:

As Gene said, how value is an insight if you don’t have anyone to share it with?

Community is everything if you want to be seen and heard online.

Warwick makes a great point. After all, your community will help you get the word out.

Thoughts need to be shared and your community can help you with that.

They can help amplify your thoughts and allow you to better resonate with your audience.

Are you even a thought leader if no one is listening?

Q6: What are the benefits of having that community in place?

What good can a community do for you? These responses from Tuesday’s chat are spot on:

Gene feels a community provides amplification and support. You can also get feedback from your community, which can be very beneficial.

Your community is going to be essential in helping you gain exposure online.

Julia knows just how powerful an organic community can be.

With community, you have support, can receive constructive criticism, and so much more.

You can also learn a lot from the people in your own community, which can shape the content you create.

Q7: How do thought leaders cut through the noise to communicate their ideas?

It’s a busy, noisy world in the online space… So, how is a thought leader supposed to stand out from the crowd? This advice can help you communicate ideas with your audience:

Thought leaders will tap into their community to help spread their message. And as Gene said, they need to play an active role in engaging with that community and serving them by providing value.

Passion, persistence, and progress are sure-fire ways to help people recognize you.

Make sure you’re sharing valuable information that resonates with your target audience.

When you have valuable content, your audience will help spread the word!

You can also get smart and repurpose your content to expand your reach even more.

Q8: How can one become a thought leader?

To become a thought leader, what action do you need to take? Is there anything that can actually be done to establish yourself? Here’s what you need to know:

Remember that thought leaders aren’t out there pursuing the title. As Gene pointed out, they’re chasing something much bigger than that.

To establish yourself as a thought leader, you really need to focus on serving your community. Provide value and engage with them. You’ll also need to make building a level of trust one of your top priorities. Then, continue working on how you present your message to your audience. It’s going to take time and practice. It won’t happen overnight.

Jade says it’s all about posting valuable information and constantly learning.

Gain experience, take risks, try new things, and be in it for the long haul.

Don’t be afraid to express your thoughts and opinions. Then, back that up with action and results. It’ll come to you in time, as Ben said.

Ready to join us for the next #ContentWritingChat? We’re on Twitter every Tuesday at 10 AM Central. Come join us by following @ExpWriters and @writingchat!
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content marketing engagement
Rachel Moffett

#ContentWritingChat Recap: How to Unlock the Power of Questions for Content Marketing Engagement with Susan Moeller

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Do you pay attention to the questions your audience is asking you?

And if so, do you let those questions influence your content marketing strategy?

If not, you might change your tune after reading the recap of this week’s #ContentWritingChat!

#ContentWritingChat Recap: How to Unlock the Power of Questions for Content Marketing Engagement with Susan Moeller

Our guest host this week was Susan Moeller. Susan is the Senior Marketing Manager over at BuzzSumo. We’re big fans of BuzzSumo here at Express Writers, so we were thrilled to have her join us once again as a guest host!

Q1: How does asking questions play a role in your content marketing strategy?

To kick off the chat, we asked everyone to share how they incorporate questions from their audience into their overall content marketing strategy. Here’s what a few of them had to say:

At BuzzSumo, Susan feels their best content begins with a question to research. This allows you to really tailor your work to what your audience wants.

As Julia pointed out, questions are a great way to get real information from your audience and make connections. You can learn more about them through social media, email, and phone interviews.

Lexie knows that audience questions can help you decide what content you should be creating. That’s an essential step in shaping your online strategy.

When you know what your audience is asking, you can steer the conversation in a favorable direction.

Maria knows that it’s the perfect opportunity to tap into the mindset of your audience. You get to know them so much better and you can essentially speak their language with the content you write.

Q2: How can identifying audience questions make your content marketing better?

What is it about finding your audience’s questions that’ll help you product better content? Well, consider these responses from the chat:

Susan knows that the content you publish is useless if no one sees it. By creating content that addresses popular questions, you stand a better chance of it being discovered.

For Julia, it’s all about customization. Being able to tailor your content specifically to your audience is the best way to drive exponential results online.

Your audience’s questions are the foundation of your content marketing strategy.

When you know what your audience is asking, you can speak their language and create content that resonates. Use their wording in your messages to really appeal to them.

Gene knows that addressing your audience’s questions will help you create content that truly resonates. When you do this, you can better help them with whatever they need assistance with.

Q3: Once you identify audience questions, how do you use that information to create content they’ll love?

You have the questions. Now what? You need to create the content that solves the problems your audience is dealing with. Here’s how:

Susan’s advice is to focus on providing the best possible answer to that question with your content.

Lexie agrees with Susan’s response. She also said it’s important to make the content easy to navigate. When your website and content are user-friendly, people are more likely to stick around.

Knowing your audience’s questions also provides a tremendous opportunity for education.

Sarah gave some great advice about answering questions in a blog post or creating a FAQ page. You can also create ad campaigns and do so much more. It’s all about figuring out what works for you.

You can even tailor your content based on the stage a reader is at with their customer journey.

Whatever you do, don’t just rehash answers other people have already shared. Shelly said you should craft an answer that delivers more value.

Q4: How do you find your audience’s questions?

But how can you go about finding the questions your target audience is asking? Here are some tips to help you out:

Susan suggests using forums, blog comments, customer service inquiries, and surveys to locate your audience’s questions.

Don’t forget to check your analytics!

Andrea likes to refer to Quora to see what people are talking about.

Amanda said to check your inbox for emailed questions, look for comments on blog posts and social media, and maybe even send out a survey.

You can also set Google Alerts and do so many other things to keep track of your audience.

No matter what, never be afraid to just ask them. If you don’t know what your audience needs help with, reach out and ask.

As Sarah said, you can do a survey or poll. This is great for getting quick responses. You can also reach out in person, via a phone call, or through email.

Q5: Which platforms provide the best opportunity for you to engage with your audience?

If you want to chat with your audience, you need to determine the best platforms for doing so! These are the ones some of our chat participants rely on:

For Susan, the BuzzSumo blog and in-person events are the best opportunities to engage with her audience.

Refer to Facebook groups, Twitter ,or your email list. The opportunities are endless here!

Lori knows Twitter is a fantastic place for content marketing engagement, if only brands used it more effectively.

For the Launch Marketing team, LinkedIn and Twitter are the top platforms for engagement.

Just remember that it’s all about being where your audience is. Otherwise, your message will go unnoticed.

Kathryn suggests making the most of the platforms you’re most engaged on already.

Q6: How do you measure the effectiveness of content that answers questions?

How will you know if your content is really getting your desired results? This is what you should keep in mind:

Susan knows that it’s all about the goal you set for your content in the beginning.

Sarah agrees, as she knows goal setting is crucial. Having a goal in mind will allow you to craft content accordingly and track the right metrics.

Eddie’s formula is spot-on!

Ask yourself if the content delivered a clear and satisfying answer. That’s a great place to get started when measuring its effectiveness. Shelly also said to determine if it was memorable and whether or not it impacted buyer behavior.

If your content is getting plenty of organic traffic, you know you’re doing something right. The next step is getting those people to convert.

For Julia, it’s all about those conversations.

Lexie suggests checking out a heatmap to see how your audience is interacting with your content.

Q7: Do you rely on any tools to help you discover questions?

Tools can come in handy when you’re working to boost your content marketing engagement. These are some favorites among our chat participants:

It should come as no surprise that Susan relies on BuzzSumo! Being able to pull questions from Reddit, Quora, and Amazon is a game changer.

Even using the Google Analytics you’ve already installed can pay off big time.

Lexie loves using SEMrush’s Topic Research tool.

Julia’s go-to tools include BuzzSumo, scoop.it, and Answer the Public.

Q8: Are there any brands that really shine when it comes to engaging with their audience by answering questions?

Which brands do a great job when it comes to content marketing engagement? You can learn a lot from these examples:

Some of Susan’s favorites include Razor Social, Content Marketing Institute, Tailwind, and our very own team here at Express Writers!

Buffer is certainly one team that really stands out from the crowd.

Andrea has a lot of brand favorites, including Kissmetrics, Buffer, Jeff Bullas, and Social Media Examiner.

For Julia, the Twitter chat hosts really stand out. Some of her favorites include Madalyn Sklar, CoSchedule, and Manage Flitter.

Are you ready to join us for #ContentWritingChat? We hang out on Twitter every Tuesday at 10 AM Central! Just follow @ExpWriters and @writingchat to stay updated.