The Do’s and Donut’s of Content Creation

So without further ado-nut (sorry), here are some of the do’s and donut’s of content creation.

1. Do Your Dough Diligence

Just like how all of the really tasty donuts come from good dough, all great content starts with great topics. Topic generation often takes some work and the really good ideas need time to rise.  Don’t skip this step!  Working in the content creation industry, I can tell you that this step is usually the most vital part of the entire process. Try to think outside the box, put yourself in your customer’s shoes, ask yourself how your products and services fill a need, and look at examples of how other companies have established themselves as thought leaders. Throw your ideas into an excel doc, bounce them off of coworkers, and knead them until they’re ready to be built out. Need help with topic generation?  Who doesn’t!  I recently wrote a post on that very subject. Once you’ve got some topic ideas ironed out, you’ll have to make the decision on whether the content will be written by you, a member of your staff, or a trusted content provider.

2. Donut Let Your Research Crumble

When it comes time to actually create a post, make sure you have all of your ducks in a row.  People are looking for well-thought out, well-researched content and they usually won’t settle for anything less.  With over 27,000,000 pieces of content  being shared every day (this a low estimate – this stat is a year old), it’s important to stand out! Not only that, potential customers tend to trust brands that put out engaging custom content. Did you know that “interesting content” is a top 3 reason people follow brands on social media?  In regards to this article, most of my research came in the form of eating an unhealthy amount of bearclaws, maple bars, and bismarks.

3. Do Add a Twist

This “Do” can be understood a couple of different ways:

• First, do all that you can to make outstanding content that grabs a reader’s attention.  A recent blog by Neil Patel does a great job of explaining how to do this.  Draw readers in, make an interesting analogy (donuts, anyone?), hook them with a statistic, level with them and then blow their minds with a controversial topic.
• Second, try curating content.  Just because someone else came up with the story doesn’t mean you can’t put your own twist on it. Curating trending topics is a great way to find relevant, news-worthy content and portray it in a light that your customers will understand and appreciate.

4. Donut Leave Holes in Your Content

Even though many of your favorite donuts likely have holes in them, you should make sure that your content does not. Don’t leave your customers wanting when it comes to the flow of the article, the formatting of the content, and the meat of the message. A piece of content without proper organization, or that doesn’t deliver on the promise of the title, can be frustrating to those who read it, or worse, not be read at all. Make sure your content flows smoothly from the introduction to the conclusion. This will help you to avoid making your content seem hollow or empty.  Poorly put together content can end up hurting your brand more than helping it.

5. Do Sprinkle in Some SEO

While the sprinkles on a donut don’t typically add much to the overall taste of the pastry, they can do wonders for its presentation.  The same goes with the relationship between superb content and SEO.  SEO practices shouldn’t take away from readability of the article, but rather they should help it to be found by those that would benefit from it and take action.  Headers, keywords, formatting, Alt-tags, and links are just a few ways to improve the SEO value of your piece without deterring from its overall message.

6. Donut Forget the Glaze

Nobody likes a plain donut without any frosting.  The same goes for your content!  Always make sure to put in the finishing touches before you submit it to be posted.  Edit it for grammar or spelling errors and ensure that you are putting off the right image with the post.  Add some extra flair to the post by adding images, videos, quizzes, questions and bullet points to make the piece really stand out. This doesn’t take a lot of time but can do wonders for its shareability. Statistics show that articles with images get almost 94% more views than those that do not.

7. Do Make Your Competitors Jelly (Jealous)

Last of all, the only way to create authority is to share your work and let everyone else know that you know what you’re talking about.  Utilize social media channels like LinkedIn, Facebook, Google +, Instagram, Twitter, and get as much exposure as possible.  Be savvy, however, and make sure you do your research to find the best times to post your content to get the most interaction.  For instance, here’s a great post on how to best utilize LinkedIn for content shares.

What are You Waiting For? Go Eat a Donut!

Now that you’re salivating over the thought of content creation, head to your nearest Dunkin Donuts and do yourself (and the office) a big favor and visualize your next blog post over a nice apple fritter – for free, might I add.  Happy National Donut Day!

Oh and I’m curious… What’s your favorite donut?