Nobody thinks their content sucks – or, in other words, is weak and not deserving to be believed.

After all, why would someone intentionally create something that’s utterly useless for their organization or their audience?

And yet, a lot of content sucks. We’ve all seen (and sometimes created) it.

Consider this article the proverbial splash of cold water to help you wake up (or more importantly, wake your content up).

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Some of the best inspirational and engaging content comes from unexpected places. B2B and B2C brands surprise and delight their audiences with relevant, entertaining, or unique content opportunities, from Instagram to YouTube to new digital media partnerships.

Natalya Minkovsky finds some of the best examples for her Idea Garage column appearing in each Chief Content Officer magazine. Here are 15 of the most intriguing as she shared them in 2017.
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Miss Manners hasn’t written the handbook on how to be a good guest blogger. Yet, anyone who manages an organization’s blog likely has run into guest bloggers (or wannabe guest bloggers) who focus too much on the “blog” part and not enough on the “guest” part.

If your content marketing strategy includes guest blogging, you’ll set your efforts up for success if you (or your writer) understand how to be a good guest.

Following your host’s lead is the key to being a good guest at someone’s home, and the same applies to guest blogging. But there’s a unique golden rule for guest bloggers: Read the guidelines. Reread the guidelines. And when you think you’re done, use the guidelines as a final checklist.

Now, keep reading to learn more tips, from the deceptively simple to the complex, about how to be a successful guest blogger in the eyes of your potential host.

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Imagine having your audience tied to your content with an 8-foot rubber hose for five minutes on a regular basis.

“We’ve got this very, very captive audience – and they’re bored – there’s really no super magic. When people pump gas they have nothing to do,” David Leader, then CEO of Gas Station TV, told NPR a few years ago.

Gas Station TV reaches millions of consumers with its content – a mix of entertainment, news, sports – and advertising. Yes, Gas Station TV is an innovative media company. But it’s a great example of how gas stations are using relevant content delivered in an unexpected way to engage their captive audiences.

People do a lot of waiting – for an appointment, for food to arrive at the restaurant, for a conference presentation to begin. Add in people who are captive while performing mundane activities like pumping gas or clicking on Wi-Fi agreements at the coffee shop, and the captive audience potential grows exponentially.

If your brand has a captive audience scenario – or access to such an audience – why not explore some nontraditional content opportunities to connect?

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Want to know a few scary truths ignored by too many content creators?

Editing and proofing are not the same thing. And you can’t adequately execute the two at the same time.

And if you think the same person can write, edit, and proof their own work, you should be afraid, very afraid of publishing that content.

Even the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics recognizes proofreaders as distinct from editors. Its description of proofreaders’ duties includes: “Read transcript or proof type setup to detect and mark for correction any grammatical, typographical, or compositional errors. Excludes workers whose primary duty is editing copy.”

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Is content creation a challenge for your company?

It is for one-third of B2B companies, according to the recently released B2B Content Marketing: 2018 Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends — North America.

How do those problems develop? What bottlenecks do they create? And, more importantly, how can you address them?

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You know a thing or two about content overload. You think of it in terms of how to get your content to stand out and be consumed by your target audience.

But when you’re a conference attendee, the script is flipped. You’re the one bombarded with content – trends, slideshows, tips, graphics, and inspiring stories from multiple speakers and fellow participants. Your notebook is filled with ideas, your pockets are stuffed with business cards, and your brain is happy.

“Embrace the high of the magical week being around like-minded individuals who have visions of great things … until you slam into the wall that is your day to day,” says Skyler Moss, director of digital marketing, HCSS. “What you thought would change your company last week becomes a secondary thought come Monday.

“Like Indiana Jones in The Last Crusade, you must choose wisely” what to do with your conference content to transform those educational moments into actionable steps for you and your brand.

To help, we asked the presenters at Content Marketing World 2017 what they recommend you do to sift through the content overload and create a realistic action plan. Their advice encompasses how to think about the conference, take and use your notes, be practical and strategic, and make the connections and impact go far after you return to the office.
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Content marketing team members’ titles may differ from company to company, but the tasks they are expected to perform are somewhat standard across the board – writing, editing, designing, publishing, and distributing.

But what if you could add the skill set of someone who works in another functional area – from another department or even outside your industry? What role or person would you want to incorporate into your team?

We asked the presenters at Content Marketing World 2017 what they would do. Their answers are enlightening – and in most cases, realistic.

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