Perfection is an unrealistic goal -- especially when it comes to content. But there are strategies you can use to create high quality material on a regular basis.
In this blog, I'll be discussing Gary Vaynerchuk’s theory on Documenting vs. Creating.
Documenting your personal journey to becoming an influential business or brand within your industry offers immense value to readers. This content can't be fabricated. Imagine if you could see the evolution of Starbucks from the CEO’s first sip of their signature coffee in 1971 to 2016's Unicorn Frappuccino?
Creating fresh content on a consistent basis is often much easier to strategize than it is to execute. This technique of documenting can help you get over this mental hurdle.
Content creation isn't a race, it's a marathon. The question is, how do we have regularly scheduled, updated content on a consistent basis?
The Technique of Documenting
At its core, documenting your brand's content involves sharing the day to day life of yourself or business with your viewers. This can be accomplished through various mediums, including social media (Instagram/Facebook live), your company blog, podcasts, Vlogs on YouTube, or any medium which will connect you with your viewers.
Spending days or even weeks on one killer blog post that you hope will elevate you to the online equivalent of Kim Kardashian can be difficult for some. The strategy of documenting involves being more like Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson: keep putting out movie after movie -- or post after post, rather. The benefit of putting out a high volume of content is when a potential customer decides to view your content, you will have 5X the amount of material for them to read.
The SEO Value of Documenting
20 new pieces of content per month (compared to three or four) has benefits from an SEO perspective as well. In fact, websites that add new pages at a higher rate may earn a higher freshness score than sites that add content less frequently, Moz reported.
To build your reputation and stake your claim in the online world, you should focus on having enough content to satisfy your readers and improve your SEO. The more blog posts you have related to your industry, the more opportunity you have to rank for long tail keywords. Long tail keywords are becoming increasingly important to on-page SEO.
The YouTube “wormhole” phenomenon is real (I'm totally guilty). It starts with a single video followed by suggested video after suggested video. Having a ton of fresh content can put a potential reader into YOUR blog's wormhole. This will drive up your views, click rate, and improve your overall SEO.
Home Run Posts Vs. Continuous Documentation
It's important to note that it's not wrong to take your time and write a focused, high quality blog post related to a specific topic in your field. This can be used as a digital “centerpiece” to get you quality shares and link juice. However, in your preparation of this “home run” post, you can simply document your business and life. What went on that day? What challenges did you face? Did something out of the ordinary happen? The important thing is to ensure that you are always creating content, and documenting can help you achieve this goal.
The Process of Documenting
In the process of documenting, you may get other ideas for creative pieces of content. When you're creating a blog, making a video, or posting on social media, it becomes much easier to think of other ideas because you're already “in the mix.”
For example, if you're an independent retailer of men’s suits, filming the process of the happy checkout at the end of the sale could inspire other content ideas. You may then start getting customers to leave a quick video testimonial of how their service was that day. That may then trigger the offer of a discount if that customer were to share the video testimonial on their Facebook page, exposing their Facebook friends to you.
However, just because YOU think your blog on how Tweed suits are going to be the next big thing doesn't mean your readers are going to agree. But if you were to document the PROCESS of how you came to the conclusion that Tweed suits are the next big thing, you could garner more attention.
It could begin with:
- Instagram videos of you going to the fashion show in Milan
- Snapchats of models wearing tweed suits
- Writing a blog post on your mobile device regarding the varieties of tweed suits (with pictures attached)
- Having a 2 minute YouTube interview with a big fashion designer and his thoughts on tweed as an upcoming fashion.
These topics together would be infinitely more interesting than a single blog post on how Tweed suits are the next best thing in your opinion.
Show -- Don't Tell
Don’t tell your audience, show them. A quote from Gary Vee sums this up: “Talk to the world about the process of going through the journey, rather than the advice that you think you should be giving them.”
The benefit of showing your audience your journey is that you are able to utilize a wide variety of all the different social and online channels available to you, gaining shares and followers the whole time. If you are passionate within your space, spread that passion with your followers and readers.
Using the Suit Retailer as an example, some ways to document content could include:
- Operations of the business: Did you just get a brand new shipment of suits in? Film the shipment and talk about the updated styles of 2017 and why you brought certain pieces in
- Opinion: Did a landmark news story just happen within the world of mens fashion? Give your opinion on the story
- Personal passion: Speak about your passion for suits and why you got into the business in the first place. Did you grow up in the business? Did wearing a suit help you get your first job?
- Outings: Going to a fashion show? Document your journey to get there, the people you meet, and the takeaways from the show.
- Time lapse: Do a time lapse of what the morning, afternoon, and evening looks like from set up to tear down.
- Behind the scenes: At a trade show reviewing suppliers for your next batch of products? Take a picture or video of the various options and ask your audience for their opinion. This gives your audience a behind the scenes look at your brand while adding a human touch.
Conclusion
Things you may find mundane could be fascinating to your readers. A simple conversation with a tailor about how different stitching affects the suit could be extremely interesting to your readers and viewers.
It is my hope that this post helps you get over writers, or "content," block. If you can’t think of what to say... document!
Here is a video of Gary Vee himself describing documenting vs. creating:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVKofRN1dyI
