10 Content Development Hacks for Small Firms

How can I create original content, without spending a ton of time or money? It’s okay to buy content. The not-okay part is just posting it as it is on your site, like dozens or hundreds of other firms are also doing.

For example, Thomson Reuters’ content “IRS Provides Guidance on Temporary 100

Once graphics are created, post the graphic and the link to your article on social media. The same content can be repurposed in email with a link to the article on your website.

10 Content Hacks

Here are ten more ideas for building quick, simple content that packs a punch.

• Your mobile phone. On that device alone you have a camera and a microphone, the one-two combo needed to create organic content on the fly. Here’s how to make the content. Think of a client pain point – maybe from an email you responded to earlier in the week or an article you read. Then record yourself giving a tip on how to solve the pain point. Viola, instant video and audio recording. Remember the not-so-shameless plug for your contact information at the end.
• Artificial Intelligence (AI). If you haven’t begun using AI in your content development efforts, you’re missing out. Here are some resources (paid and free) to consider:
• Quill: creates meaningful content from data
• Wordsmith (AutomatedInsights): translates data into text
• Articoolo: simulates human writers and delivers unique articles on a given topic and word count specifications (think newspapers)
• WordAI: designed to help you spin articles on demand. If you’re planning to rewrite any existing articles on the web, without running into duplicate content issues, this tool promises to do the job for you.
• Article Forge: automatically researches on any topic, reads an infinite number of articles and then writes the article in its own words.
• Marketo: crawls your site and recommends content based on your assets, such as videos, white papers, case studies, and blog posts.
• Google Docs & Chrome Browser. Did you know Google Docs on Chrome offers a transcription feature? Game-changer, right?!? This solution is for those who hate typing and prefer a laptop or desktop to their mobile device. Keep the content simple—focused on one to three points, craft a clever headline, include a call to action, and add your contact information. Voila! Instant blog article.
• Top 10. Use your website analytics to view your top content results for a defined time period. Then create a listicle (list article) to share on social media and in email. It’s fast, simple, and links back to other website content. Google loves that.
• Embrace Slide Content. Repurpose bulleted lists or data-driven slides on social media. If a slide deck has three bullet-point slides, that’s three social media posts.
• Share a Poll. It only takes a few minutes to come up with the poll question and a few options. See last month’s article How to Use Polls to Measure Your Clients’ Needs for polling inspiration.
• Industry Statistics. The crazier the stats, the more likely people will respond to it. For example, this stats from Hosting Tribunal, “40% of small business owners say that bookkeeping and taxes put a strain on running a business.” Or, this one from Balancing Everything, “74% of small businesses don’t understand how ghost assets affect their taxes and accounting books.”
• Multiple Headlines. Even one piece of content may be shared on social media multiple times over a period of weeks. Simply change the headline and use a different image, but the same link and hashtags. Hate writing headlines, use an online headline generator for assistance.
• Holidays. Reference the National Day Calendar for fun topics you can share on social media. It doesn’t have to be about accounting. It just needs to be about your firm’s culture, history, community, or staff. For example, August 14 is National Bowling Day. If your firm is part of a bowling league, share some photos.
• Nostalgia. Throw-back Thursday and Fun-Fact Friday are two days to post content about your firm, its community, or industries it serves. This is a great idea for firms celebrating a milestone year.

Bonus Tip – Content Others Create

Original content is wonderful. But you don’t have to be the only one creating it. Ask your followers to jump into the fray by sharing accounting pain points, photos of their office or community, office pets, or other topics that put “social” into social media.

Now that you have the means, go forth and create. Put a small amount of time aside each week to create content for multiple postings on social media or for inclusion in a monthly email. I can hardly wait to see what you create.