Content Trouble – What’s Your Approach?

Content trouble can delay projects, reduce traffic, and miss the message when not properly managed. Content troubles often appear in the following areas:

Content creation – generate original ideas, write, edit, curate, add keywords

Content quality – find good sources of information, good writer, variety, high interest, meet business objectives

Content management – schedule, publish, integrate, re-purpose

Content priority – projects may involve a team of professionals: manager, web developer, graphic artist, photographer, and videographer who need to see the big picture and how/when their expertise fits.

Every content project manager hears the word “trouble” sometime in their career. Singer/songwriter Ray Lamontagne embraced “Trouble” as a title for one of his songs. His initial “trouble” lyric is quickly followed with “….worry, worry, worry…” then he gets saved. What saves the content project is often a combination of planning, talent, and interpersonal communications skills.

When trouble comes my way I tend to take the following approach.

Seek to understand. Were priorities set and understood by all? What went wrong and why? What other problems might this create?
Build some kind of rapport with the problem. This reduces worry and increases focus. Ask lots of questions of yourself and others.
Evaluate expectations for a solution. Like a doctor, do no harm.
Pursue the solution. I usually do this in phases to assess progress and make observations as we move away from trouble to solution.
Understand what’s needed, nurture, and deliver.
Be grateful for your ability to learn from the experience.

What’s your approach to resolving content troubles? Anything I forgot to add?

3 Best Sites for Tracking Content Trends

Content writers and industry professionals need to track trends to stay current, find topic ideas to write about and learn what terms people are using to search the Internet. You can gage what keywords and topics are trending outside and within your industry, today, last month, and annually using these three best sites for content trend tracking. This is a routine I find effective as a content writer and communications strategist.

First, check out Google Trends. Early this morning some trending topics were “gold prices,” “Nestle” and “Stephen Hawking.” The price of gold is surging to new heights. If you are in the finance world, adding the words “gold prices” to your blog post, e-newsletter, or social media titles today will likely increase your traffic.

You can change the date and see what the search trends were any day in the last year. Lots of people search for the Dow Jones Industrial Average using “djia.” Use the right abbreviations/terms and you have a better chance of connecting with your audience. Google Trends is updated every hour. You can subscribe to “Hot Trends” through an RSS feed.

Trends Buzz gives a great overview of the most searched words at the moment on Google, Yahoo, Twitter, Alexa, Blogpulse, Wordtracker, Wikipedia and more. Clicking on the term link opens up a listing of content on the subject.

My other favorite site for reviewing trends and topics is Alltop. The home page has popular articles by good writers. You can search by industry or keyword to get all the most searched for topics. It’s sometimes hard for me to get off this page. It shows how great headlines draw reader interest.

Use these sites for tracking content trends and audience patterns emerge. Understanding how popular content fluctuates can help you plan your content accordingly. Knowing what words people use to search and the power of a good headline are added benefits of monitoring these 3 best sites for tracking content trends.

How are you using Internet trends to drive traffic to your site?

List Six Traits You Like About Your Customers

Why do you and your customers choose each other? When you get the answer to that question, you can engage them with passion and purpose through your website content, blog, or newsletter.

A lot of content focuses on solutions and providing services directed to a customer’s “pain” points. What if you add customers’ passions? It is estimated that 10% of customers account for more than 50% of a company’s profits.

From Pain to Passion

Going from pain to passion requires uncovering what traits you like most about your customers and what your customers like most about you. I discovered in informal interviews with B2B companies that these were traits they liked best in their customers.

Reliable: Adheres to schedules, produces what’s needed, and pays on time.

Trustworthy: Is honest, loyal and forthright.

Grateful: Acknowledge they are well served and show appreciation.

Forgiving: Understand that no one is perfect all of the time.

Strategic: Able to think things through as partners to a favorable outcome.

Knowledgeable: Generous in sharing what they know.

Identify 6 Traits Your Customers Like About You

You can use the traits you like in customers to find what customers like about you. A simple survey will do. You may include Yes, No, Sometimes as answer selections. This example uses the above results to frame questions:

– Do we adhere to schedules and produce what’s needed on time?

– Can you depend on us to be honest and forthright?

– Do you feel appreciated by XYZ Company?

– If we admit a mistake, will your forgive us?

– Did we find a satisfying solution to your problem?

– Do we adequately share our expertise with you?

Understanding what you like and what your customer’s viewpoint and perceptions are makes you a better communicator. Your content can reflect that.

Share the traits you like most about your customers here.

How Content Fosters Business Relationships

My father often said, “Show me your friends and I will show you, you.” He was talking about reputation and influence. One of my clients, a professional service provider, said: “We only do business with people we like.”

While the words “friends” and “like” now have new connotations online, I wanted to explore how content can foster friendly, profitable, influential relationships. Your level of engagement with customers should be intentional. Once those decisions are made, these content ideas can support your intention.

Help People Make Beneficial Decisions

Those who already own and use your product are decision makers. They can be good sources for relaying how they benefitted and why they decided on you. Let them speak through testimonials, in comments and profiles.

Customers are investors in your company. How did they first connect with you? How do they consume? Learn their language and patterns of behavior. Recognize their skills. Benefit filled content reinforces their decisions.

Empower your employees. Train them to use social media and give them a guideline that reflects the human side of your business.

Give advice and recommendations on what is most useful under what conditions. Highlight “most popular” items.

Assess the tone of your content. If it doesn’t sound like you, change it.

Offer Something New

People get bored. Use whatever methods and co-creators you can find to offer something new. Create a difference and build strong content around it. You will gain members and affiliates who share your interests and insights.

Innovation gives others a reason to write about you and widens your audience of like-minded people. The more stakeholders, the better. I have seen some great things come from strategic partnerships between businesses.

Be Dependable

When it comes to their needs everybody wants to be consulted and engaged. Don’t sell. Lead your visitors on a path of discovery. Nurture leads with infographics, ebooks, white papers and videos that convey your reliability as a source.

Stay trustworthy. Tell an authentic story. Ask if their questions were answered (this can be an automated email response to those who download your material). Listen and respond.

Be consistent in your purpose and commitment to improve. Become transparent. Your friends, followers and fans and their friends, followers and fans will be more likely to heed your call to action.

The president of a well respected non-profit told me her secret to building lasting relationships with generous donors: “Always, always say thank you. Then say it again.”

Thank you for reading this post. What are some of the ways you build satisfying business relationships online?

Address Fear of Change With Benefit-Filled Content

An article by August Turak titled “Three Keys to Competing” got me thinking about competition in a new way. Turak describes the levels of competition as direct (other suppliers), indirect (budget constraints), and procrastination (fear of change). “…the most insidious, most often neglected and hardest to overcome” is procrastination, he writes. Rather than buying from a competitor, the prospect does nothing.

What kind of content can address your customers’ fear of change? Try these approaches to help them act with confidence.

Understand Change is Not Easy

My computer was several years old with little storage space left on the hard drive and running very slow. Still, I waited. Learning something new requires time and attention. A long time PC user, I decided to buy a MacBook Pro. The processor was fast. I would have additional connectivity that includes HD video calls, and better graphics. These features were easily translated to benefits for me. I was able to call an Apple specialist who answered my questions through the number provided on the website. The content reads:

Follow Up With Ongoing Training & Support

The initial frustration of learning something new can be substantial. I suddenly became an amateur computer user after years of being an expert. I purchased the One on One support program for $99. This gives me access to the online tutorial and allows me to attend the One on One workshops at my local Apple store. Many of my frustrations were eliminated. I continue to refer to the online tutorial and attend the workshops to expand my understanding of what I can do with this computer. Apple makes it easy for customers to get support:

Anticipate the Benefits

Everyone wants a product or service that makes life better and easier. Apple seems to be anticipating my next purchase on their Home page:

Having the same content available on multiple devices is of great benefit. The automatic aspect tells me I won’t have to spend hours setting it up. I am now anticipating the benefits of change rather than fearing it.

How does your content address customers’ fear of change?