6 tips on how to get more quality content in less time

Whether you’re the CMO of a large business or a “wantrepreneur,” one thing you probably don’t have a lot of is time. 

With the general consensus on the fact that quality content is vital these days, that leaves most of us in a dilemma. How do you keep the wheels of your content machine turning and ensure that you’re getting the same level of quality as quantity? How do you get more quality content with less time? Let me share a few tips.

Jump on the bandwagon

What is it that takes the most time when you sit down to write an article or compose a Facebook meme? Articulating your words? Creating a humorous picture? Or is it coming up with something worth writing about and sharing in the first place? The thing is, while it may seem like there isn’t a large enough audience for everything you put out there, content is being consumed as fast as we create it. And when people find something they like to read about, they’ll often do it through various sources.

So, jump on the bandwagon and find out what people want to read by looking at other blogs related to your industry. Bookmark the ones whose ideas gel the most with your voice and audience. Check out Google Trends or see what hashtag is most popular on Twitter. Find out which articles are successful and then find a new angle to write about the same thing — only better.

If that sounds like cheating, it really isn’t. There are very few completely original ideas out there, so why reinvent the wheel when you can use these sources of inspiration to create articles quicker? A word to the wise, however. Run your content through Copyscape first if you have any doubts. Plagiarism is an ugly thing. Not only will you be punished by search engines but your credibility will diminish.

Listen to your customers

When you post an article on your blog or message on your Facebook page, be sure to track any comments you receive. People love telling others what they could have done better, so use your customers as resources. If they have questions at the end of your article, use them to create a new one. If your engagement isn’t very high, try directly asking people what they think at the end of your post.

Not only will you be giving customers what they want, but you’ll also be getting free inspiration for your next meme, tweet or buyer persona content. If your own comments aren’t very inspiring, try stealing a few from other people’s customers. All’s fair in love and war — and in producing viral quality content.

Content curation helps

Here’s a great way of saving time when coming up with your next piece. Try a little content curation. In other words, recycle older ideas. Run a search through your existing articles and choose a theme that needs updating. Find a way of rewriting the article and link to it in your new post. Not only is this a great way of getting things done faster, but you’ll also be interlinking your blog posts, which is great for SEO.

Don’t be afraid of infographics

You may have the budget to hire a designer to put an awesome infographic together for you — but you might not have the time. If you’re short on one or the other, try exploring your own artistic talents and creating an infographic with a program like Canva. Not only is it free, but it’s also fast. In under 30 minutes, you can produce an appealing piece of highly shareable, high-quality content that will generate more traffic to your site than a plain text article.

Utilize video content

Video content is becoming more and more popular, with around 39 percent of customers more willing to share content delivered in this format. That doesn’t mean this is the only way of delivering your message, but it should definitely be at least one of the ways.

Whether you decide to host an interview with clients, employees, a local celebrity or relevant influencer for your brand, remember to optimize it well. Carefully select the title, description, and metadata before uploading and make sure it’s not too long.

Squeeze the most out of your content

Ever woken up for breakfast and found that you’re almost out of peanut butter? Did you find yourself scraping the insides of the jar with a spoon? Content squeezing is a little like that, in that you make sure you don’t waste a single drop. It works something like this:

Create your video or interview and analyze it for themes. Did you talk about different points in your interview? Customer loyalty? Entrepreneur health? Technological challenges? Whatever themes are relevant for you, in a video of just a couple of minutes you can pull out enough sub-themes to create multiple articles.

Your short video has now given you the inspiration to create a month’s worth of blog articles. Your articles can be further broken down into perfectly good Facebook posts, Twitter updates, and even memes.

Squeeze every last drop of possible content out of your video, blog, comments, or trending topics. You’ll come up with the quantity you need and the quality content that will get you noticed.

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DISCLAIMER: This article expresses my own ideas and opinions. Any information I have shared are from sources that I believe to be reliable and accurate. I did not receive any financial compensation in writing this post, nor do I own any shares in any company I’ve mentioned. I encourage any reader to do their own diligent research first before making any investment decisions.