{"id":1353,"date":"2017-05-30T15:57:00","date_gmt":"2017-05-30T15:57:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/commarts.pleather.us\/2017\/05\/30\/5-simple-ways-to-shape-your-content-through-your-culture\/"},"modified":"2017-05-30T15:57:00","modified_gmt":"2017-05-30T15:57:00","slug":"5-simple-ways-to-shape-your-content-through-your-culture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.valdosta.edu\/m2\/2017\/05\/30\/5-simple-ways-to-shape-your-content-through-your-culture\/","title":{"rendered":"5 SIMPLE WAYS TO SHAPE YOUR CONTENT THROUGH YOUR CULTURE"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>This article originally appeared on\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.columnfivemedia.com\/5-simple-ways-shape-content-culture\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Column Five<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Many content marketers think they\u2019re doing content right. They <a href=\"https:\/\/www.columnfivemedia.com\/10-tips-for-a-successful-brainstorm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">brainstorm<\/a>.\u00a0They monitor upcoming events. They plan their <a class=\"external\" href=\"http:\/\/contentmarketinginstitute.com\/2014\/11\/content-marketers-checklist-editorial-calendar-essentials\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow external noopener noreferrer\">editorial calendar<\/a>\u00a0based on things like:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>New product releases and updates<\/li>\n<li>Holidays<\/li>\n<li>Company news<\/li>\n<li>Current events<\/li>\n<li>Trends<\/li>\n<li>Conferences<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>They stick to their calendar and publish regularly. Yet their content fails.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s not surprising. When you\u2019re too focused on filling the content pipeline, becoming a slave to your editorial calendar, it\u2019s easy to lose sight of what you should be creating.<\/p>\n<h3><b>WHAT IS GOOD CONTENT?<\/b><\/h3>\n<p>Good, effective content <em>connects<\/em>. It speaks directly to your audience and provides something that they want or need. Yet so much content meets readers at a superficial level; most of it lacks heart and emotional connection. It\u2019s the equivalent of talking about the weather.<\/p>\n<p>If you want to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.columnfivemedia.com\/why-engagement-marketing-matters\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow external noopener noreferrer\">form relationships with your audience<\/a> and convince them to invest in your brand, which you do, you need to connect through truly meaningful content that tells a worthwhile story.<\/p>\n<p>How do you know what\u2019s worthwhile? The strongest stories include two key traits:<\/p>\n<p><b>1) They\u2019re interesting: <\/b>Most industries are becoming commoditized and more competitive, which makes it harder for brands to stand out. To break through, you need a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.columnfivemedia.com\/how-a-brand-finds-its-voice\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow external noopener noreferrer\">strong, distinct voice<\/a>. Telling unusual, unique, or intriguing stories helps you do this. That means diving past the surface, identifying interesting topics, teasing out unique angles, and turning them into compelling stories to capture your audience\u2019s attention.<\/p>\n<p><b>2) They\u2019re useful: <\/b>The quickest way to make your audience fall in love with your brand is to provide content that applies to their lives. (This type of content is also innately interesting to them.) To do this, you can focus on content that helps them solve a problem, learn something new, or do something better. Think education (blog posts, webinars, ebooks, etc.) or inspiration (customer or employee stories, etc.).<\/p>\n<p>So you know what makes a compelling story, but where do you find those stories in your own operation? This is where things can get murky for marketers, but don\u2019t get overwhelmed. You have the single greatest source of inspiration right in front of you, all around you, even in your instant messages.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s your company culture.<\/p>\n<h3><b>WHY CULTURE MAKES FOR GOOD CONTENT<\/b><\/h3>\n<p>Content marketing is a long-term process to turn strangers into supporters of your brand. The first step of this process is introducing yourself: showing your audience who you are, how you see the world, and why anyone should care about any of this. Conveniently, these are the very same elements that comprise your company culture.<\/p>\n<p>When you approach content from this angle, your stories inherently capture your unique and authentic perspective. This hits both marks for generating great stories:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><b>They\u2019re interesting <\/b><strong>because they\u2019re unique. <\/strong>No other company has your mission, vision, values, people, origin story, failures, and successes.<\/li>\n<li><b>They\u2019re useful because<\/b><strong> they stem from your personal experiences<\/strong>. If you\u2019ve experienced something or solved a problem firsthand, your audience is more likely to trust your advice.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>When you peel back the curtain, you\u2019re more vulnerable\u2014and that\u2019s the key to developing a deep, emotional connection with your audience.<\/p>\n<p>But what does that look like in action? Here are 5 ways to turn your culture into incredible content.<\/p>\n<h4><b><\/b><b>1) SHARE YOUR VISION, MISSION, AND VALUES<\/b><\/h4>\n<p>If you don\u2019t have these principles articulated for your company, you absolutely should. Sharing your company\u2019s purpose through your vision, mission, and values helps your internal team understand why they\u2019re working, what they\u2019re doing, and how they\u2019re supposed to be doing it. (This also helps create a cohesive culture.)<\/p>\n<p>Additionally, showcasing your principles externally shows your audience who you are and what you stand for. Audiences crave connections with brands that share their same values. For some prospects, your principles could be the key factor in their decision-making.<\/p>\n<p>Creating content around your principles doesn\u2019t mean you publish your mission statement. It means you mine those values for inspiration. What do you care about? What inspires you? What\u2019s been on your mind? How might you create content to move the needle on those issues?<\/p>\n<p>This type of thinking has helped us come up with many content ideas. For example, one of our values is \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/www.columnfivemedia.com\/c5s-five-columns-be-good-to-each-other\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow external noopener noreferrer\">be good to each other<\/a>.\u201d This value inspired us to create our <a href=\"http:\/\/peopleforperiods.columnfivemedia.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow external noopener noreferrer\">People for Periods<\/a>\u00a0project, an interactive microsite to educate and help destigmatize menstruation in honor of Women\u2019s Health Week.<\/p>\n<p>On another occasion, after we read the story of how Ben Franklin once refused a loan repayment and directed the debtor to \u201cpay it forward,\u201d\u00a0we became so inspired by the \u201cpay it forward\u201d philosophy that we turned the entire tale into a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.columnfivemedia.com\/pay-it-forward-ben-franklin-poster-design\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow external noopener noreferrer\">high-quality print<\/a>, which ultimately became our holiday gift to our partners. (It was a much more meaningful gift than a branded coffee mug.)<\/p>\n<p>This type of content is a simple way to put your beliefs out into the world and into your audience\u2019s hands.<\/p>\n<h4><b><\/b><b>2) HIGHLIGHT YOUR PEOPLE<\/b><\/h4>\n<p>Your company is (or should be) full of great people. Celebrate them\u2014and give them a platform. Your audience wants to put a face to your brand, and this is a great way to do it.<\/p>\n<p>This can be as easy as showcasing their work or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.columnfivemedia.com\/people\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">creating a page to spotlight employees<\/a>. It can be more involved, too. You might encourage your employees to write blog posts (even if they aren\u2019t on the content team) about their experience, or create content around a volunteer event that your company sponsors.<\/p>\n<p>For example, our Director of Strategy Asher Rumack recently wrote a well-received <a href=\"https:\/\/www.columnfivemedia.com\/15-important-lessons-creative-work\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">article about battling\u2014and beating\u2014his creative struggles<\/a>.\u00a0When <a href=\"http:\/\/www.columnfivemedia.com\/people\/jenny-famularcano\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow external noopener noreferrer\">Designer Jenny Famularcano<\/a> began to take calligraphy classes after work, we tapped her to hand-letter inspirational quotes for our <a class=\"external\" href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/BCQv77TFAmL\/?hl=en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow external noopener noreferrer\">Instagram<\/a>\u00a0account. And when our New York team helped YMCA kids create a chalk mural, we created a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.columnfivemedia.com\/column-five-ny-and-bed-stuy-ymca-turn-camp-memories-into-chalk-art\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">video recap<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>If employees aren\u2019t comfortable writing or producing content themselves, they can still brainstorm ideas, offer their perspectives, and help you identify angles your audience would find valuable.<\/p>\n<p>A few other ways to highlight your employees:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Showcase their innovations, awards, etc.<\/li>\n<li>Interview them (perhaps film them in their work environment)<\/li>\n<li>Give them shout-outs on social media<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4><b><\/b><b>3) TELL YOUR ORIGIN STORY<\/b><\/h4>\n<p>Find creative ways to showcase how your company started and how it\u2019s evolved over time.<\/p>\n<p>I find myself telling Column Five\u2019s origin story most frequently during sales meetings, and I\u2019m still pleasantly surprised by how interested people are in knowing this stuff.\u00a0Why do people care? Because this is the stuff that is specific to each company, and stories of humble beginnings are always interesting, inspiring, and endearing.<\/p>\n<p>Recently, my team has even started to help our partners tell their stories, too. We publish <a href=\"https:\/\/www.columnfivemedia.com\/category\/interviews\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">interviews <\/a>with clients about how they built their companies, what they learned, and what advice they\u2019d give to those facing similar issues.<\/p>\n<p>Any time you share your experience\u2014including your struggles, failures, and growth\u2014you cultivate stronger relationships.<\/p>\n<h4><b><\/b><b>4) PUBLISH YOUR FAILURES<\/b><\/h4>\n<p>Everyone fumbles and fails their way through at least the early days of launching a brand. Even if you\u2019re a 10-year business veteran, you will face challenges.<\/p>\n<p>Sharing stories about how you\u2019ve failed and what you learned humanizes your brand, makes you more relatable, and demonstrates that you are invested in learning and trying to improve\u2014for yourself and your customers.<\/p>\n<p>Most importantly, it provides your readers with something of value\u2014the opportunity to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.columnfivemedia.com\/5-of-the-worst-content-creation-mistakes\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow external noopener noreferrer\">learn from your mistakes<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019ve written about the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.columnfivemedia.com\/10-hard-won-lessons-ive-learned-content-strategy\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">toughest lessons I\u2019ve learned about building a content strategy<\/a>, and we had our entire team share the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.columnfivemedia.com\/10-tips-more-effective-content-marketing\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">best content marketing lessons<\/a> they\u2019ve learned.<\/p>\n<p>You may feel shy or strange talking about how you\u2019ve absolutely botched something, but as long as you frame it in terms of what you\u2019ve learned, you have nothing to lose.<\/p>\n<h4><b><\/b><b>5) PUBLISH YOUR SUCCESSES<\/b><\/h4>\n<p>Hopefully, you don\u2019t just have failures in your brand\u2019s story. Just as you share your losses, you should share your wins\u2014not in an arrogant way but with humble confidence. (Your audience appreciates your advice from failures, but they definitely want to know how to win.)<\/p>\n<p>To ensure you stay humble, when you share your wins, think of ways to frame it in terms of why you won or succeeded. Doing so enables people to \u201cstand on your shoulders.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For example, when our agency created a viral video for Microsoft, we let our audience know about the success. But we presented it as a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.columnfivemedia.com\/behind-the-scene-the-webby-nominated-child-of-the-90s-video-for-microsofts-internet-explorer\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow external noopener noreferrer\">behind-the-scenes blog<\/a>\u00a0where we shared the strategic thinking that went into the project, how we vetted the idea, and why we think it worked.<\/p>\n<p>If you help others around you succeed, you succeed.<\/p>\n<h3><b>REMEMBER: GO DEEPER<\/b><\/h3>\n<p>When you use your content as a conduit to express your culture, you can market your company as a unique entity\u00a0versus a transactional, lowest-cost provider, which is the best advantage available. This alone should inspire you to grab your team and a pizza to start hashing out your ideas.<\/p>\n<p>Using this tactic doesn\u2019t mean you have to abandon your entire <a href=\"http:\/\/www.columnfivemedia.com\/how-to-craft-visual-content-strategy\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow external noopener noreferrer\">content strategy<\/a>. You can build your editorial mix around high-value, high-interest ideas first, then plug in company news, new product updates and releases, etc. to maintain your publishing schedule.<\/p>\n<p>But no matter what you create, always focus on leading with value for your audience first.<\/p>\n<p><em>Are you already incorporating culture into your content marketing strategy? I\u2019d love to hear about its impact in the comments below.\u00a0<\/em><i>Want more content marketing tips?<\/i><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><i>Learn about <a href=\"http:\/\/www.columnfivemedia.com\/how-marketing-strategy-increased-our-leads-78-in-6-months\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow external noopener noreferrer\">the strategy we used to increase our leads 78% in 6 months<\/a><\/i><i>.<\/i><\/li>\n<li><i>F<\/i><i>ind out <a href=\"http:\/\/www.columnfivemedia.com\/5-ways-create-bullshit-free-content-marketing\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow external noopener noreferrer\">how to get the bullshit out of your content marketing<\/a>.<\/i><i>\u00a0<\/i><\/li>\n<li><i>Check out our 7 tips<\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.columnfivemedia.com\/7-ways-create-content-marketing-that-provides-true-value\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\"><i>\u00a0to create content that provides true value to your audience<\/i><\/a><i>.<\/i><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Source: Visual News<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This article originally appeared on\u00a0Column Five. Many content marketers think they\u2019re doing content right. They brainstorm.\u00a0They monitor upcoming events. They plan&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":245,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_oasis_is_in_workflow":0,"_oasis_original":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_vp_format_video_url":"","_vp_image_focal_point":[],"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[45],"class_list":["post-1353","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-careering"],"acf":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paqOTj-lP","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.valdosta.edu\/m2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1353","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.valdosta.edu\/m2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.valdosta.edu\/m2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.valdosta.edu\/m2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/245"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.valdosta.edu\/m2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1353"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.valdosta.edu\/m2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1353\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.valdosta.edu\/m2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1353"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.valdosta.edu\/m2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1353"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.valdosta.edu\/m2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1353"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}