As marketers, we know how consistent publishing is the key to content marketing success. It can reward you with better online visibility and help you emerge as a thought leader.
But maintaining consistency in content creation is often the biggest challenge. Sometimes you are struggling to find the next content idea. Other times you are facing budget constraints.
Coupled with the boom of online visual content, marketers know that without experimenting with different content formats, their content strategy won’t be effective. This puts a bigger challenge in front of your consistent publishing efforts.
In this age when original content is taking over the market and helping brands boost their reach (think Netflix originals), it is imperative to focus on your content strategy and build engagement through it.
Working on a shoestring budget? No issues. There’s still a lot you can do to generate content quickly and affordably.
Plan Your Content Calendar
Before you lay down your content strategy, you will find it useful to write down a publishing plan. It can help you avoid content slumps where you are not so productive because you are struggling with either the content ideas or consistency.
To make your calendar, you can simply download a sample sheet and create your plan for a couple weeks or months. Or create your own Excel file.
Here is what it might look like:
Once you have fixed your content schedule, you can then plan content creation accordingly.
Here are a few smart ways to generate content quickly and affordably:
1) Explore online tools for your visual content strategy
Visual content creation can easily take the DIY route, thanks to a number of online design tools that take care of your visual strategy in an affordable way.
In fact, tools like Canva not only bring down the content creation costs, but also help save time. Canva allows you to craft your social posts without worrying about the optimal size and shape for the platform.
In fact, it also offers you a number of elements which you can add to create a unique design for your visual creatives. It comes with both free and paid options.
I recommend the paid subscription. It will let you create more content in a short time span without the problem of repetition.
2) Create multiple templates for written content
One of the biggest reasons writers face that block is because they don’t have a structure in mind. And coming up with something new every single time can be time consuming and expensive.
To ensure that content is created quickly, set some templates for your blog structure. Plan 2-3 samples for how-to’s, listicles, case studies, video scripts etc.
With these fixed templates, you can not only bring down the time spent on content creation. You can also make the process affordable by avoiding rework and using your resources more productively.
At the same time, make sure that your templates are diverse so they don’t create monotony.
3) Repurpose existing content to bring down content creation costs and save time
Repurposing content is one of the best methods of consistent publishing. It allows you to use your old materials, giving them a fresh spin by converting them into ebooks, infographics, videos, etc.
When you convert an article into a video, you can expect better engagement as a key benefit. So pick your old blogs and convert them into videos. To do this, you can rely on online tools like Lumen 5.
All you need to do is copy the blog link into the given box. The software will automatically turn it into a video.
Using this repurposing technique, you can create a fresh engaging layer for your readers. You’ll do this by offering a content format that helps them understand the information quickly, and also builds positive brand sentiment.
Similarly, you can turn your blog posts into infographics and key takeaways into visual snippets. In fact, you can also convert a series of similar blog posts into an e-book and use it as a call to action for outbound campaigns, to drive more conversions through it.
Another trick that helps bring down content creation time is the use of repeated segments. This technique is often used in various television segments.
Pick the most engaging part of your content, and repeat it now and then. This could mean you share a particular story on a specific day every week or you repeat a theme in your videos.
This can be easily implemented by picking common themes. For example, you can select things like #DidYouKnow or #TGIF (Thank God, It’s Friday), where you wrap the week on a light note with an entertaining but useful insight.
Producing video content consistently can be difficult. It inflates the budget and also demands a good amount of time.
To capitalize on the power of videos without spending a penny, turn to social channels.
Facebook offers a number of video options to help you create an immersive experience for your audience.
You can use live video or 360-degree video formats, both of which can be done without investing in expensive video equipment or hiring a studio to shoot for you. You can simply shoot these videos using your smartphone.
Move over to Instagram, and you’ll find that this platform has rolled out IGTV. IGTV makes it easier for publishers to reach out to their viewers using long-form video content.
Previously, Instagram allowed upload of videos shorter than 60 seconds. With IGTV, you can create videos of up to one hour in length.
If a user follows your IGTV channel, they will be able to browse through your videos from this section.
Conclusion
Generating content on a regular basis can be tricky because of the costs associated with the ongoing need to stay consistent, but it doesn’t have to be impossible.
By relying on free online tools or using free social video options, you can achieve your content goals while being able to experiment with content formats at the same time.
Feature Image provided by the author under his or her own license.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions stated in this post are that of the author, and Return On Now may or may not agree with any or all of the commentary.
Deepasha Kakkar
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- Smart Ways To Generate Content Quickly And Affordably - April 23, 2019
