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How to Create Content Faster and More Effectively

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Ideally, quality content, much like great art, should never be rushed. After all, it took Leonardo da Vinci four years to complete the Mona Lisa

However, the reality is that most of us are working under deadlines and, even if we aren’t, would prefer to get things done sooner rather than later. I’ll pass on writing the same blog post for four years, thanks.

For times when you need to crank out some content quickly but don’t want to sacrifice quality, try following these guidelines.

Store Ideas for Later

This is something you can do beforehand that will make future time crunches much less stressful.

To start, simply take some time to brainstorm article ideas. If you’re not sure what topics should be covered, ask around your organization to get multiple different takes on what’s important and what might be interesting to readers.

If you want to reduce your future stress even further, you can write a rough outline for the best ideas in advance (check out Jessica’s earlier post to learn how to write a great outline).

Then, the next time you’re scrambling to figure out what in the world to write about, you can thank your past self for assembling such a handy backlog of ideas.

Schedule Time to Write

Writing is one thing which can’t be multitasked. If you’re trying to think of a few sentences at a time in between phone calls and meetings, I can guarantee you’ll create little to no meaningful content.

So, especially if you’re working with a tight deadline, be sure to set aside dedicated time for writing and writing alone.

As soon as you learn when your content will be due, open up your calendar, find a free hour and block it out. Even if you don’t get everything done in one go, you’ll have gotten a lot more accomplished than if you had tried to write on the fly.

Plus, after spending a dedicated chunk of time on content creation, you’ll be able to go about the rest of your business without being constantly distracted.

Use Previous Content as a Template

Contrary to what your initial reaction might tell you, there’s nothing wrong with recycling previous pieces of content. In fact, doing so can help to establish a consistent voice for your brand (you can find out more about that from a previous post of mine).

The key here is not to copy and paste an older article, change around a couple words and click “publish.” Instead, open up a past article in one window and a blank document in another. Then, write the new article while simultaneously making an effort to follow the old article’s general format as you go.

This will make it a lot easier to form an introduction, figure out how to organize your subheadings and think of a compelling call to action. And, most importantly, all your content will be original and well-written while still remaining congruous.

If you could use some help creating high-quality content or making quick turnarounds, check out bizbuzzcontent’s content creation services.

Do you have any tips for getting content created quickly? Feel free to let me know in the comments!

3 Ways to Create Sparkling Seasonal Social Media Content

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It’s almost the Fourth of July, and I know I’m not alone in my excitement. There’s nothing that defines summer in America quite like a good Fourth of July celebration.

Since many Americans feel the same way, Independence Day—and other holidays and seasons—are a perfect opportunity to catch readers’ attention with some well-executed content.

As we head into the holiday, here are five examples of brands doing seasonal content right, as well as three tips you can use for your seasonal posts year-round on Twitter and Instagram.

1. Pottery Barn

This photo from Pottery Barn isn’t overly salesy—in fact, without looking at the caption, you’d never know who posted it. This is part of what makes it so appealing: The picture seems to embody Pottery Barn’s elevated country style in a festive and colorful way without using any branding whatsoever.

Further, they go out of their way to call out the person who took the photo, which has the dual purpose of making their brand look good and appealing to fans of the photographer’s account.

The call to action doesn’t hurt, either: Notice how the brand asks readers a question, credits the owner of the photo and then tells readers how their photos can be featured, too. It invites engagement (a key factor for getting exposure on Instagram) without seeming heavy-handed or desperate.

2. Halo Top

Everyone’s favorite low-calorie ice cream brand has some of the most charming social media content around. This post is no exception: While it may not explicitly mention the Fourth (or any holiday), those red and white stripes just scream Americana (and summer in general).

Unlike Pottery Barn’s post, this one does feature a photo of the brand’s offerings, but the caption doesn’t even have so much as a hashtag. This makes the post feel exceptionally relaxed and unaggressive. However, keep in mind that tweets with hashtags get double the engagement of those without, according to research from Buddy Media.

So, you probably shouldn’t stop using them entirely — instead, limit yourself to one or two Twitter hashtags, since tweets with more than two hashtags show a drop in engagement.

3. Casper


With a colorful photo, a laid-back caption and a quick tidbit of info about a new product, this post from Casper nails the casual vibe of summer, and probably piqued interest for those mattress-shaped pool floaties, too.

Take note of the caption’s sparse use of hashtags, as well: This creates a much cleaner look than dumping 30 different tags into a caption that’s 10 words long. Next time you’re posting an Instagram photo, clean it up by putting the hashtags in the comments, or just using one or two key hashtags in the caption relevant to your brand or topic.

Whether you choose to put your hashtags in the caption or comments depends on what type of engagement you’re after — a small study from Agorapulse found that posts with hashtags in the caption get more reach.

On the other hand, posts with hashtags in the comments section get more comments.

4. Blue Apron

I’m sure that sometime, say, 100 years ago, someone speculated that people in the future wouldn’t even have to go shopping for food—it would just be delivered to their door in temperature-controlled boxes. And look where we are now.

Blue Apron keeps it nice and concise in this summer-y post with a beautiful, well-lit photo of some fresh food, a cheerful caption and a link to the recipe on their site. I’d like to focus on this post’s photo: Every detail pops out, the colors are vibrant and the background looks homey rather than staged. Plus, who doesn’t like the sound of tzatziki in the summer?

5. Wayfair

Yet another example of subtle branding: In this post from Wayfair, the caption doesn’t encourage readers to buy, buy and buy some more, but the video lets readers know they can expect to find some great Fourth of July-themed products at Wayfair.

Plus, the caption is conversational and engaging, which never hurts. They simply ask a question and give a quick decorating tip. Short and sweet.

How to Create Seasonal Content of Your Own

Learning from the examples above, here are some tips you can use to post compelling seasonal or holiday-themed content:

1. Don’t Be Aggressive

Most holidays are time for relaxation and quality time with family, so you don’t want to sound like you view your company as being more important than those things. That’s why so many of the above examples don’t read like a mattress store blowout—instead, they read like casual, upbeat posts that let the photos and videos do the talking. The brand becomes part of the things its audience loves.

To accomplish this, use hashtags strategically, not haphazardly.

On Twitter, this means choosing your hashtags carefully: As I mentioned earlier, tweets with one or two hashtags receive the highest levels of engagement, which is backed up by data from TrackMaven.

On Instagram, this means using nine hashtags, and no more than a dozen.

2. Rely On Visuals

Since many holidays are about visual excitement, you don’t have to do a whole lot of writing to celebrate it with your readers. For Fourth of July, for example, take a video of a local fireworks display, snap a photo of some red, white and blue food or insert your product into a summery scene, like a pool or picnic. Don’t forget to edit your photo so it appears bright, light and breezy, and check out my previous post to find out how to create awesome Instagram posts.

Just remember to keep the aesthetic consistent with the rest of your feed as well as your brand’s overall look (check out my previous post to find out how to create awesome Instagram posts).

3. Share Holiday Plans

Almost everyone has some sort of plan for what they’re going to do on big holidays, so why not get them engaged by asking them to share it? After all, Instagram’s algorithm heavily rewards engagement, so engaging users is one of the best ways to boost your brand’s visibility. Bonus points if you share your own plans or reference a local event. For example, you could ask who’s planning to attend a local barbeque or fireworks display for Fourth of July.

Incorporate these tips into your seasonal social media posts and you’re sure to nab the attention of some revelers. For more social media advice, take a look at my post on how to upgrade your social media posts.

What are your plans for the Fourth of July? Comment down below!

Effectively Outsource Your Content in 3 Simple Steps

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Unless you have a dedicated in-house content creation team, it’s likely your content creation efforts will fall behind or just seem really laborious. After all, you’re busy focusing on other time-consuming tasks related to your business.

However, without regular and high-quality content, your reach, traffic, conversions and brand awareness can suffer. That’s why, if you find yourself neglecting your content or just want to ramp up in other areas, it may be time to start outsourcing content creation.

Here, I’ll explain how you can effectively outsource your content in three steps.

1. Identify Your Needs

Before you start looking at content agencies, identify what kind of content you need and how often it should be produced.

For example, if you are lacking a social media presence, you might need daily social media posts and weekly blog posts. Or, if you’re keeping up on social media but need some more in-depth content to establish your company’s credibility, you might need help writing ebooks.

I recently explored the kinds of content different types of businesses are focusing on and outsourcing. For example, in my most recent post about the Content Marketing Institute’s 2018 Technology Content Marketing report, we discuss how tech companies find ebooks, white papers, case studies and research reports to be the most effective types of content. On the other hand, B2C companies see the best results from social media posts, videos, illustrations and photos, while B2B companies prefer ebooks, white papers, case studies and social media posts.

Keep those industry trends in mind when deciding what kinds of content you want to focus on.

Before you engage with the agency of choice, have your requirements in mind (as much as possible). Don’t skimp on the nitty-gritty details for your content needs. This can include:

  • Word count targets.
  • The amount of money you’re prepared to spend.
  • The amount of blog posts, social media posts, ebooks or other types of content you’ll need on a regular basis (weekly, monthly, etc.).
  • Amount of content you’ll need on a one-time basis.
  • Key topics you’d like to cover in your content.

If you provide enough details and information for a high-quality content agency to work with, the content you receive is sure to meet or exceed your expectations. Plus, if an agency can’t work with your budget or proposed schedule, you’ll know in advance.

2. Choose the Right Content Agency

Now that you’ve identified your needs, it’s time to select the right content agency.

First, look for an agency that understands the difference between quality content and low-quality content. Given that some content creators peddle content for absurdly low prices, it’s almost impossible to overstate how essential it is to prioritize quality over price.

This is just the beginning. You’ll also need to find a content agency that has the proper skill set. You’re looking for great writers, but it’s also valuable to seek out those who understand how to market that content, so you can have intelligent conversations about what happens after the content is delivered.

As Jessica outlined in a previous blog post, great content marketers should have specific skills, including:

  • The ability to think of content in terms of strategy.
  • Strong writing skills, such as attention to detail, a journalistic approach and the ability to use an adaptable voice.
  • An understanding of internet marketing.
  • The ability to conduct in-depth research.
  • Experience in multiple types of content, both online and offline.

Let’s talk a bit more about the first bullet point: strategy. Any good content agency will be able to help you develop a comprehensive strategy, which will take into account your business goals, marketing goals, brand identity, target audience and channels.

(To learn more about content strategy, sign up for our mailing list to the right if you’re not on there already to get instant access to our ebook on your content strategy blueprint).

Additionally, it’s important to find an agency that has good reviews. A good way to get a cursory look at a content agency’s areas of expertise is by looking at their client testimonials or case studies.

3. Establish an Effective Process

You want to ensure a good working relationship with your content creators. Typically, a good agency will guide you on how they like to work in order to create the best content for your brand.

You should be available to your content agency during the content creation process. It’s essential that you keep the lines of communication open so that the content agency can ask questions and access your company’s expertise and internal resources as needed.

This way, the content agency can act as an extension of your company’s brand, and produce content with a consistent voice and level of knowledge throughout.

The content agency should work with you to establish things like:

  1. Topics and an editorial calendar that can include a project timeline with key deliverable dates.
  2. The organization’s subject matter experts, whom the writers can connect with as needed.
  3. What level of involvement you can expect (with examples of what the outcome—the content—will look like when the client is more hands off or more hands on).

One way for all parties to get on the same page about the content is for the agency to create content outlines that you sign off on before the agency starts writing, so there are no surprises and the editing process takes less time. (For more information on outline creation, take a look at Jessica’s post on the subject.)

And, to minimize lengthy back-and-forth reviews, the editing process might look something like this:

  1. A topic outline is presented for approval—if you like it, you sign off on it. If you don’t, it’s back to the drawing board.
  2. A first draft, based on that outline, is delivered.
  3. You conduct your first round of edits, which should serve to refine the content and fill in any gaps.
  4. The content agency reviews those edits, incorporates them and completes any additional edits of their own.
  5. You receive the final draft.

(To learn more about the editing process, check out Jessica’s blog post on the difference between proofreading and editing.)

As you can see, an efficient and organized working relationship with your content agency streamlines the engagement.

At the end of the day, choosing to outsource your content can benefit your organization’s online presence, extend its reach and establish a consistent brand voice, all while freeing up your team’s time.

If you’d like to outsource your content, check out bizbuzzcontent’s range of services, including content creation, content strategy and managed services.

Are you planning to outsource your content? What do you anticipate will be the most challenging part of the process? Or, if you’ve already outsourced your content, were you pleased with the results? Let me know in the comments below!

How to Make Your Content Stand Out

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In a space as crowded as that of online content, it can be pretty frustrating to feel like your content is just another drop in the ocean.

Here, I’ll explain how you can use a few simple techniques to make your content stand out from the rest, so you can get more readers, more engagement and more prospective customers.

Avoid Shallow Hooks

If you’ve ever taken a speech class, then you’re already familiar with the idea of a “hook.” Hooks are designed the grab the audience’s attention, and often involve trying to relate to the audience. That’s why many students’ speeches will begin with a something like “How many of you have ever watched a superhero movie?” or “Raise your hand if you love birthday cake.”

Of course, an opening hook like that is fine for a presentation, but many inexperienced content creators fall back on them for what’s supposed to be professional-grade writing. They do this because it’s a relatively easy and familiar tactic–find a way to relate to the vast majority of your audience, introduce your point and then dive in.

However, simple hooks like that are often completely transparent to readers, especially if they’re overly lengthy or only loosely related to the body of the content. To avoid this, you’ll want to spend a little more time on your opening sentences to make sure they’re genuinely relatable and intriguing.

Try to write hooks that are:

  • Compelling.
  • Brief.
  • Closely related to the body of the content.

This way, your introductions won’t come off to readers as superficial, pandering or low-effort, and you’ll be able to foster more meaningful connections with your audience.

For example, in an article about cybersecurity, you might start off with a hook that looks something like this:

“According to a recent study, there were an astonishing 160,000 cybersecurity incidents in 2017. Clearly, the cybersecurity measures already in place aren’t adequate, and it’s high time we do something about it.”

A hook like that works because it’s only two sentences long, incorporates an interesting statistic and references an action.

Once you’ve written the hook, you can explain what the article will specifically address, which in the case of our cybersecurity example will be the prevalence of breaches, the security that’s being used and the security that should be used instead.

Establish Credibility

If you can establish credibility for yourself, your company and your content, you’ll automatically set yourself apart from the competition.

The easiest way to do this is to do deep research in your content and demonstrate your unique expertise while referencing and linking to credible sources. Of course, research and hard facts are ideal, but a thought piece that reflects the author’s personal opinion and viewpoint will do just fine as well, especially if the author is an established industry analyst or executive.

To take your expertise to the next level, start poking around to see if you can write a guest post on a popular blog or get a mention from a prominent person in your field. To do this, you’ll need to reach out to people you don’t know–in other words, you’ll have to start cold emailing. The Harvard Business Review has a helpful guide to cold emailing that includes tips like:

  • Tailor your email to the recipient.
  • Validate yourself.
  • Keep it concise and actionable.

The more you put yourself out there, the more likely it is that someone will respond and accept your request to write a guest post or get referenced in their content.

Additionally, you can establish credibility in the eyes of Google by following their Search Quality Rating Guidelines.

According to these guidelines, a site’s quality is determined by four primary factors:

  • Expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness, which depends on factual accuracy, expert sources and professionalism.
  • Main content quality and amount, which can be determined by evaluating the time, effort and skill that went into creating that content. Sites with too little content are generally rated lower than sites with more content.
  • Website information/information about who is responsible for the website. Websites that provide clear information about who is responsible for the website generally receive higher ratings than those that do not.
  • Website reputation, which can be gauged with the help of Better Business Bureau ratings, customer reviews and information from sites like Wikipedia.

If you adhere to these guidelines and meet Google’s standards of high-quality sites, your website will likely rank higher in Google search results, and will thus be more likely to experience an influx in traffic.

Chat a Little

If you comment on five companies’ social media posts and only one company responds to you, which company are you most likely to engage with again? Although I probably don’t need to say it, the answer is the company that responded to you.

This is why responding to your readers whenever they do reach out to you is so important. Especially if you have a small audience, fostering a sense of personal connection is absolutely crucial to your growth and your audience’s loyalty.

When chatting with your audience, be sure to keep it thoughtful, amicable and respectful. Address your readers by their first name for an extra sense of personalization, and remember to thank them for asking questions or contributing thoughts.

While responding to people is certainly important, it can sometimes be more important to know when to restrain yourself. In the age of social media, many companies have permanently tarnished their reputation by responding less-than-professionally to aggressive or critical comments. Learn from their mistakes, and always remain polite when interacting with critics. When in doubt, simply ask them to contact a member of your team to receive further help.

With these strategies in your tool box, you’ll be able to take your content from generic to noteworthy. If you remember to keep your hooks interesting, establish credibility whenever possible and engage with your audience at every opportunity, you’ll have no trouble standing out from your competition.

If you need some help making your content truly exceptional, check out bizbuzzcontent’s content creation services–we’ll work with you to ensure that your content will never go unnoticed.

Do you use any other tactics to make content stand out? Feel free to share them in the comments!

The Top 5 Free Content Creation Tools

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Let me ask you a quick question: How should you go about creating a video to post on social media? If your answer is something along the lines of “upload a clip straight from my phone,” then it may be time for you to explore some of the many content creation tools available.

In this post, I’ll go over the top five content creation tools (they’re all free!) and explain how you can use each one.

1. Headline Analyzer

The Headline Analyzer from CoSchedule couldn’t be easier to use: Simply plug in the headline you plan to use, enter some basic information (email address, company name and the like) and be presented with several handy charts that analyze just how effectively your headline will generate engagement.

From word balance and length to keywords and sentiment, this tool provides you with everything you need to know in order to attract readers.

Check out my blog post on creating clickable titles to learn more about what makes a title great.

2. Infogram

Aesthetically pleasing graphs, infographics and charts can be extremely appealing to a broad range of readers. Why? Because visual information is easy to understand and communicates important points quickly and compellingly.

If you don’t have an in-house graphic design team to create your visuals for you, you’ll probably want to check out Infogram, a free tool for creating infographics, charts, maps, reports and more.

Although there are paid versions, the free version of Infogram includes more than 37 types of interactive charts, 13 types of maps, online publishing capability, the ability to import data and maximum capacity of 10 three-page projects.

Since we’re big fans of Canva for blog cover photos at bizbuzz, I’ll also mention Canva’s free graphic templates. This tool lets you quickly create personalized infographics for blogs, websites, reports and more.

3. Lumen5

The next time you’re looking for an intriguing visual element to add to your article or blog post, you might want to consider using a video instead of an image. Don’t worry, it’s not nearly as intimidating as it sounds.

With Lumen5, an A.I. powered video creation tool, you can simply enter the text of your content and watch it come to life. After Lumen5 generates a video, you can choose your favorite stock images to include, add branding elements and select appropriate music.

The free version of Lumen5 allows you to create unlimited videos in 480p, utilize text-to-video technology and intelligent media matching, access more than 10 million free media files and upload your own logos, photos and videos.

4. Hemingway App

Long before minimalism became trendy amongst the Instagram crowd, Ernest Hemingway was a strong proponent of the “less is more” mentality. That’s the idea behind the Hemingway App, which uses user-friendly color coding to show you how your content can be made more simple and easy to read.

With the help of this app, you’ll be able to quickly see areas of your content where you’ve used too many adverbs, overly-lengthy words, complicated sentences and a passive voice.

For more on this subject, take a look at my post on how to write clear and organized content.

5. Google Docs Explore

If you’ve ever found yourself overwhelmed by a ridiculous amount of tabs whilst trying to research for an article, you should give the Google Docs Explore tool a try.

Handily located in and integrated with Google Docs, the Explore tool lets you conduct a web search for any topic without ever opening another tab. Plus, it automatically suggests related images you might want to add to your content (just be sure they’re properly licensed before publishing).

With these tools at your disposal, you’ll soon be able to create better, more engaging content. If you’d like additional help creating top-of-the-line content, check out bizbuzzcontent’s content creation services.

Do you use any of these tools? Are there any tools you love that weren’t included in this list? Let’s talk about it in the comments!

Wordsmith LLC