Nicola Balkind

Freelance Writer & Content Specialist

Getting Started

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Getting Started

Everyone has an Achilles’ heel when it comes to work.

Some of us are great planners and terrible at following through. Others of us love jumping in and setting to work, but run into hurdles two-thirds of the way through a project.

Me? I’m a terrible starter.

To give you an example, I’ve been sitting here for 2 hours staring at the prompts and topics I had planned for the month, feeling utterly uninspired by the lot of them.

It’s not a procrastination problem, you understand. There’s no staying up overnight til an hour before the deadline. That stress is not for me. I just have a tough time getting started. It’s the way I work, and it’s partly motivated by fear. It’s also motivated by a fact of writing: sometimes you don’t know what you have to say until you actually start saying it.

Once I get going, once the momentum builds, I’m set. It’s revving the motor I have trouble with.

So how do I deal with it? When I was on the Cultural Enterprise Office’s Flourish programme earlier this year, I had a mentor, Sophie Kyle (hire her here). She told me to find a starter, and it has worked beautifully.

Sometimes it’s been intentional, like kickstarting a podcast called Bookish Blether with my brilliant friend Holly. Other times it’s been pure luck, like being invited by the folks at Skriva to run a Finding Your Voice Online Workshop.

Having a starter isn’t always possible. Here, today, writing the September blog posts for this website, the only starter I have is myself. Sometimes I have to call upon others to hold me accountable, and other times I seek them out.

Here’s someone who’s been (unironically, promise) helping me out lately:

So… where do you get stuck in work? How do you get out of it?

 

How to Sell in the Off-Season

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seasonalcontent

 

How to Sell in the Off-Season, or

Off-Season Content: Why it’s important

We’ve talked about Evergreen Content in the past, but Off-Season Content is a little bit different.

Let’s be clear: selling in the off-season isn’t all about sales. It’s about raising brand awareness, building your community, and getting involved in the conversation. The pay-off? It comes in the next on-season.

Seasonal businesses have a natural on-season where most activity takes place and the majority is revenue is made, offset by an off-season where things get a little quieter. This could apply to events, for example a festival that runs once per year. It could be a store that specialises in seasonal goods like summer clothing, or it could be a ski resort that is only open during winter.

On social media, there are ways to keep the rally going all the way through the off-season. While many of my collaborators can’t always afford to keep me on during the off-season, I always advise keeping an active profile throughout the year.

I hope this seems intuitive – though you or your business may be taking a public break, chances are there’s still loads going on behind the scenes. Things move quickly online, so don’t let your presence get stale and allow people to forget about who you are and the value you offer them.

 

How to Stay ‘On’ During the Off-season

Know your purpose

SEO – Google’s search algorithm favours recent, relevant content. Honing your off-season content strategy will improve your search engine performance and engage and convert one-time visitors into regular visitors. In this way you can build our existing audience into a community that is connected and engaged year-round and is more likely to participate during high season.

Social Media Engagement – Staying front-of-mind is important. Twitter followers might have an unfollow spree, or simply tune out when they stop seeing your logo daily. The Facebook algorithm favours consistency, making frequent, value-driven posts more important than ever. Keeping visual accounts like Pinterest and Instagram up-to-date are a great way to show behind the scenes and keep you on your customers’ radar.

Goals – There are several goals you could be reaching for with your off-season content strategy. You could be cementing your position as a thought-leader in your field, building buzz for next year, becoming an invaluable resource for your customers – or all of the above! If you want to increase your following and engagement, these are all great goals that will help you to that end.

 

Plan your content themes

This is where your content calendar will come in handy (and if you don’t have one, it’s time to create one)! I’ve talked about how to approach content planning here. We also talked about the content mix and media mix in our spring cleaning posts, which should give you a leg-up.

Start with a calendar in a spreadsheet and start filling in key dates. Think about some of the following:

1. Events – related events in your field
2. Sponsors/Partners/Ambassadors – are there people or companies in your network who run related events? Or who post really useful content? Make a note to share these in your plan
3. National days of interest – there are loads of days that could apply to you. Cinemas, there’s a national popcorn day. Charitable causes, there are tons of human rights days relevant to you. Find ways to connect with your existing relevant content and join the conversation.
4. #OnThisDay and Famous Birthdays – a celebration, a memory and a quote always do well on these days, and add a little trivia to your offering.

 

All of these key dates, and any others that come to mind, are relevant and should be interesting to your audience. Make them fun – put in a little time and effort, even if you’re scheduling ahead. Always keep an eye out for trending topics and other interests, too – anything to stay in touch.

 

Become a member of your own community

There are lots of ways to stay involved in the conversation, so instead of trying to make the conversation revolve around you and your brand, try chipping in where you can add value until it’s time to self-promote again. Do it well, and your community will love your input.

 

Your Turn

How have you stayed involved in the conversation during the off-season? Share your thoughts in the comments or tweet me @robotnic.

 

Got a topic you want me to cover in an upcoming blog? Or need a hand with your content strategy? I’m happy to help. Get in touch.

Spring Clean Your Content: Part II, Content Mix

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content mix

 

Welcome to Part II of Spring Cleaning Your Content!

Last week, we looked at the “media mix” – or the type of media you’ll be posting and where to post it.

This week, we’re talking about the “content mix” – how to organise your content strategy and how to keep your content consistent, varied and interesting.

 

Your content should be…

1. Informative

2. Valuable for your readers

3. Community-driven

4. Targeted

Informative content gives your customer a place to go to gather the information they need, whether that’s how to buy your product, how to use it, or just a way to get them involved in your area of expertise. All of this content must add value to your readers’ lives. In time, they’ll build trust in you and, eventually, invest their money in that value.

For those who are already part of your online community, and those who wish to join it. To inform and add value to your customers’ experiences, your content should be accessible and inclusive. That also means it will be targeted towards those who need it most. The more you can niche down, and the more specific you can be, the better.

Remember: online content is not just about sales: it’s providing a valuable resource, or even a place for people to hang out and share their interests. Build their trust, build your brand, and sales will follow.

 

Defining your content mix

Now that we’re familiar with what your content is seeking to accomplish, and which platforms are best suited, it’s time to think about what you’re posting and when.

Your content mix might include…

  • Company news – like a new product or an upcoming event.
  • Industry or customer-related news – e.g. an exciting innovation in your sector, or new technology that’s exciting for your customers.
  • Seasonal posts, holidays and tie-ins – like Spring Cleaning (duh!), a UN day of interest, or a Fashion Week tie-in – whatever is relevant to your business and your audience.
  • Content partnerships – content in collaboration with industry specialists or thought leaders like bloggers. This could include partnered giveaways and other types access to someone important to your audience.

No matter the topic, make sure your content mix is relevant to your audience. You can also include lots of evergreen content that you can share time and time again.

You may emphasise one of these content types over others, but as a general rule you should talk about yourself in a minority of posts. I like to use the 80:20 rule – so roughly only one in five posts will be about my own products and services, while the rest provide things like news, relevant but fun content, or guest blogs.

 

Content themes

We’ve talked about planning your content calendar before, and these tips still apply.

As long-time readers might have realised, I have a themed content mix in place here on nicolabalkind.com. Most of my posts share knowledge and advice, with the occasional post about a relevant event or a piece of industry news. I post once per week, and these tend to fall under the following categories:

  • Social Media and Content – practical guides like the one you’re reading, or like this post.
  • Microbusiness Interest – sharing resources that have helped me, or posting about topics around small businesses.
  • Recommendations – like tools, apps, and processes.
  • Notebook or Links posts – sharing the best industry-related posts I’ve read each month.

As I hinted above, the goal is to create a healthy mix of content that provides value, teaches your audience something new, and shares what you’re doing without boring them.

For more tips on varied content on social media, take a look at my tips for content curation.

 

Your turn

How do you keep your content varied and interesting for your readers? I’d love to hear your plans in the comments, or you can email me or tweet me anytime @robotnic.

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