Effective strategies that make your content ‘bigger’

‘Big content’ is a 2014 buzzword – but what does it mean? And can it really help you engage users better, using the same budget and resources?

Making your content offering ‘bigger’ – producing an ebook instead of an article, making your blog post into a whole series – is a great way to make your content resources work harder.

You’ll be making the most of your in-house subject matter experts, your writers – however many you have – and you’ll save time commissioning and signing off on content, too.

‘Big content’ can include things like:

•       Ebooks
•       White papers
•       Long-form thought leadership articles
•       Reports
•       Blog series

The downside? It’s easy to stretch ideas too thinly, or use a longer format when one isn’t appropriate, adding to what content-marketing agency Sticky Content termed ‘the content bubble’.

Here some effective strategies for making your content bigger, while keeping every piece engaging, relevant and insightful.

Make good content ideas work harder

Producing longer, more in-depth content means you can commission greater volumes of content all at once – saving time in the process.

So, when you nail a good content idea, make the most of it. Is this really a blog post, or is it a whole series? What questions do your audiences have on this subject, and how best can you address those questions? Would a data visualisation be useful?

Once you’ve decided on an angle and a format that everyone’s happy with, your content producers can get on with the job at hand.

And if you put your agreed brief down in writing, you’ll all have one central reference point – this will be handy tool when you come to sign the content off, too.

Make the most of your in-house experts

If you’re researching a white paper or putting together a report, you’ll need some credible, expert input. Before you look externally, ask whether anyone inside the business has the knowledge you need. Look to sales teams, those speaking to customers all the time – or product owners, or customer service professionals. These people can be a mine of information on what your users are really interested in.

Anthologise existing content using a new format

Are there any clever ways you can use your existing content in a new way? For example, you could combine flowcharts, articles and video, and publish these together as an eBook.

Don’t exclude internal documents – such as presentations and email memos – from your list of possible content resources. You’ll often find something interesting in these, which can then be turned into a publishable blog post, or a section in a white paper.