events - Express Writers

#ContentWritingChat Recap: Repurposing Your Event Experiences Into Brand-Building Content with Cathy McPhillips

June 19, 2024May 10, 2019 by Rachel Moffett

These days, in-person events are the place to be if you want to expand your knowledge, strengthen your skills, and network with others in your industry. But while these events are beneficial for you, it’s also smart to turn them into something valuable for your audience as well. And that’s exactly what we’re talking about in this month’s #ContentWritingChat! Before you head out to your next event, start planning how you can repurpose your experience into a fresh piece of content your community is sure to love and learn from. #ContentWritingChat Recap: Repurposing Your Event Experiences Into Brand-Building Content with Cathy McPhillips Welcome to #ContentWritingChat! Our guest host for today’s chat is @cmcphillips of @CMIContent! Cathy is the VP of Marketing at CMI and she’s joining us to share tips on repurposing your live event experiences into brand-building content. pic.twitter.com/Ik2x9L6lZn — Express Writers | Your Content Writing Team (@ExpWriters) May 7, 2019 Our guest host for this month’s chat was Cathy McPhillips. Cathy is the VP of Marketing for our friends over at Content Marketing Institute. And since CMI has their own in-person event, #CMWorld, each year, Cathy knows a thing or two about turning event sessions into incredible online content for their audience to consume. Q1: Why should we be creating fresh content from live events we attend? How is it beneficial for brand-building? Is it really worth your time to create content based on the events you attend? Will you actually see any ROI from it? We say YES! Here are some great reasons why it’s beneficial: A1a: Events are a prime place to collect content! Speakers, sessions, conversations, and more are great. Bring a notebook, an audio recorder and an open mind. And follow the event hashtag for great content from others. #ContentWritingChat — Cathy McPhillips (@cmcphillips) May 7, 2019 A1b: It’s great for brand building because it’s not just speakers who come to events from brands. Attendees can (and should) be there representing their company. #ContentWritingChat — Cathy McPhillips (@cmcphillips) May 7, 2019 Cathy feels live events are the perfect place to collect content. From the speakers, sessions, and conversations you have from others, there’s a lot to take in that can be repurposed into original content afterwards. A1. Creating content from live events allows you to expand that content’s reach! You can use it to share: -insight -spark conversation -build connections -grow awareness -build thought leadership -etc. #ContentWritingChat — Bentley University (@bentleyu) May 7, 2019 Gaby said you can use event experiences to create content that shares your own insights, sparks new conversations, builds connections, grows awareness of your brand, and establishes thought leadership. A1: Creating content from events we’ve attended is indeed fresh — many times speakers impart wisdom/ideas/theories that are fresh, so we want to impart our take on these topics. Helps build credibility, but also strengthens networking/relationships.#ContentWritingChat https://t.co/4K6NDCNNen — ThinkSEM (@ThinkSEM) May 7, 2019 As Sarah said, we can take what we’ve learned from an event and then share a fresh piece of content that features our unique take on the topic at hand. She feels this helps to build credibility while also strengthening relationships. A1: Timely content is always beneficial. If an event is being talked about, join the convo, but also be sure to have a unique spin on it. As a brand, sharing your thoughts & starting conversations with others can spark interest in your brand. #ContentWritingChat — Netvantage Marketing (@netvantage) May 7, 2019 Joining timely conversations is a great way to gain exposure for your brand and this includes talking about events that are going on at the moment. But as Lexie said, you need to make sure you’re putting your own spin on the content you’re sharing. A1 #ContentWritingChat Repurposing event content is a GREAT way to get more content mileage! How I repurposed content from one of my recent talks: ✅ Speaking Slides -> Lead Magnet https://t.co/RCzA2TAJ11 ✅Blog https://t.co/LksP2J7ny0 ✅ YouTube https://t.co/eb8OT5MgJ7 — Julia McCoy (@JuliaEMcCoy) May 7, 2019 If you need an example to draw inspiration from, check out how Julia recapped an event she spoke at. People who weren’t able to attend still get to hear the advice from her talk, thanks to this recap. Q2: When creating content, you have to keep your audience in mind. How do you decide what to share with them and what would be valuable? There’s a lot to take in when attending events. So much so that it can be hard to figure out what’s worth sharing with your audience. This advice will help you figure it out: A2a: Scour the website and the conference agenda beforehand. What will you find valuable? What do you want to learn? Does that translate to your own audience? #ContentWritingChat — Cathy McPhillips (@cmcphillips) May 7, 2019 A2b: The more preparation you do before the event starts, the better off your content will be. Think about your article/ebook/content outline before you arrive on-site. #ContentWritingChat — Cathy McPhillips (@cmcphillips) May 7, 2019 A2c: If all of this is new to you, take photos, videos, get quotes, follow social media. Then test and play around with some things and see what resonates with your audience. #ContentWritingChat — Cathy McPhillips (@cmcphillips) May 7, 2019 Cathy suggests checking out the agenda for the conference beforehand. This way, you’ll know what to expect in terms of speakers and topics being discussed. You can then plan your content accordingly and have it in mind when you’re attending various sessions. A2: What’re they already responding to/sharing already? Do more of that. Whether it’s the topic, venue, format…or all of the above!#ContentWritingChat https://t.co/hRDy0ff3Nz — ThinkSEM (@ThinkSEM) May 7, 2019 It’s also smart to see what your audience is already engaging with. This way, you can create similar content from your event experiences. If there’s a particular topic that really seems to resonate with your audience, you can build off of that. A2: I always look at how my content can solve a problem for my audience. Starting with … Read more

SXSW 2018: 3 Session Takeaways (Lessons From Kristina Halvorson, Content Panel with Slack, IBM & Visa, & Shark Tank Guest Judge Alex Rodriguez)

June 19, 2024March 20, 2018 by Adam Oakley

This year, I finally made it to SXSW. I live 25 minutes away from the event, and it’s always been a wish of mine to make it there. The interactive ticket isn’t cheap at over $1,000, so that held me back for a while. This year, I decided to go all in and do it. I’ve been warned by many locals that the event is a total madhouse, and I was worried. Luckily, my experience was mostly pleasant. I attended brand marketing sessions only, none of the music festivals, so I can’t speak for those crowds: but the marketing, startup and brand sessions were extremely smooth and easy to attend. If you’re looking to attend the event, it might help you if I list a few important things I learned about attending SXSW: Registration and session lines at SXSW are run well. Yes, crowds and crowds of people start gathering in-between events, but the lines move fast. I was pleasantly surprised by this. When I was at a session in the Austin Convention Center, SXSW volunteers held up big signs with the session name that showed you where the line started. The line ended up going down three hallways with hundreds of people single-file, which looked daunting. But the minute the doors opened, there was more than enough room to hold everyone, and we all got seated easily. Absolutely, definitely, use the SXSW map they give you at registration. Really – study the map and let it guide you. Once you know where the buildings are, and most of them are blocks away from each other, things get really easy. I walked to the Dell Experience, tiny house of smart, and a session inside the Convention Center all within two hours after studying the map and knowing which direction to walk in once I left each building. It was super easy and simple to get in to each of the separate events. SXSW traffic really IS terrible. Use Lyft. I took Lyft both ways, from home to the event, and got around easily that way. With the app, I could literally request a driver sitting at the curb I was walking down. Downtown, you’ll end up crawling from block to block if you drive. Not just because of the surge of 90,000 extra people in Austin, but also because many roads get blocked off. If you’re just going from session to session, it’s far easier to walk than drive. Okay, now that we’re past how I learned to actually navigate and get around at SXSW, let’s move on to the good stuff: three sessions I attended and some major takeaways. Ready? SXSW 2018: 3 Session Takeaways (Lessons From Kristina Halvorson, Tech Content Panel, & Shark Tank Guest Judge Star Alex Rodriguez) Let’s dive in to the sessions I attended and what I learned from them. The Truth About Content: Broken Dreams & the Big Fix with Kristina Halvorson Kristina Halvorson is a world-leading expert on content strategy, founder at Brain Traffic, and author of Content Strategy for the Web. (I have a dog-eared copy of her book.) She was ridiculously funny and down-to-earth in the presentation she gave at SXSW. I seriously loved attending her session. And I got to meet her afterwards! Here were some of my favorite takeaways from her presentation, The Truth About Content: Broken Dreams and the Big Fix. “Content strategy is not 1,400 articles dumped on the floor of your site.” She literally showed hundreds of toys dumped on the floor in a pile for the slide representing this tatement (My Little Pony toys, specifically – Kristina’s a huge fun of MLP). I loved this reference, because just sometimes, I’ve come across a client or two that thought this was the right strategy. FYI. It’s not. “Nobody cares about your content because you didn’t ask them what they cared about in the first place.” ???? [bctt tweet=”“Nobody cares about your content because you didn’t ask them what they cared about in the first place.”” username=”halvorson”] “Content strategy must: Define Prioritize Integrate Systematize Measure” “Blend the editorial side and experience. You can’t have one without the other.” Great content is nothing without great usability. These two really do go hand-in-hand. How do we get better at content? Kristina shared five keys: 1. Reset. Example: Coca Cola went from a lifestyle publication and got clear on being a publication for a drink. Their website now makes SENSE! They actually dis-invested in content marketing and simplified. What can you simplify for your end user? 2. Get aligned. Many businesses only know TACTICS. Know your vision, mission, goal, objectives, etc. The RACI chart can help. 3. Actually know your audience. Pay attention to them. Exceed their expectations. Many times they don’t want to be challenged. They want to find the coupon on the site. (GREAT point.) It’s not just in SEO Research. You should be talking to your audience. Do website polls. Phone interviews. Get your support team involved in knowing your audience. Don’t just know their name and age, know their needs. 4. Establish common systems and standards. Content structure must have a taxonomy. A governance plan. 5. Beware the silver bullet. Silver bullet = AI. But guess what? Your tech did not fix the content mess and lack of strategy. The AI prediction does not cover this. “AI can mine and repurpose the best stuff.” An actual human will fix it, not AI. AI is coming, and it requires three things: 1) a reliable source of data and content. 2) accurate info suited to the application: know what you’re using it for and your end goals. 3) a framework for organizing. We’re not even there yet as website owners running a clean website. Content first? No, humans first. In Q/A time, I asked Kristina this question: “What’s the biggest no-no that brands just starting out with content strategy do?” Her answer was right on: “Businesses start with tactics instead of very clear business goals and objectives … Read more