Content Marketing for Creators
Everyone knows that content is king. Or at least that what every blog, pundit and influencer would have us believe.
And of course they’re right.
The very fact that sites like Mashable, Huffington Post, TechCrunch and others are visible and easily found is no coincidence. Google and every other search engine is built on one simple premise - quality content is ranked highest. If you understand that truth, SEO becomes less about tricks and plugins and more what it should be, create engaging content that is valuable for your audience.
That’s all fine and great for digital agencies or content marketing specialists but how it does it help the rest of us?
I’d like to share a few things that we’ve learned to help video creators get the most out of their content. As a premium video production company, our focus is that every project is the best possible quality and our clients are happy. But inherent in that equation is that we’re creating for someone else and there’s no guarantee that we’ll see any value from the content we have worked so hard to create.
Talk about the content you produce
It seems kinda self evident but this is a common issue for many video creators. We think that just because we made an awesome video it will blow up on Reddit and we’ll sit back and watch the views climb.
The reality is that your video will probably get lost with the 100 hours of video upload to YouTube every minute
Here are a few ways to get the most SEO value out of the video you produce:
Start a blog - there’s really no reason not to. It’s free and will drive organic traffic to your content. You can literally create one in minutes using sites like WordPress or Tumblr.
Create a blog post -feature your video and share some of interesting stories from creating it, surely there are some fun war stories you can reveal.
Share that blog post via social media - obviously it’s important to leverage Facebook, Twitter, etc. but instead of linking directly to the video, share the blog post so that people can see the content on your site.
There are tons of places to go from there but it’s a good start to getting your content found and attracting audiences.
Create alliances with influencers
The folks behind Mashable and the other content giants out there are people too. In fact, they want to discover quality work out there because it makes their job easier.
The internet rewards the obscure, unusual and hilarious. Then somehow memes are born and an angel dies. However, what that means is that the thought leaders out there are looking for original content all the time.
One of the best ways to build an audience is to find partners and create alliances. Comment on a popular blog if you like it, trust me the author reads those and if you are consistent and share their content, after a while they’ll notice.
Taking a queue from my good buddy George Strompolos, CEO of Fullscreen, the best way to build your YouTube channel is to have someone else promote you.
Be authentic
The gift and the curse of our connected society is that the interacting virtually results in some people creating ingenious and hugely creative works of art while others suck and just troll around hating.
But don’t worry there is a light at the end of the tunnel, the good guys always win. No one is going to remember frat_diesel420 and his soul-crushing yet witty comment. They are going to talk about, share and engage with the fearless individuals that put themselves out there as they truly are.
Online audiences can sense fake immediately and will not be gentle if you’re pretending to be something you’re not.
The key is to be yourself and just be real.
Just ask Ryan Reynolds…
Hopefully you have found some value in this content and can apply it to your own efforts. Be excellent and be authentic and everything else will fall into place.