How to Create Compelling Content to Build 
Your Brand’s Community & Drive Business

1. nick westergaard | branddrivendigital.com
ContentHow Effective Content Fuels Social Media Marketing and Drives Business

2. #UIMKTG
@nickwestergaard

4. unpacking the “serving men”
‣ WHY are we doing this?
‣ WHAT are we doing?
‣ WHEN does this happen?
‣ WHERE does this happen?
‣ WHO does this involve?
‣ HOW do we get it done?

5. conversations
& Content
what is social media?

6. jay baer
Content is fire. Social media is the gasoline.”“

7. how content fuels social media
‣ What Is Content?
‣ The Business of Content Marketing
‣ How to Create Content
‣ Examples of Effective Content Marketing
‣ Measuring Content and More

8. What Is Content?
1

9. content
noun
1. usually ‘contents’: the contents of a box
2. something that is to be expressed through some medium, as speech,
writing, or any of various arts: a poetic form adequate to a poetic content.
3. significance or profundity; meaning: a clever play that lacks content.
4. substantive information or creative material viewed in contrast to its
actual or potential manner of presentation: publishers, record companies,
and other content providers; a flashy Web site, but without much content.
5. that which may be perceived in something: the latent versus the manifest
content of a dream.

10. joe pulizzi
Content marketing is a marketing technique
of creating and distributing relevant and
valuable content to attract, acquire, and
engage a clearly defined and understood
target audience with the objective of driving
a profitable customer action.”
“

11. ‣ Blogs
‣ Videos
‣ White papers
‣ eBooks
‣ Case studies
‣ Print magazines
‣ Webinars
‣ Presentations (“Slide Docs”)
‣ Newsletters — email & print
‣ Miscellaneous content (annual reports, FAQs)
‣ Infographics
‣ Memes
when we say content we mean …

12. 80%of marketers use content marketing —
across B2c, b2b, and non-profit sectors
Source: Content Marketing Institute

13. 74%of those same marketers across sectors
are producing more content Year on year
Source: Content Marketing Institute

14. So what?What’s so great about content?!?

15. The Business of
Content Marketing
2

16. eric schmidt
Every two days we create as much
information as we did from the dawn of
civilization up until 2003.”
“

17. TWICEas much content as they were
just a few years ago
average consumer now seeks out
Source: Google Zero Moment of Truth (zeromomentoftruth.com)

18. Source: zeromomentoftruth.com

19. zero moment in detail

21. good content can help with …
‣ Branding
‣ Community building
‣ Public relations
‣ Market research
‣ Customer service
‣ Leads and sales

22. so what makes
good content?

23. good content is
grounded in strategy

24. good content
solves problems

25. good content has the power to
humanize your brand

26. good content means
brands are now publishers

27. good content is both
business centric
+ customer Aware

28. 80%of marketers use content marketing —
across B2c, b2b, and non-profit sectors
Source: Content Marketing Institute
again,

29. 74%of those same marketers across sectors
are producing more content Year on year
Source: Content Marketing Institute
and …

30. 50%of those same marketers across sectors
lack a documented content strategy
but … over
Source: Content Marketing Institute

31. How to Create Content
3

32. good content is both
business centric
+ customer Aware

33. strategy
like everything,
effective content marketing starts with

34. why are you doing this?
‣ Branding
‣ Community building
‣ Public relations
‣ Market research
‣ Customer service
‣ Leads and sales

35. why are you using content? (B2B)
Source: Content Marketing Institute

36. why are you using content? (b2c)
Source: Content Marketing Institute

37. why are you using content? (Non-profit)
Source: Content Marketing Institute

38. audience
with a business strategy defined,
now we can focus on the

39. audience considerations
‣ Target — Who are they?
‣ Format — What can you produce to help them?
‣ Channel — Where is your audience?
‣ Purpose — What are you trying to get them to do?
‣ Point — What action do you want them to take?

40. define your audience, Target with personas
Source: http://www.branddrivendigital.com/using-personas-to-define-who-i-blog-for/

41. focus on what they need help with

42. What do they need help with? Ask them
Source: Pivot/Brian Solis

43. where are they? distribute there
Source: Content Marketing Institute

44. 72%of marketers are paying to promote content
— across B2c, b2b, and non-profit sectors
Source: Content Marketing Institute

45. what do you want them to do? Make it easy

46. consistency is key
A schedule builds expectations for
both the audience & the business

47. challenges
now that your content is business centric
& customer aware, it’s time to overcome top

48. a scan of the top challenges
Source: Content Marketing Institute

49. creating consistent,
Engaging content
on a budget
summary of challenges:

50. CONTENT HACKS THAT BELONG IN EVERY MARKETERS’ TOOLBOX
4

51. 1
relentlessly repurpose

52. 2
utilize historical content

53. 3
curate content

54. 4
user-generated content

55. user generated tip: Make it easy, provide props

56. Examples of Effective
Content Marketing
4

57. what are you using most? (b2b)
Source: Content Marketing Institute

58. what are you using most? (b2c)
Source: Content Marketing Institute

59. what are you using most? (Non-profit)
Source: Content Marketing Institute

60. 45%of marketers say blogging is the #1 most
important piece of their content strategy
Source: Social Media Examiner

61. blogging

62. blogging

63. blogging

64. marcus sheridan
I used to see my company as a ‘pool
company.’ Today I see my business as a
content marketing company. My entire goal
is to give more valuable, helpful, and
remarkable content to consumers than
anyone else in my field.”
“

65. 21%of americans listen to podcasts.
The same number of Americans listen to
podcasts and use Twitter.
Source: Edison Research

66. podcasting

67. 1.8xmore likely to purchase than non-viewers
shoppers who view video are
Source: Adobe

69. smaller servings of video

70. white papersare the most influential on purchase decision
and the most shared among b2b consumers
Source: Demand Gen

71. ebooks & white papers = lead gen

72. the difference between …?
By Jeremiah Owyang and Charlene Li
with Christine Tran and Andrew Jones
Based on data from 140 global corporate buyers of social business
!
!
!
How Corporations Should
Prioritize Social Business
Budgets
Corporations must budget spending based
on their maturity level.!
February 10, 2011

73. 75%of marketers are using content to drive email
subscriptions — across B2c, b2b, and non-profit sectors
Source: Content Marketing Institute

74. email newsletters

75. 28%higher open rate for marketers using both email
marketing and social media
Source: Vertical Response

76. don’t forget
webinars, FAQs, annual reports,
and other miscellaneous content

77. annual reports

78. smaller, visual content

79. curated social content

80. Measuring Content
and More
4

81. content measurement
‣ Blogs — subscribers, site traffic (Google Analytics), inbound
links, comments, shares
‣ Podcasts — subscribers, reviews
‣ Photos/Videos — views, likes, thumbs up, favorites
‣ eBooks/White Papers — downloads, shares (bit.ly)
‣ Webinars — sign-ups, attendees

82. jason falls
Without content you don’t exist.”“

83. TIME
AMOUNT OF CONTENT
Content Production Content Consumption
Source: businessesgrow.com
the future: Content Shock

84. more isn’t always better. sometimes
more is just more.

85. key take-aways
‣ “Content is fire, social media is gasoline” – Jay Baer
‣ Good content is business centric and customer aware
‣ Content requires both a business strategy and audience strategy
‣ “Content Shock” — More content isn’t always better

86. more content resources

88. next up: Working the plan

90. #UIMKTG
@nickwestergaard

91. nick@WESTERGAARD.COM
Slides at Slideshare.net/nickwestergaard
@NickWestergaard on Twitter, Instagram, and more