Austin Archives

Interview for the Write Blog: Authority Writer & Content Strategist Austin

by Adam Oakley | Feb 20, 2018 | Updates

Today for the Write Blog, we interviewed one of our full-time writers, Austin.
Austin first began his career as a pro writer when he left his hometown of Los Angeles, California to travel the world and document his experiences along the way. He has toured with rock bands in Europe, written technical documentation for Australian engineering concerns and executed social media strategies for major international brands across the globe. A talented writer, Austin has been a long-term member of Express Writers for over a year, working full-time as an Authority Writer, Content Strategist and all-around gifted copywriter.

What were your earliest writing memories?

Like many introverted pre-teens, at the age of 10 or 11 I kept a journal where I’d write down my thoughts and occasionally try my hand at poetry.
Shortly thereafter, I migrated to the then-popular LiveJournal platform and share these thoughts with the small handful of close friends who took an interest.
Back then, everyone had a Myspace account, but keeping up a LiveJournal took a bit more effort, and it was a far more convenient way to share opinions and tell stories.

What (or who) were your early influences in writing?

I’ve been an avid science fiction fan since I was first introduced to Isaac Asimov. My father gave me The Foundation Series as a birthday gift. Asimov’s influence is easy to identify in both my creative and practical approaches to writing.
In particular, one quote of his made a huge impact on my creative goal as a writer:

“I made up my mind long ago to follow one cardinal rule in all my writing—to be clear. I have given up all thought of writing poetically or symbolically or experimentally, or in any of the other modes that might get me a Pulitzer prize…”

I’ve also adopted many elements of his famously hyper-productive workflow – Asimov wrote almost 500 books during his lifetime, which calculates to an average of one full novel every two weeks for 25 years. I haven’t quite reached that volume of output, but if I had received George R.R. Martin’s A Game of Thrones that year, this interview would not be online until the year 2050.

What kind of topics get you excited/passionate to write about and why?

I find inspiration in anything new, innovative, or otherwise under-explored. For the most part, this happens in the tech sector, where entrepreneurs and startups are constantly coming up with fresh and exciting challenges to the status quo.
But this can happen anywhere, in any subject. Usually, I try to address this frame of reference in almost everything I write – synthesizing the well-established facts of the past with the new insights of today to create a better perspective of tomorrow.

Do you have any daily/typical writing rituals?

I continuously engineer just about every aspect of my daily writing routine to reduce inefficiencies and keep myself focused. Most of these rituals prevent decision fatigue from tiring me out throughout the day. For instance, I work at home, but always dress to a tee beforehand. Music is almost always playing (loudly) while I write, but only specific albums and playlists on repeat – radio host banter would get in the way and break my concentration. I keep my office immaculately clean for the same reason.
I don’t smoke cigarettes, but I do hold an unlit antique tobacco pipe in my mouth while writing. That’s just a personal idiosyncrasy I suppose stems from popular depictions of writers like Ernest Hemingway or Mark Twain. Somehow, it just feels appropriate.
What books, tools, websites have helped your writing the most?
This is a small list of resources I reference the most:

Kevan Lee’s list of copywriting formulas. This is a great tool, not just for introducing articles to readers, but for introducing just about anyone to anything.
Google Scholar. I’ve found that more often than not, great sources form the crux of great content. Finding better, more recent, and more complete data about a subject than anyone else practically guarantees that you’ll be able to deliver a clearer and more compelling argument about it.
Practical Content Strategy & Marketing. Can’t go wrong with this one. This book offers a bird’s eye view of content strategy as a discipline and then goes deep into what defines a successful approach, step-by-step.
Buzzsumo. This tool is extraordinarily useful for synthesizing topics and strategies out of already-popular content. Used in the right way, it can be your go-to topic generating tool for almost any industry.

Importantly, these are all technical resources that help get content made. For the creative work of actually writing content, I rely on two philosophical disciplines more than anything else:

Aristotelian Rhetoric. A lot of motivational speakers, speechwriters, and life coaches will claim to teach you the secret of how to convince anyone of anything, but few, if any, do anything more than paraphrase Aristotle. When it comes to persuasion, the definitive work has been written and its about 2,400 years old.
Critical Theory. This one is a little less user-friendly, but it’s incredibly useful when you need to disprove something, or otherwise poke holes in people’s existing prejudices, principles, and belief systems. Handle with care. Don’t try this at home.

What is your favorite article that you wrote?

My favorite project so far was a white paper for a cryptocurrency designed to operate in the healthcare sector. The level of research involved can only be described as legendary – decades of aggregated healthcare spend in multiple countries compared with each nation’s respective changes in fiduciary policy and the effects of those changes, transformed into a projection of future trends and used to argue for the need for a new form of currency to compensate for the discrepancy in inflation rates between fiat currency and healthcare products and services. Psychedelic stuff.

A favorite client that you worked with?

There’s a fellow whom I know only as “Sean”. One of my most memorable projects with this client involved long-form content about space travel, artificial intelligence, and robotics.
Then he comes back around in a month or so and wants in-depth content about golf, or a listicle of the best waterparks in the United States. He’s a box of chocolates – you never know what you’re gonna get.

What is the oddest writing assignment you’ve ever had?

Probably all that stuff about golf. Product descriptions can get pretty weird, too. Sometimes you’re looking at some everyday item you’ve never thought of as the product of a commercial enterprise – like cable ties or threaded washers – and you have to rack your brain for a few minutes to come up with pain points customers may wish to see addressed.

How does your writing career help you either creatively, personally, or financially?

Creatively, there is something profoundly satisfying about generating value using only one brain, ten fingers, and twenty six letters. Seeing the words you write actually inspire people to take action is a wondrous experience. If my writing career is a means to an end, that’s the one I’m looking for.
Personally, being able to set my own hours and work from anywhere on the planet is hugely empowering. This work environment instills in me a sense of liberty that is hard to find anywhere else.
Financially, writing has been a lifesaver. Initially, it started out as a convenient option for scraping out a living in inconvenient circumstances. It blossomed into a full-fledged career that is now generating enough profit to finance other initiatives – things I’ve always wanted to do but never had the combination of time and money to really dedicate myself towards. It’s a beautiful thing.

How Food Trucks Are Killing It On Social Media

by Adam Oakley | May 11, 2015 | Social Media

Looking for social media inspiration is one of my favorite things to do because I know just how much a little inspiration here can help. One of the latest trends I’ve noticed is food trucks and their absolutely epic presence when it comes to social media. I am going to look at why they kill it on social media and how, regardless of your industry, you can gain great inspiration for your very own social media campaign from these eateries on wheels.

Food Trucks Are Winning At Social Media Content

Food trucks have been part of the eatery crowd for quite some time, but they’ve become increasingly popular in the last few months and years. They are a great place for communities to gather and make great food for everyone. However, they wouldn’t be near as successful if it weren’t for social media. These small eateries, many of which travel to various locations throughout cities or towns, need social media to connect with their fans and let people know vital information. When it comes to social media, food trucks are a great example of how to use it and just what it can do for businesses.

One city that has a great food truck community is that of Austin, Texas, where my own office is located. Here in Austin, we have websites that are dedicated to finding excellent food trucks for newbies, and also giving information to those who need it for their favorites.

And a Few of Our Austin Favorites…

If you’re ever in Austin, make sure to visit a few of these trucks (we recommend it!) If you aren’t heading to Austin anytime soon, you should still take a look at their social media presence to see just what you can learn from them. No matter where they are at, whether in Austin, Texas, such as Cowabunga Burgers or food trucks in Missouri such as Not’cho Ordinary Taco or London Calling, you can find some sort of social media inspiration. Let’s take a look at how food trucks are killing it with social media and just what you can learn from them for your own business.

How Are Food Trucks Doing So Well On Social Media?

One of the best ways that many food trucks are being epic with their social media presence is because they are focusing on their industry and customers. If you take a look at a few of the food trucks I shared above, you will see that they have a strategy that fits their service and their clientele. When you head to a local food truck, take a quick look at the age range of people there, many are Millennials or Generation X, and the business owners know this. In fact, many might just fit into those age ranges, themselves. Because of this, they know that they need to have an epic social media presence that is going to standout from the crowd of food truck businesses on social media.

Now, let’s take a look at a few things you can learn for yourself and your business from these incredible eateries and how it can apply to your business.

The Top 4 Things You Can Learn from Food Trucks and Social Media

There are a few things you can take away from food trucks, besides yummy niche food, and I am going to take a look at a few!

They All Rely on Having Their Location Plugged in. This might not work for every business, but if you are a locally owned or small business, location is everything. It is especially true for food trucks because the instant someone arrives, they will want to check in and let their friends know where they are. This is great because it shows up on Facebook just how many people visited your location while also giving free advertisement to a wide range of people you might not have access to. Take a look at the pages I listed above to see how many people are checking in, and imagine each person has at least 200 Facebook friends. That’s a lot of coverage for practically no advertising cost. Sounds excellent, doesn’t it?

They Keep Things Professional but Personal on Social Media. Food trucks and their social media presences are great at showing how one can be classy and professional while still getting “personal” with customers. This helps to foster a great relationship with people, making them more likely to engage with the social media page and business, as well as continuing doing business with the company. A great way to get “personal” on social media is to let your personality or brand personality, shine through, making people click. This helps differentiate you from your competitors, and can, in the end, instill a high amount of trust in your company from clients.

They Share Updates Their Followers Want to See. When a food truck business owner posts to social media, they know that they have to post content their clients want to see. If they are constantly posting irrelevant information, their clients won’t engage with them and this could end up leading to a failed food truck. However, by posting content that is engaging for their specific audience, they are creating a fun atmosphere that will have people coming back for more both in the social media and physical sense. Make sure that when you are posting content, you are posting something that engages your clientele and that it is something they relate to. This can be various trends within your industry, on the Internet, memes, and so much more depending on your industry. Keep it relevant, keep it interesting, and you will keep your customers.

Using Multiple Social Media Channels. Many food trucks don’t just rely on one social media channel to get their coverage. They understand that people have multiple channels, and, therefore, know the need to be on a few others. The typical places you will see a food truck will be Facebook, Twitter, and possibly Instagram because those social channels work for their industry. When it comes to your own, you will need to see which channels will get you the coverage you need, as well as reaching the demographic you want. You should also keep in mind that various social media channels do have some sort of impact when it comes to SEO, which is awesome when it comes to ranking on the SERP.

Social Media Equals Success for All!

If you aren’t on social media or aren’t posting regularly, now is the time to start. Take a lesson from these excellent food trucks and create content that is perfect for your clients and niche industry. If you need any help creating excellent, engaging social media content then look no further than Express Writers. We provide a wonderful team of trained social media experts that can create content that will drive engagement and organic traffic, helping you rank and bring in amazing revenue. Take a look to see how our services will help you!