Do You Know How to Recognize a Content Opportunity?
Written by Annette Elton · Print This Article
Sometimes thing fall into place.
Keeping your eye open for opportunities and taking advantage of them is one of the things successful people seem to be exceptionally skilled at and content opportunities are no different.
What Does a Content Opportunity Look Like?
Many people set aside time during their day, week or month to create or outline their upcoming content, and this is a great practice however, when content opportunities present themselves it pays to pay attention to them. A content opportunity might look like:
-A conversation with an associate about the latest trend in the industry or a problem you’ve been having with your business. Even a discussion about a question one of your clients or prospects asked. The conversation or the results of the conversation can be worked into a really good article, or series of articles, or if you’re quick on your toes you can record the discussion, transcribe it and post it on your blog.
-A content opportunity might be your opinion about something that’s happened in your industry, something you just read or heard that got you fired up.
-A content opportunity can be a story a client or customer tells you.
-It can be inspired by a workshop you’ve taken, a conference you’ve attended, a book you’ve read and so on.
What Do You Do When You Have a Content Opportunity?
Step One: Recognize it. This is more difficult than you think. Thoughts come into our head and often slip out soundlessly without recognition. Training ourselves to recognize content opportunities can take some time, it requires becoming aware of your thoughts.
Step Two: Document it. Content opportunities often pop up unexpectedly. Like when you’re in line at the grocery store talking to the person in line ahead of you and they ask you a really good question, one that would make a superior article.
What do you do? Well if you’ve recognized it as a content opportunity, the next step is to do something so you remember it. I carry a notebook and a half dozen pens because one is never enough. The notebook is dog eared and full of jumblings that wouldn’t make sense to anyone else but it’s been there for me when I need it.
Technology helps too, you can use the notebook function on your BlackBerry or an iPhone app. You can record it on your phone, leave yourself a voicemail or send yourself a text message. Just document the idea so you don’t lose it.
Step Three: Follow through. Once you’re in a place where you can write, assuming you write your own content, write your piece while it’s still fresh in your mind. If you use a ghostwriter, call or send them a quick email with your content idea and let them run with it.
Once you learn to recognize and seize content opportunities, you may find your best content is generated this way. It’s fresh, timely, and something you feel passionately about at the moment you’re writing it.
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Thanks for the great tips! This happens to me all the time; something happens like you mentioned above and I know it will make a great blog post or article, then when I sit down to my computer the thought has left me…gone…vanished. I need to get into the habit of using the voice recorder on my Blackberry when the thoughts arise.
Hi Mary,
Isn’t it funny that the best ideas come to you when you’re doing something incredibly inconvenient? LOL! I think I get my best ideas while I’m in the shower or driving, certainly not great places to try to write anything or chat on the cell phone. I’ve gotten into the habit of taking a pen and paper everywhere, yes even into the bathtub or at least beside it:-)