Dodge Digital Marketing, LLC

Content, Copywriting, and Search Optimization

Improve Your Content Marketing ROI, Don’t Let Blog Posts Die in the Archives

content marketing ROI
Amanda Dodge Content Creation, Marketing August 5, 2020

One of the biggest challenges the content marketers face is quantifying their return on investment (ROI). As the costs of creating content increase, brands have to justify spending more for an article that a handful of people will read and likely forget. Is the cost worth the expense? 

Plenty of SEO professionals will explain that quality content is an important part of ranking well and that top-notch organic rankings take time. You’re not supposed to look at each individual article, but rather the upward trend over several months. 

However, it is possible to increase your content marketing ROI in the short run. You just need to stop forgetting about what you wrote after you hit the publish button. Your content can provide as much value as you want if you keep putting it to work. This guide will tell you how.

Repost Content Without Alienating Your Audiences

If you look at any of your blog post analytics, you will likely see a spike in traffic from the day you published it, followed by a few small bumps in the months following. Unless that page ranks well in the SERPs, you’re not going to drive a ton of traffic unless you keep sharing it online and promoting it in your other marketing channels. 

This creates a problem for marketers. They want to repost content on social media, but any fans that follow your page closely will be turned off by the stale content.

“You know that guy who tells the same story at every party, and everyone tunes out as soon as he starts talking?” Michelle Cyca asks at Hootsuite. “That’s how your audience feels when you repeat content—like they’d rather be elsewhere.”   

The key is to be strategic about it. For example, if a food blogger curates a list of the best donut places in town, they can easily annoy customers by posting the same article four times over the course of three weeks. This is the type of reposting that customers hate and expert social media managers avoid. 

However, if that blogger needs a social post and it happens to be National Doughnut Day, then they can easily share the article, especially if it hasn’t been posted in a while. Not only is this repost option relevant, but it is also more effective. The target audience is likely looking for a good donut to celebrate the day, and the blogger provides valuable resources that readers can act on.  

To apply this to your brand, look ahead at national holidays and events that are coming up. (This is also a great way to fill in your social media editorial calendar.) Consider which events would pair well with the blog content you have previously written. You can also keep an eye on industry and national news to create brand tie-ins. This allows you to repost content effectively and after a period when most people have already forgotten about the piece. 

Don’t Neglect Your Internal Links

Even if you never share your blog posts on social media, you can still make them work for you as you publish fresh content. It is easy to forget about the power of internal linking from both an SEO and user experience perspective. 

“Google finds your posts and pages best when they’re linked to from somewhere on the web,” Meike Hendriks writes at Yoast. “Internal links also connect your content and give Google an idea of the structure of your website. They can establish a hierarchy on your site, allowing you to give the most important pages and posts more link value.”

When Google crawls your pages, it looks at both the internal and external links. These links help the search engine “read” your content. For example, it can better categorize the topics covered by the external links. In this case, I have linked to industry experts in the SEO and social media fields. Internal links help group your content into similar buckets. Google can better understand how one piece of content relates to another and how both pieces tie into your brand as a whole.

Of course, any good SEO strategy will also have a human element behind it. Internal links keep people clicking to other pages on your site. They provide background information to the main story or elaborate on an idea that you only have time to briefly touch on. Internal links can drive down your bounce rates and drive up your average time on site as users explore your content and learn more about what you have to say. 

Every website has its own guidelines for internal linking. However, a few common best practices include:

  • Limit the number of internal links to a reasonable range, typically between 2-5 per post.
  • Keep the anchor text close to the target keyword on the page you are linking to. (Some websites want the exact keyword to be the anchor text.)
  • Let internal links flow naturally within the body of the article. Don’t try to stuff them in if they don’t seem relevant to the rest of the piece. 

You can always go back and add internal links where they are useful. If you regularly publish content without internal links, you may want to audit old posts to add them in.

Get Your Content Into the Hands of Your Sales Team

In complex B2B industries – and particularly for SaaS teams – sales departments spend a good amount of time explaining how their products work and why they are needed. They have to start with the most basic industry questions and need to be ready to answer anything. This knowledge is what separates an effective salesperson from the dozens of others you meet at conferences or networking events. 

As a marketer, you can help your sales team. You can provide clear answers and information so they don’t have to go into detail with customers each time. You can also create persuasive materials that win customers over as they crawl through your sales funnel. Plus, this adds elements of expertise to your company. The client doesn’t have to take the salesperson’s word for it, they can learn more about the nature of your industry on your blog. 

Review your content to see what materials can help your sales representatives close deals. Identify gaps in the information and place them on your content calendar. This makes your content a greater asset to the company and gives you ideas for the future. 

Plus, there is no easier way to increase your content marketing ROI than to make it an essential part of the sales closing process. 

Build Content Marketing ROI Into Your Ideation Process

Too many companies create blog content because they think it is an SEO silver bullet or because someone told them to at a conference or on a webinar. As a result, they publish posts and then forget about them. Publish and forget. Publish and forget – at least until something goes viral. However, you can start to plan your blog posts with your content marketing ROI in mind. 

Consider which posts you would link to as you develop content during the ideation process. Make a note of any important days or notable events in advance so you can plan to reshare the posts. Fill in gaps in the content you have already created. This will take careful planning at first but will start to come naturally over time. 

You will always have some blog posts that drive a higher content marketing ROI than others. However, if you keep driving traffic to your pages and getting the most out of your pages as a whole, then the value you get from your marketing budget will always be on the rise.

Image by StockSnap from Pixabay

With Unemployment Soaring, Your Disengaged Employees Won’t Quit

human resources disengaged employees
Amanda Dodge Management July 15, 2020

At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in March, millions of workers were temporarily furloughed as states shut down and businesses were forced to close. Now, as more cities and companies re-open, some employees won’t be welcomed back. In some cases, employers took hard financial hits from lost customers and needed to cut their staff. In other cases, companies were looking to “trim the fat” and the pandemic provided a convenient opportunity. Either way, unemployment numbers remain high.

One study released in May by the University of Chicago predicted that many of the temporary furloughs will become permanent layoffs. Meanwhile, other companies have issued hiring freezes until economic stability returns. 

All of this proves that it isn’t a great time to enter the job market. Millions of Americans are clamoring for any job they can get, while human resource teams are flooded with applicants on every job post. 

What does this mean for your team? In short, the disengaged employees who would otherwise quit when they are unhappy are going to stick around, and this will have serious implications for the success of your company in the future.

Employees Are Less Likely to Quit in a Bad Economy 

In 2001, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) began tracking the quit rate, aka the share of people who left their jobs on their own accord – as opposed to getting fired or laid-off. This rate plummeted during the recession (around 2009 and 2010) when jobs were scarce but steadily increased over the years, reaching the highest rates since before 2008 in the fall of 2019. 

Quit rates serve as a pulse for economic security in the United States. High quit rates indicate that people feel confident in their ability to find work – or at least to sustain themselves while they look for a new job. 

 “The rate at which people quit tends to rise when the economy is strong and workers are confident they can find another job, often one that pays better,” Jeffry Bartash writes at MarketWatch. 

Additionally, there are two signals that determine whether or not people are likely to quit: the labor market and wage growth.  

“A stronger labor market means employers must fill more openings from the ranks of the already employed, who have to quit their jobs, instead of hiring jobless workers,” Nick Bunker writes for Indeed’s State of the Labor Market report. “Similarly, faster wage growth in an industry signals workers that opportunities abound and they might get higher pay by taking a new job.”

In a strong, healthy economy, employees feel confident quitting their jobs. Their spouse or significant other might earn enough to support them or they feel like they can get another job within a short period of time. Employees are also more likely to “job hop” or try different jobs in hopes of raising their salaries and positions. During this time, recruiters actively have to lure employees away from their current positions to try new ones.  

However, we aren’t in a healthy economy anymore. Employee uncertainty is peaking as unemployment rises. If one spouse is laid off, the other won’t quit his or her job because they need at least one form of steady income. As jobs are perceived as being increasingly scarce, employees are going to stick around.

Disengaged Employees Weigh Down Your Company

At first glance, these lower quit rates might seem like a good thing for some employers. Lower turnover means businesses can save money and keep that industry expertise within their walls. After all, turnover is notoriously expensive. 

As a general rule of thumb, it costs a business six to nine months’ salary to replace an employee. These costs come in the form of general HR (recruiting and hiring) costs, lost productivity while other team members pick up the slack, as well as training and onboarding costs. If an employee earns $50,000 annually, it could cost $37,000 to find a replacement and bring them up to speed. 

However, disengaged employees come with their own costs. They cause a “slow bleed,” where they keep siphoning company funds as long as they stay on staff. 

Justin Warner at DecisionWise found that each disengaged employee costs $3,400 for every $10,000 in annual salary. This means your disengaged employee who makes $50,000 annually could cost you $17,000 each year that they stick around. 

While turnover costs are significant, they can be mitigated if the replacement you hire stays with your organization for several years. A disengaged employee keeps costing you year-after-year. 

Furthermore, companies with engaged employees grow profits as much as three times faster than their competitors. Yes, employee turnover costs money. However, disengaged employees cost money as well. It’s up to you to determine whether the hit to your productivity and profits from keeping these employees on staff is worth the savings of low turnover.

You Don’t Want Disengaged Employees Sticking Around

Not only are disengaged employees costly, but they are bad for morale. If disengaged workers don’t feel like they can easily find work elsewhere because of an unsteady economy, they are going to keep doing the bare minimum just so you don’t fire them.  

A 2019 report by Achievers found that only 35% of employees planned to look for another job in 2019; however, this doesn’t mean that most people are happy where they are. Only 21% of employees are “very engaged” in their work, leading Achievers to believe employees are sticking around just for the paycheck. They call this The Complacency Effect (also the title of their report) because employees aren’t at breaking points where they want to leave the company, but they aren’t invested and working to drive the business forward. 

“Employers that ignore this complacency are at risk of losing customers, high-performing employees and profit, and lack a team actively working toward the company’s vision,” they write.

Lisa Earle McLeod, author of Selling with Noble Purpose, calls disengaged employees who refuse to leave “quit and stays,” or employees who mentally check out of their work but stay with the same company. 

“If people are quitting left and right, you have a retention problem,” McLeod writes. “If your good people are the ones quitting, you have something worse; you have an engagement problem. High performers won’t stay in a low engagement culture.” 

If they do, they will become low performers – increasing your number of quit and stays.

Consider EmploymeE Engagement During the COVID-19 Pandemic 

So far, we have looked at employment and engagement from a macro-level. However, these insights can get drilled down to the micro-level within your organization. 

How you treated your employees during the spring of 2020 (and the rest of this year) will affect how engaged they are in 2021 and beyond. You already know they aren’t going to quit because of the economy, so the question remains: are they quit and stays? Are they staying in place to collect a paycheck and get by doing the bare minimum? 

Consider how Florida State University (my alma mater) sent out a memo telling workers that they, “will no longer allow employees to care for children while working remotely,” as COVID-19 cases soared in Florida and schools were out for the summer. Many parents didn’t have any childcare alternatives this year. They had to care for their kids and work at the same time. (This memo was later backtracked, but the damage to the university’s reputation was done.)

Remember how Publix banned employees from wearing masks and gloves back in March? They didn’t want to scare shoppers with the optics of an employee in a mask. This raised alarm bells for many workers who felt the company was prioritizing PR over their safety. Today, the idea of shopping without a mask seems ridiculous.  

Long after these stories leave the headlines, the employees who work there will remember how they were treated. And Publix and FSU aren’t alone. Hundreds of companies have put their employees in unsafe situations and let them know that they were welcome to resign if they didn’t like the new policies. 

“Not only is it a safety issue, it’s a business issue,” Mark Cuban, billionaire entrepreneur, tells CNBC. “How companies respond…is going to define their brand for decades. If you rushed in and somebody got sick, you were that company. If you didn’t take care of your employees or stakeholders and put them first, you were that company.”  

Many consumers have a bad taste in their mouths when they think of certain companies now, and so do the employees who work for them.

You Can Still Turn 2020 Around

It may be July, but there is still time to reverse your current disengagement trends. If you mistreat your workers through the pandemic and beyond, you won’t motivate them to work harder. Instead, they will look at the job market and decide if it is safe to quit or if they should just skate by on the bare minimum for a few more years. 

You can create a company of deadweight or you can engage your team members to do their best for you. It all starts not with their attitudes, but with your treatment of staff and the employee policies that you have in place.

Image by VIN JD from Pixabay

Book Recommendations: Check Out My Library Virtual Tour!

book recommendations
Amanda Dodge Get to Know Me July 13, 2020

I am taking a break from our regularly-scheduled digital marketing programming to make a few book recommendations.

Reading is something that has always brought me joy. I am an avid writer but a dedicated reader. When I don’t have a book near me (or the book I am reading isn’t good), you can easily notice my high levels of crabbiness and general discomfort. I read to learn about other people and use both fiction and non-fiction to develop a better understanding of the world.

This past Sunday, Tiffany Razzano of Wordier Than Thou asked me to share the contents of my library and highlight a few books that I love. Check out my top book recommendations and find out how you can order them in a way that supports our local literary non-profit.  

Find My Video on Facebook

To see the full virtual library tour, check out Wordier Than Thou on Facebook. Here is a link to my video, but you can also see what other authors read and learn why they love the books they do.

book recommendations wordier than thou

Tiffany started these library tours at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, along with other author readings and virtual events. This has been a way to allow authors to promote themselves as in-person events were canceled while providing much-needed distractions to audiences from the stress of closed businesses and rising case numbers.   

If you love the books on your shelves or want to share your writing with our community, check out some of our events. We host regular open mic nights specifically for authors to share their best work, or even just a few pieces they are trying to workshop and improve on. (I am using the first-person plural here because I sit on the board of Wordier Than Thou.)

My Top Book Recommendations (Right Now)

Arguably, the phrase, “you are what you eat,” could be adjusted to say, “you are what you read.” A person’s reading choices and reading habits are as diverse and personal as their music preferences. To prove this, just ask any reader whether or not it is acceptable to dog-ear a page in a book – or tell a Hunger Games fan that the movies were better. 

So what am I reading now? What books do I hold near and dear to my heart? Here’s my current top-five hit list:

  1. Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah This has been one of my favorite books for years. Noah does a great job of presenting difficult concepts (like growing up during Apartheid) in a light, approachable way. Readers can enjoy his stories while still understanding the horrors of growing up under such overt racism. 
  2. The Mosquito: A Human History of Our Deadliest Predator by Timothy Winegard History nerds (aka my people) will love this book. It is dense but incredibly informative. As a whole, we have done a terrible job of handling pandemics and disease since the dawn of time. It is humbling to see how much more we need to learn. 
  3. Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi I have recommended this book left, right, and center. It is moving, it is informative, and you find yourself worrying about the characters and thinking about their lives long after you put the book down. 
  4. Typhoid Mary: An Urban Historical by Anthony Bourdain This is one of Bourdain’s lesser-known books, which is why a copy can cost more than $80 online. However, the taciturn chef had a tremendous amount of respect for Mary Mallon, both for her skills in the kitchen and as a survivor in the early 20th century. You can access this ebook easily and enjoy Bourdain’s flowing words and trademark snark.
  5. The Family Fang by Kevin Wilson This is another lighthearted book. If you need a mental break or read to escape, relax knowing that this family isn’t yours.  

Most of the books on this list have stood the test of time as my favorites. However, I will always have another book up my sleeve that I want to talk about.

How to Buy the Books I Recommend

Amazon may be your go-to place to buy books, but there are other options! Support your local library! Share books with others. Look for gently-used bookstores. Shop local. In the St. Petersburg, Florida area, I highly recommend both Tombolo Books and 321 Books. 

Another option is Bookshop, which describes itself as, “an online bookstore with a mission to financially support local, independent bookstores.” They give over 75% of their profit margin to local booksellers, authors, and literary organizations. You can also choose which bookstores, in particular, you want to support.

(Note, that is NOT an affiliate link. I just enjoy the service they provide.)

Tiffany created a tab from Wodier’s Bookshop page with my book recommendations from the library tour. Not only do I recommend reading these books, but I also suggest reaching out to tell me what you thought of them – and whether or not you think my taste matches yours. 

Reading is a major part of who I am, but the books I pick up also make me a better writer. I am reminded of unusual words that I can start using and I pick up on grammar nuances that I otherwise wouldn’t notice. 

Plus, in times of stress, you can always find solace in a good book.

The Art of Self-Editing

self-editing tips
Tiffany Razzano Content Creation July 13, 2020

Whether you’re a freelance copywriter tearing through contract gigs at home, a journalist working out of a newsroom with an increasingly shrinking editorial staff, or somewhere in between, it should go without saying that self-editing is an important part of your writing process.

But I still have to say it because it’s so easy to forget how necessary self-editing is. 

It’s also the most difficult part of the writing process for many people. Personally, it’s my least favorite task – my adult ADD can’t handle reviewing the same content multiple times. Still, I know it’s important.

Here are my secrets. Check out a few things I do to make self-editing a less tedious chore.

Edit as You Write

I read through my intro to this piece more times than I would have liked (and I should probably read through it again), but proofreading content as you write it is one of the easiest ways to ensure tight, well-written copy.

Not many people will want to do this from the start. Admittedly, it’s easy to get stuck in the mires and never move on. But I tend to edit my work section by section, finishing one before moving on to the next. You still need to proofread the entire piece once it is completed, but it makes for less work than if you never looked at it until that moment.

Outlines Keep You on Track

Before I begin writing any piece, I start taking notes and outline each blog post or article.

This keeps my work on track and makes life easier later. If I don’t know what to write about or if I get stuck, I can easily move on to the next section.

When self-editing, if I focus on each section, rather than the piece as a whole, I can determine if my writing has met the goal of that specific section. When each section meets the needs that I wrote in the outline, then the article as a whole will start to come together.

Read Aloud to Yourself

Hands down the easiest way to determine if something you’ve written is garbage is to read it aloud to yourself. (I just read this to myself and moved a few words around.)

If you stumble over something as you read it out loud, assume your reader will have the same problem.

This has always been the best, fastest, and easiest way to find mistakes. If it sounds awful when you read it to yourself, then it’s not well-written or useful copy.

Ask Someone Else to Look It Over

Whenever possible, have another pair of eyes look over your work. Because you’re so close to what you’ve written, it’s going to be hard for you to find typos and other problems.

Again, I say whenever possible. I know it’s hard to find people available to give your work a proofread, whether in-depth or cursory, exactly when you need it. But if you can, ask a friend or colleague or loved one to give your content a quick once over, especially if that’s the final stop before publishing something.

My girlfriend loves looking over my work and finding mistakes. (In fact, she just read through all of this.)

No matter what you’re writing, it’s hard to catch your own mistakes.

Never Fully Trust Spellcheck

Notice that I didn’t say not to use spellcheck. I use spellcheck (and Grammarly) all the time and so should you. I just disregard most of the changes it tells me to make. 

Before using it, you need to be knowledgeable about grammar. Sometimes you might have specific style guides to follow. So, you need to know which suggestions to ignore.

At the same time, spellcheck has highlighted some massive mistakes, including spelling and grammar errors. Modern technology means these tools are constantly learning and improving. (Somehow it knew I spelled Instagram wrong earlier today. I didn’t know it even knew what Instagram was.)

There are other useful websites out there as well, including Grammarly and Hemingway Editor, that help with self-editing and readability. Again, some cautionary advice: you might not agree with all of their suggestions for your particular project. 

If your publication has a style guide, make sure it’s available in advance. If there is no style guide, create an informal one for yourself including any specific spellings or irregular grammatical rules your publication uses.

Create a Self-Editing Checklist for Yourself

Before you write anything, create a self-editing checklist. Depending on who is publishing your work, you might want to create a checklist for each outlet as they might have different requirements.

Things to consider include:

  • Your headline. Does it immediately create a sense of what you’re writing about and invite readers to learn more?
  • Your introduction. Does it get straight to the point?
  • Your subheads. Do you cover everything you need to? How is your formatting? Do you have enough visual breaks?
  • Your conclusion. Do you wrap it all up succinctly?

If you create a checklist for the things you want to consider before hitting submit, you’ll end up with a better piece.

Preview Your Post

You’re probably already doing this, but make sure you give your article one final read before submitting it. If you’ve done a lot of work to it after the first draft, you might find an errant word or two.

Hopefully, these suggestions bring you through the self-editing process which can help you to create a more polished piece.

Tiffany Razzano is a journalist and copywriter living in the Tampa Bay area. For the past 8 years, she served as an editor at Tampa Bay Newspapers. She also writes regularly for La Gaceta, Watermark, The Free Press, and Creative Pinellas. She’s the founder/president/creative director of the literary arts nonprofit Wordier Than Thou, which supports Florida writers and readers through community events, publishing projects, and educational opportunities.

Dealing With Difficult People While Leading a Nonprofit

nonprofit dealing with difficult people
Tiffany Razzano Marketing July 1, 2020

As the leader of a Florida-based literary arts nonprofit, I’ve said on more than one occasion, “The hardest thing about working with the community is having to work with the community.”

That might sound curmudgeonly, but people can be difficult. They can be self-involved, ego-driven and entitled, and when you throw a bunch of artists into the mix, this can sometimes be amplified. 

Now, I’d like to stress that 99.9% of the people we work with are lovely, talented, creative, friendly, and appreciative individuals. I’m sure this is the same for many nonprofits. 

But that 0.1% can sour the work that you’re doing, especially in the nonprofit world, when you’re giving your all to build up your community. This is particularly true in the case of grassroots organizations like Wordier Than Thou, which is completely volunteer-run. Nobody is making any money. We’re doing what we do purely for the love of books, publishing, and Florida writers.

For this reason, unless we’ve made a mistake (and trust me, we’ve made missteps and always hold ourselves accountable) I tend to embrace a firm, take-no-crap stance when it comes to handling complaints and difficult people. I know I’m not going to win any customer service awards, but I’m ok with that.

Here are a few situations I’ve encountered over the years while leading a nonprofit and how I handled them. These approaches might not work for everyone, but they worked for us.

But Her Emails! Stand By Your Organization’s Values

Within the legal bounds of our nonprofit designation, we don’t raise money or campaign for political candidates. That being said, we also don’t shy away from tough topics and we don’t restrict anyone’s creative expression. We know that addressing certain issues might alienate some of our followers, but we do so because we’re privileged to have a platform that allows us to shine a light onto some of the injustices and issues in the world. Art can be many things and we firmly believe that it can be an important form of activism. 

When Donald Trump announced he was running for president in 2015, he immediately stood out as a problematic candidate to us. We thought it would be a short-lived campaign, though, one that would make great fodder for satire. Around Halloween, we asked writers to imagine what his presidency might look like and organized a reading of these stories at an event called Dawn of the Donald.

Assuming he would drop out of the race, as he had in past elections, we thought that was that. When he was selected as the Republican nominee and then elected president, we organized another reading of these fictional pieces on the evening of his inauguration. We later published these stories in an anthology by the same name. 

dawn of the donald book Wordier than thou

Along the way, some of our more conservative followers asked me why we didn’t host a similar event or publish a similar anthology inspired by the Democratic candidate, Hillary Clinton. 

I explained to these individuals that as a racist, homophobic, misogynist, xenophobe, Trump represented a growing division in our country and we saw the potential for him to wreak havoc on our democracy if elected. (Fast forward a few years and the stories in our collection are strangely accurate.) 

One individual pushed a bit further that we should also skewer Clinton with an anthology, because fair is fair and we’re a community organization that needs to appeal to all beliefs. I politely suggested they publish such a book and that was the last I heard about it. 

A few of these individuals started coming to our events less frequently after that, but the relationships weren’t entirely severed, as they still come around now and again. Even if those relationships were irreparable, it would have been worth it for staying true to our values.

Sometimes You Can’t Help People If They Won’t Meet You Halfway

In February, we hosted our Tampa Bay Publishing Conference, a four-day event that focuses on the business of books. This conference features panels on various topics as well as authors sharing their personal publishing journeys.

By December, our lineup was mostly complete and looking strong. We were excited about the slate of authors joining us for our third annual conference, which has grown each year.

Enter Entitled Author. 

Entitled Author, traveling from outside our region the Tampa Bay area had participated in a small way at a previous conference.

In January, they emailed me asking why I hadn’t invited them to be a featured author this year. They’ve been writing and publishing for decades, they informed me, and felt their accomplishments spoke for themselves. I didn’t know this person well, but based on previous interactions, they came across as high maintenance, so I never dreamed of inviting them to speak at our conference. Why add more stress to an already stressful weekend?

Still, I didn’t want to completely alienate them. Gritting my teeth, I messaged an apology for overlooking them, the schedule had been set for months, we’ll keep them in mind for next year based on our needs, etc.

I took it a step further and told them there was still time to submit a panel for this year’s event. I just needed a short description, title, and the names of at least three individuals who would join them on the panel. 

They shot me down, saying they didn’t know any other writers they could invite to be part of a panel. I mentioned that there was room on a handful of panels I’d pulled together if they wanted to join one. They told me they most likely couldn’t get a ride to the conference, though we were more than a month out from the event.

At that point, I knew there was nothing I could offer that would make the author happy. If they didn’t try to meet me halfway, there wasn’t much I could do for them, and by being so difficult, they pretty much guaranteed that I won’t invite them to participate next year.

Know When to Go Above Their Head

Last year, Wordier Than Thou hosted an event at a nonprofit venue we often used. We pre-sold advance tickets and were also selling tickets at the door. 

When I arrived, two volunteers scheduled by the venue wouldn’t let me work at the ticketing table by the front door, even though I have always worked the door at our events in this space. 

They rearranged the items I set up on the table. They interrupted if I tried to answer questions from guests. They wouldn’t let me handle the cash box and created their own system for tracking ticket sales. They let people who weren’t on the guest list in for free. And I found out after the event that they didn’t accurately keep track of door sales, so I never knew the exact number of people in the audience.

Even worse, while I and other audience members were standing just a few feet from them, they loudly criticized the event and turnout. (We had about 50 people come out on a Sunday evening, not that it makes any difference.)

Their behavior was off-putting enough that the next day I emailed venue staff about it. The venue apologized, and while they couldn’t necessarily fire a volunteer, they could ensure that these two women never worked at one of our events again.

Don’t Give in to Bullies

A few years ago, we hosted a literary program through an online radio station. The station offered a good mix of local programming and syndicated shows from around the world.

The host of one of the other local shows had a reputation as being pushy, abrasive, and self-involved. They were nice enough to me at first and I usually recorded my program right after theirs, so I’d run into them often.

Then, I booked an author friend on our show. A few days later, this other host informed me they had also just booked the same author on their show and that I would need to cancel my booking. When I refused, they went off on me. I was selfish and rude and clearly should let them have the interview.

The author and I explained that the two programs would discuss different topics. Not only that, but the programs would air sporadically on the station and be available for download. There would be hardly any overlap in listeners.

This other host – despite booking this author well after me – still insisted they had the right to the interview. I never backed down, though. They complained some more to anyone who would listen and then they hit the unfriend and unfollow button on Facebook. Good riddance to bullies, I say.

Not Everyone Who Asks for a Refund Should Get One

Over the past few years, I’ve added a no-refunds policy to most events to make our lives easier. 

During a recent Fiesta Day street festival in Ybor City, we organized a children’s book fair for the event. We offered booth space to authors for $50, a fair price considering this is one of the area’s largest annual events with around 10,000 people visiting the Historic District for it each year. 

Fiesta Day Ybor City Wordier Than Thou

In the week leading up to the event, one young adult author emailed us just about every day with questions and expressing her excitement for the festival. She even contacted us the evening before with last-minute questions.

The next morning, she emailed me an hour-and-a-half before the festival started saying she woke up with a high fever and it was probably the flu. Later that day, she emailed me asking for a refund.

I politely denied her request, pointing out the last-minute nature of her cancellation and the fact that all the vendor information stated that the fee was non-refundable. Trying to be nice, I offered to let her use that $50 towards a future event, though. 

She told me that “theft is a crime and a sin” and that she would never attend any of our events. That’s fine. She still isn’t getting a refund. 

Our nonprofit has a small budget and we use funds from ticket sales and vendor fees to pay for the next event. If people aren’t able to attend something as they had originally planned, barring an extreme circumstance, it isn’t fair to ask for a refund, especially when all event descriptions include our no-refund policy.

That said, I know there are times to make exceptions, so we do evaluate each situation. This spring, our Harry Potter-themed drag show fundraiser was rescheduled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

A ticketholder emailed me and said they were available for the new date in September, but they were worried about the impact the coronavirus might have on the economy and their personal funds. I didn’t hesitate to offer them a refund given the unprecedented situation caused by the pandemic.

Know When You’ve Made a Mistake and Apologize

It is important to recognize when we make mistakes. I’m always quick to apologize and to take accountability.

I’ve apologized for a lot of things lately, such as moving a virtual event to a different date when I realized the original booking didn’t work with our schedule. I had already set up the event page and began promoting it before realizing I needed to change gears. I know moving things around can be irritating to authors trying to fill their calendar and apologized profusely. 

During another recent virtual event, I didn’t realize that the link to the Zoom meeting room had expired a few days earlier. I got frustrated while fielding frantic emails and Facebook messages asking how to enter the event. I apologized profusely for my mistake and worked with the author to find another date that suited them.

Ultimately, handling complaints and responding to tense interactions with creative collaborators and event guests comes down to assessing individual situations. While we believe in making amends when we make mistakes, we also don’t believe in simply giving in to difficult people. I know that not every nonprofit leader will embrace this attitude, but I’m not interested in letting jerks detract from my passion or our mission of supporting Florida’s writers and readers.

Tiffany Razzano is a journalist and copywriter living in the Tampa Bay area. For the past 8 years, she served as an editor at Tampa Bay Newspapers. She also writes regularly for La Gaceta, Watermark, The Free Press, and Creative Pinellas. She’s the founder/president/creative director of the literary arts nonprofit Wordier Than Thou, which supports Florida writers and readers through community events, publishing projects, and educational opportunities.  

How to Prepare for a Media Interview

media interview
Tiffany Razzano Marketing June 1, 2020

As a journalist for the past 16 years, I’ve endured some awful interviews. Some truly awful stuff that, at times, has even caused me to question my career choice. Why open myself to such torture?

Throughout this journey, I’ve covered just about everything from small-town Florida governments driven by a good ol’ boy mentality to the cutthroat Manhattan real estate industry and everything in between.

I’ve interviewed everyone from kindergarteners to celebrities to state senators. Want to guess who was the easiest to deal with? 

I am writing this with the hope that some of my most frustrating experiences offer a learning opportunity for public relations teams, CEOs, and other industry influencers who want to improve their media presence. Here are a few things to keep in mind during a media interview – you’d be surprised how much of it comes down to basic etiquette.

Be considerate of your interviewer’s time

It sounds simple, but many people can’t seem to handle being on time for a media interview, whether it’s by phone or in person. It’s frustrating to set up an appointment in advance just to have the individual you’re interviewing not show up. 

This is an estimation, but at least half of the people I’m scheduled to speak with don’t pick up the phone or are unavailable when I call them at our pre-determined time. Some eventually call me back within an hour, but I’m forced to reschedule about a quarter of these calls.

Don’t keep your interviewer waiting in person, either. 

I once interviewed a restaurant owner who had just reopened after a tragedy. We chatted for a while before she excused herself to handle a question from her waitress and she never returned. She never even glanced in my direction. Five minutes turned into 10. Ten turned into 50. I had other things scheduled that day, so I left before we finished the interview and she didn’t even notice as I walked out the door. We were never able to reschedule. 

As a reporter, I’m juggling multiple stories at once. Missing our scheduled call or showing up late can throw off my entire schedule.

Learn who you’re talking to in advance

I’ve had individuals spend a decent chunk of our scheduled time asking who I am and which publication I am writing for. This is information that can be found in advance. You’re doing a disservice to yourself by wasting time that could be used to discuss your business or issue and dig into your story. If we have just 30 minutes carved out for an interview, using 10 of them for you to ask about my newspaper and my background is a waste of precious time.

Learn the difference between on-the-record and off-the-record

If you are speaking with someone who has identified themselves as a reporter, unless you utter some variation of the phrase “this is off the record,” assume that whatever you’re saying is fair game for them to publish. Even idle conversation and small talk is on the record if you don’t say otherwise while speaking with a reporter

When something is on the record, then everything in the conversation can be published and attributed to you with your name, company or organization, and job title. If something is off the record, then none of what is said may be published or attributed to you. (It can be used as background information for the reporter’s research, though.)

If you don’t want something that you’ve said published, make it very clear to your media interviewer. I once interviewed a small-town mayor who was ranting and raving about something petty that annoyed her. When she was done, she said, “And that’s all off record,” but that isn’t how it works. As a longtime politician, she definitely should have known better. Still, she wasn’t happy when portions of our conversation made it into my article. It was all on the record, though.

Let us record you

I’ve encountered some folks who bristle at the thought of my recording our conversation. Usually, these individuals simply haven’t had any experience being interviewed and the idea of a recording device makes them nervous. Others have balked at recording as a way to assert their dominance and are trying to control the narrative. 

Really, though, allowing your interview to be recorded is in the best interest of everyone. It ensures professionalism, accuracy, and accountability from both parties.

Know the story you want to convey

You know your own story better than anyone else, so be prepared to share it. Before your media interview, review the details you want to focus on. You don’t want to be over-prepared to the point where your answers sound like a canned statement, but you also want to ensure that all the important details are covered. If necessary, take notes before your interview or use a press release as a guide.

You also want to express yourself clearly and eloquently. Use full sentences and offer lengthy, interesting responses. Some of my most frustrating interviews have been with people (including a Saturday Night Live alum) who managed to only answer “yes” and “no” to open-ended questions. It’s not fun having to pull information out of interview subjects.

Also, you might be asked tough questions

No matter how much you prepare for a media interview, the reporter you’re speaking with might ask you some tough questions that you would rather not answer. Don’t get angry at them. They’re just doing their job. You can politely defer answering or simply tell them you would prefer not to comment. 

You may want to consider being transparent and upfront, though. If you refuse to answer (or worse, lie) you won’t be painted in a favorable light if the truth comes out later on. Over the years, I’ve worked on several stories where local government leaders have refused to answer questions or flat out lied only to have the public records I pulled prove them wrong.

It might be your story, but ultimately you don’t control the narrative

Even though it’s your story being shared, the reporter is in the driver’s seat. Any publication worth its salt won’t let you review an article before it goes to print. You also don’t have the right to direct the story’s narrative in advance. After publication, changes will only be made to a story if something is factually incorrect, in which case a correction will be published.

You can guide the story’s direction, though, based on the information you share with your interviewer, which is why it’s important to be prepared.

I once wrote an article about a small bagel chain that opened a new location. The company was founded years earlier by a married couple who later divorced. I met them for an interview and we had a lovely conversation about how the business started.

The day the article came out, I received an angry call from the man’s current wife. I hadn’t mentioned her by name, just the fact that he had later remarried. 

He hadn’t talked about her in great detail during the interview or indicated that she helped with the business in any way. She didn’t understand why I couldn’t rewrite the story and give her a bigger role in it. She tried to contact my editor and publisher, but her complaints fell flat.

The follow up is just as important as the Media interview

During your conversation, you might not immediately have responses to some questions. Maybe you forgot a name or a date or need to get more details from someone more intimately involved with a specific aspect of a project. Take notes and follow up with this information in a timely manner after your interview. Don’t hold up deadlines with missing information.  

Also, art is an important aspect of any article. In your follow-up email, include any photos, logos, or other images that you feel represent your company or story well.

Taking these steps before and after your media interview can increase the chances that the journalist you work with will get the facts right, paint the best possible narrative and most importantly (in the world of marketing and PR) call back again in the future.

Tiffany Razzano is a journalist and copywriter living in the Tampa Bay area. For the past 8 years, she served as an editor at Tampa Bay Newspapers. She also writes regularly for La Gaceta, Watermark, The Free Press, and Creative Pinellas. She’s the founder/president/creative director of the literary arts nonprofit Wordier Than Thou, which supports Florida writers and readers through community events, publishing projects, and educational opportunities.  

What I Learned About Marketing a Nonprofit After Leading One for 8 Years

Marketing a Nonprofit Wordier Than Thou
Tiffany Razzano Marketing April 29, 2020

Grassroots nonprofits don’t typically have a wealth of resources behind them. Most work is done by a small staff or volunteers passionate about their cause. Often, with little support, these individuals do anything possible to further their mission in their communities.

I know this mindset well. Eight years ago, I founded Wordier Than Thou, a literary arts organization in the Tampa Bay area with no funding and few resources. Today, we still operate on a shoestring budget, but we host up to 10 events each month and reach thousands of readers and writers every year.

As a journalist with a deep love of books and stories, I had to learn the best ways to promote our events and engage our followers. Though I’m admittedly still learning the best practices for marketing a nonprofit, I’ve learned a few things along the way.

Creative Partnerships Are a Key to Success

From the start, our creative partnerships – with authors and artists, bars and arts venues, and other nonprofits, particularly non-literary ones – have been vital to Wordier Than Thou’s success. Our foothold in the Tampa Bay community wouldn’t be what it is today without the relationships we’ve formed over the years. We learned a long time ago that we’re a stronger, more impactful organization thanks to our work with others.

We launched our group in 2012 as a monthly storytelling and prose-only open mic series. During our first two years, we worked our way through several venues. This wasn’t due to any fault of our own. These early bars and cafes were eager to work with us but were short-lived operations that didn’t stay open for very long. Every few months, it felt like we were forced to look for a new home.

Then, we were introduced to the Studio@620, one of the preeminent arts venues in St. Petersburg. This relationship elevated our events and helped us reach new audiences. 

Through the Studio@620, known for saying “yes” to new ventures and providing opportunities to up-and-coming artists and organizations, we connected with their membership, a large base of arts and book-loving individuals, many of whom learned about our mission for the first time through this partnership. 

Studio620 Wordier Than Thou

Six years later, we continue to host our open mics at the Studio@620 every third Tuesday of the month. Sometimes, I jokingly refer to this regular event as our gateway drug. It’s how many of the Studio@620’s members discover Wordier Than Thou. After getting to know us through these open mics, many attendees have sought us out on social media and joined us for other bookish events throughout the region.

We also often partner with other local organizations for one-off themed events. We especially enjoy working with groups outside the literary world because it introduces us to a new audience.

In January, we hosted a feline-inspired storytelling event, Tell Me About Your Cat, at Cage Brewing. We joined forces with Friends of Strays Animal Shelter for this event, which we used to raise funds for their animal advocacy and rescue work while raising awareness of both their mission and ours. 

Wordier Than Thou Friends of Strays

Despite little promotional work(other than briefly boosting the event’s reach on Facebook), nearly 70 people turned out. For about two-thirds of those attending, this was their first time at a Wordier Than Thou event. We collected dozens of emails that day and I’ve seen several of those in attendance at other events since. A few have even reached out to me personally with questions about our work or the publishing world.

Be Ready for Anything

Over the years, I’ve learned the importance of adaptability when it comes to marketing events. There are so many moving parts that are out of your control and you need to be ready for anything. 

Adaptability not only allows you to keep things on track for success, but it can also help you capitalize on the unexpected twists and turns of community organizing. 

One of Wordier Than Thou’s signature events is our annual Read No More Gulfport Murder House. This immersive theater project, held every October around Halloween, is a literary take on the classic haunted house. Each year, we rent a home in Gulfport for several days for local writers and actors to stage different short, scary plays in each room.

Wordier Than Thou Murder House

This event has grown into a fan favorite over the past five years. Even with its popularity, though, tickets never fully sold out. Until last year, that is.

I began planning the 2019 haunted house a smidge earlier than normal. Four months before it was scheduled, I created a Facebook event page with little information about the tours. I considered it a placeholder so I could keep track of our calendar for the year.

Within a few days, the page had reached several thousand people and had a few hundred RSVPs. Many were asking for more information.

Intrigued by the unexpected interest, I made tickets available to purchase before I had even finished booking our writers and performers. Ticket sales trickled in immediately, and quickly gained momentum. As tours sold out, I added extra days to accommodate the interest. By the end of October, our event page had reached nearly 50,000 people without spending any money.

With so much organic interest in the event, I never sent out traditional press releases to regional newspapers, magazines, or online calendars. Despite this, the Tampa Bay Times still found Read No More and promoted it as a must-do Halloween event and a local morning show invited me on-air as a guest.

By the week of the event, there were only a handful of tickets left, which sold out the day of each tour.

As I had to regretfully inform people that we were sold out, I realize our organization had an opportunity to build on this interest. 

I decided we would host our first-ever Christmas-themed haunted house, Read No More: Haunted Holidays. I acted quickly to book a house, set up the event page and put tickets on sale.

Though our Halloween event was sold out, instead of turning people away entirely, I offered them tickets to our Christmas event, instead. We also promoted the Haunted Holidays tours outside our Gulfport Murder House and sold tickets then, as well.

Wordier Than Thou Haunted Holidays

Though we didn’t sell out during the Christmas haunted house, we sold about two-thirds of the tickets, which I consider a success for a first-time event held during the busiest time of the year. We’re already planning out 2020 holiday events, tweaking the concept a bit, and will start promotions this summer.

Another example of adapting our programming and marketing came last month, in March, as the COVID-19 pandemic began to affect day-to-day life in the United States. I felt helpless as we were forced to cancel one event, then another, and another. Before we knew it, our spring calendar was empty. 

With many people forced to shelter in place or choosing to social distance themselves, I pivoted Wordier Than Thou’s programming to the virtual realm. Even while isolated, we want to keep our fans and friends connected and creative through this crisis. This will also make for an easier transition when we move back to in-person events, hopefully later this summer.

For the past five weeks, we’ve used Zoom, Facebook Live and YouTube to host daily programming – personal library tours, open mics, author chats, readings – reaching hundreds of writers and readers weekly. An unexpected bonus has been engaging author friends and readers beyond the Tampa Bay area for these events thanks to the technology available. As life returns to normal, we’ll likely continue hosting some of these virtual events, they’ve been so successful.

Zoom Wordier Than Thou

Know Who You Are

If you don’t have a solid mission as a nonprofit, it will be difficult to build a consistent base of supporters. 

Wordier Than Thou’s mission is simple: we are a resource for Florida writers. We offer fun ways for authors – from emerging voices to experienced wordsmiths – to hone their craft, connect with audiences and get their books into the hands of readers. 

Beyond this mission, though, we also have a strong sense of our organization’s personality. We’re fun and off-beat, but smart, and also irreverent, eschewing the more traditional notions of the capital “L,” literary community. We don’t always take ourselves 100 percent seriously – our name is obviously tongue-in-cheek – and we want our fans to feel like they’re in on the joke.

At the same time, we’re committed to our passion for books and stories. We’re proud of our programming and have offered opportunities to talented writers at all stages in their careers. Our work in the community is important to us.

That might sound a bit fractured, but it really isn’t. We balance both pieces of our organization’s personality – the serious and silly sides – nicely in our social media and email marketing. This makes us more authentic and accessible to the average person, and we tend to draw both avid readers and people who wouldn’t typically attend a reading or author event.

Vary Your Platforms for Engagement

When I first started Wordier Than Thou, I was still new to Florida. I had been in the Tampa Bay area less than two years when I organized our first open mic and I didn’t know many people.

Like many people my age (late twenties at the time), I relied on Facebook to connect others (and still do, to an extent.) As I met people at networking meetups, bars, and at community events, I would exchange contact information with them and also send them a Facebook friend request.

This is the base I relied on for our early open mics. I threw together a Facebook page for Wordier Than Thou, created my first open mic event page, and then invited all the acquaintances I had made, hoping for the best. Luckily, they turned out, and they even brought friends.

As I began to market Wordier Than Thou’s events beyond the people I already knew, I realized that not everyone is on Facebook. Other social media outlets have gained popularity since we started and the demographic using Facebook has changed, as well. 

While Wordier Than Thou uses a variety of alternative platforms to reach writers and readers (follow us on Instagram!) we’ve found the most success with Meetup.com. This seems to be the landing spot for many of the anti-Facebook folks, the people who are interested in book events and other gatherings but don’t want to feel like they’ve sold their soul (and information) to Mark Zuckerberg. 

Meetup costs about $200 annually, but it’s well worth the money. We have nearly 4,000 Facebook followers and a little over 2,000 Meetup members. There isn’t much overlap between these two fan bases, which means those are 2,000 people who never would have found us if we relied solely on Facebook to promote our programs.

We also started sending out promotional emails in 2018. We’ve collected more than 2,000 emails at various events and through ticket sales over the years, but had never used them until then. And yes, I realize how stupid that sounds since we’ve been doing this work for nearly a decade. But as a grassroots organization, it comes down to prioritizing your to-do list – your exceptionally long to-do list – and for years typing up our email list never quite made it to the top of my list.

As we organized our 2018 Tampa Bay Publishing Conference, an event with more cost involved than our other programming, I knew I needed to reach more people. So I compiled the emails of everyone who had attended the previous conference and sent out an email blast. That same day, several people registered for the event. This inspired me to finally look at the stack of email lists from six years of events. I typed up the email addresses and sent out a second email blast. More people registered through the link included in that email. 

Ever since then, I’ve promoted our bigger events with email blasts. I try not to overwhelm our followers with too many emails and do my best to target their interests. For instance, if someone attended our Banned Books Week burlesque show, there’s reason to think they might be interested in our Harry Potter-themed drag show.

In-Person Connections are Just as Important as Social Media Fans

Face-to-face connections with potential supporters are just as important, possibly even more so, than social media and email marketing. 

This goes beyond being friendly and sociable at your own events, though that first impression for someone new to your organization is key.

I also go out of my way to bring Wordier Than Thou into the community outside our own programming. The Tampa Bay area, St. Petersburg especially, has a strong “shop local” mentality and those who live here go out of their way to support indie small businesses. This means there are plenty of markets, street fairs, and community events with vending opportunities. 

Often there are fees involved with setting up at these events, but usually there are lower prices or waived fees for nonprofits. We sell books, t-shirts and other items at these events to make back those fees and then some.

We’ve attended all kinds of events from Pride street fairs to comic and sci-fi conventions over the years. Our favorite to attend, though, is Shopapalooza in St. Petersburg. More than 10,000 people attend this annual market, which is the largest holiday shopping event in Florida. 

Shopapalooza Wordier Than Thou

There is real value in making that in-person connection with someone who has never heard of us before. We’re excited about our work and we get to convey that excitement through conversations with those who stop by our booth. Often, these shoppers turn into new supporters of our organization. After each market or fair, we see an uptick in Facebook likes and follows, as well as ticket sales for upcoming programs.

These are just a few of the lessons that I’ve learned through my experiences with Wordier Than Thou. We’ve seen significant growth as an organization over the past two years, and we look forward to building on that. The only way we’ll continue this success, though, is by consistently following the marketing best practices we’ve established.

Tiffany Razzano is a journalist and copywriter living in the Tampa Bay area. For the past 8 years, she served as an editor at Tampa Bay Newspapers. She also writes regularly for La Gaceta, Watermark, The Free Press, and Creative Pinellas. She’s the founder/president/creative director of the literary arts nonprofit Wordier Than Thou, which supports Florida writers and readers through community events, publishing projects, and educational opportunities.  

It’s Okay to Use the First Person in Your Professional Blog Content

first person narrative voice
Amanda Dodge Branding, Content Creation March 2, 2020

As you start to develop your brand and blog style guide, you may become conflicted over the narrative voice that you want to use. Does jumping into the first person seem too informal? Should you even reference yourself in a professional blog, or is that too casual? These are common questions that I often answer when working with clients for the first time.

Spoiler alert: You can see where I stand on the issue. I believe there is a time and place for using I/we as long as it matches your brand goals.

This post will focus on the different narrative voices that you can choose for your branded blog. It will cover why some companies limit writers to the third-person and the pros and cons of using each. Finally, it will empower you to choose your narrative voice, whether it is the first-person, second-person, or all three.

Know Your Points of View

Let’s take a step back to grammar school and review the different points of view that you can choose for your writing. You have three main options:

  • First person: we recommend following the industry best practices… our clients have benefitted from…
  • Second person: if you are considering… the best choice for your brand is… 
  • Third person: small business owners who need… if they find themselves lacking… their best option is…

As the team at ACM training explain:

“The first person (me) puts the writer centre stage. The second puts the reader (you) in the spotlight. And the third views things from an audience’s point of view (he, she, they) – way up in the cheap seats at the back of the auditorium if you like.”

Bloggers as a whole are split on which forms of voice are best. While some think the third person is the best option professionally, others think it is too formal. Meanwhile, other writers suggest avoiding the first person unless it is used to position the writer as a position of authority.

Consider what Georgy Cohen of MeetContent has to say: 

“I believe the use of first-person is a privilege. It connotes a truth, an intimacy, an authentic perspective, and thus a power unlike any other. It is innately personal — in some instances confessional.” 

He goes on to say that this privilege can easily be abused – and points to clickbait publications like Buzzfeed who use it as a shock-factor.

While he has a point, the first person, especially the first person plural, can be used to create a sense of community and connect a group of people. For example, the sentence: “While we try to stick to our New Year’s resolutions, many of us fail by the end of January.” is more engaging and inclusive than, “Most people can’t stick to their resolutions,” or “If you already gave up on your resolution…” It can be used to create more compassion and intimacy.

Your Age and Background May Reflect Your Narrative Choices

There are several factors that contribute to your point of view selections, including your upbringing and education. If you have an academic or journalistic background, then switching to a more colloquial writing style might seem unprofessional to you. Additionally, age may even play a factor. 

One study from 2014 by the University of Pennsylvania’s World Well-Being Project (WWBP) looked at the Facebook posts of 75,000 volunteers. They found that the older you are, the less likely you are to use the first-person, preferring the third-person instead.

“When we are in new situations and are trying to establish an identity, we tend to be more self-focused, which comes out through higher rates of ‘I’-words,” social psychologist James Pennebaker, author of The Secret Life of Pronouns: What Our Words Say About Us, explains. “[But as people age] we become less concerned with our own shortcomings and can sit back and watch the world a bit more objectively.”

This doesn’t mean you can shake off any request to use the third person with an “ok boomer,” response, but it may help explain why someone writes a certain way. I would also like to add that since the days of MySpace and Livejournal, the internet has favored more colloquial writing. This means that younger generations may favor the first person along with a more casual writing style because it is how they feel comfortable communicating on the web.

Your Narrative Voice Reflects Your Brand

The challenge is that we don’t always have the luxury of writing how we choose. Brand managers and marketing executives set the tone for their blogs – and that includes the point of view. Copywriters need to put aside their personal preferences to match the tone and writing style of their clients or bosses. 

Your blog content reflects how you interact with your customers – and how you expect them to interact with you. Opting for a formal way of speaking and professional manner of voice may convey a sense of authority, but it doesn’t always make your brand seem approachable. While a medical office or law firm may want to seem confident in their writing, they also need to be compassionate. This creates a conflict between the blog manager and senior marketing teams, who want to connect with the target audience without losing their authoritative branding.

It is Possible (and Likely) That You Will Mix and Match Your Narrative Voice

As you develop your blog content, it is likely that some posts will focus on the second person while others use the first person. An announcement about a leadership change will likely use the first person, while a how-to guide will sway more to the second-person. Allowing your writers to determine the best voice for your blog can help them focus on the message, rather than massaging sentence structure to account for an outdated style guide.

It is also possible that you will use different tenses within the same post. For example, if you are creating a tutorial, then you may start off using the second person, but then jump into the first person to explain why you do things a certain way.

The key to success when jumping around tenses is to have guidelines for consistency. You can use whatever tense you want as long as you have a reason for it. You may switch between the second and third person to break up the synonyms and improve flow, or you may require writers to stick to one narrative style throughout one piece of content. It’s up to your brand.

Test Different Writing Styles to Find Your Brand Voice

As you publish your first few blog posts this year, work to establish your brand voice that other writers and marketers can follow. This voice should be consistent across all site copy and printed materials. 

Test different writing styles that match your brand to see how your audiences react. You may find that the first person point of view is more inclusive than you realize, paving the way to make it more acceptable in your blogging.

Image by Hugo Ataide from Pixabay

How Often Should You Publish Blog Content Anyway?

publish blog content
Amanda Dodge Content Creation February 15, 2020

The short answer:

Most small businesses can get away with publishing blog content 2-3 times per month, or scaling up to one post weekly. This will boost their organic search efforts and give them social media content without overwhelming them.

Keep reading for the long answer

One of the most common questions that clients ask is how often they need to publish blog content. Oftentimes, this question is used to mentally evaluate what kind of budget or time commitment they will need to get their desired results. Like all things related to SEO, there is no magic number for the exact amount of posts you need to rank first in Google. Plenty of blogs publish content daily or weekly and don’t get the results they want. 

Let’s look at what the experts have to say in regard to blog post frequency to determine how often you should publish blog content.

How Often Should You Publish for Good SEO? 

The main reason why blog owners try to publish a certain number of times per week is to boost their search rankings. They want to keep an active blog and increase their daily traffic and keyword quality. However, the frequency with which you publish blog content does not have any impact on your search results. 

Chris Lee at RankXL explains that while publishing less often doesn’t hurt your SEO, it can limit your growth. He uses his own website as an example: if he publishes content once per month, he isn’t slowing his growth, but his site will take longer to grow than another one that publishes twice per week. Twelve posts versus 104 posts over the course of the year is a significant difference and the latter blog will have had more opportunities to drive traffic and rank well. 

It is more important that you post high-quality content on your site that keeps people checking on your blog instead of sticking to an arbitrary posting amount in hopes of winning over Google’s favor.

It is Better to Publish and Promote Than to Overpublish

You do not need to post every day and you do not need to keep up with some mythical amount of posts to grow your business. Instead, look at how you plan to promote your blog content and determine when people will be interested in your content. 

Dries Cronje wrote a fantastic piece for Smartblogger on why posting every day is a terrible idea. His premise is simple: your audiences don’t care what you have to say every day. You are not the Huffington Post or the New York Times. There are very few things that you have to talk about that will attract customers daily. 

If you publish content five times per week, then you need to command the attention of your social media following each one of those times to visit those pages. 

You have to highlight the content in an email blast and hope your audience clicks on multiple links. 

Your marketing efforts will become solely focused on driving traffic to your blog instead of promoting your actual products or services. 

Instead, consider the benefits of posting weekly. You can feature the blog in a weekly email, schedule a few social media posts around one piece, and then use your free time to highlight the amazing work you do. You will get more traffic to one high-quality piece instead of spreading it across five average posts.  

Post at a Frequency Where You Won’t Burn Out

Blog burnout is a very real issue that content marketers face. They set high expectations for posting every week (or even multiple times per week) and then quickly feel overwhelmed with the amount of content they need to create. At any given point in the week, they are writing, editing, publishing, or brainstorming ideas for various posts. It becomes incredibly easy to fall behind or skip your blog content entirely.

It is better to start out at a slower pace, posting only a few times per month, than to have to pull back or pause your blog content because you have run out of energy, ideas, or time to get work done.

Don’t Stop Publishing During Your Busy Season

Your frequency also depends on the ebbs and flows of your workload. We’ve all had weeks where we don’t have the time or energy to complete everything on our to-do lists. More often than not, it’s the blog content that gets cut. A company will go a week or two without posting, which will then turn into a month or two without posting. 

In fact, it’s not uncommon for companies to experience a roller coaster publishing schedule where they only publish one article per month, then go dark for three months, and then suddenly publishes four posts within a few weeks. This will negatively impact any following that you have.    

There are a few ways you can prevent this content roller coaster from tearing through your blog: 

  • Make sure you can handle your blog workload. Either hire someone to manage your blog or carve out a specific amount of time to work on content.
  • Schedule content ahead of busy times. If you know that a certain month or quarter is busier than the rest of the year, schedule content a few months out so the blog functions on autopilot. 
  • Pull back on your publishing schedule without completely shutting down. It is better to reduce your posts from twice weekly to weekly publishing than to completely give up on posting for a month or two.   

Even if you don’t have a busy season, a vacation or internal deadline can completely derail your editorial calendar. Try to anticipate and plan for this ahead of time when possible.

Start Small and Scale Your Publishing Efforts

If you recently launched a website with a blog, or have just started your content marketing initiatives, start with a publishing schedule that you know you can handle. Test out your content creation efforts for the first three months and get into a habit of writing, editing, and publishing. 

If you can’t make it through the first 10 blog posts without delaying a publish date or scrambling to get something live, then you need to adjust your frequency. 

Once you get into a groove and feel like you can publish more often, start to scale your efforts. Add a few more posts each month or increase the length of your blog content. Test to see how your improved content boosts your traffic and organic rankings.  

One more thing: if you decide to work with an outside contractor to help you publish blog content, remember that managing them takes time, too. Set aside a set number of hours per week to review their work, provide feedback, and talk about strategy moving forward. This is especially important if this contractor is working with your brand for the first time. You may know certain industry terms and best practices, but they might not. However, once this person knows what is expected of them, they will be able to create better content at a faster pace. 

Publish at a Rate That Works of You

Some brands need to publish weekly (or multiple times per week) in order to stay competitive. These are typically either larger companies with a big social media following or brands that have constant news and updates they need to send out. However, if you are just posting evergreen content (blog content that isn’t tied to a particular timeline), then you likely don’t need to keep up with the rates that “SEO gurus” expect. 

Start small and scale up – or down – depending on what you can handle. You will reap more benefits from publishing high-quality content consistently than by haphazardly posting whenever you have free time.

Image by Werner Moser from Pixabay

How to Use an Editorial Calendar to Improve Social Media Management

editorial calendar
Amanda Dodge Content Creation, Social Media January 28, 2020

One of the biggest challenges that companies have with social media marketing is maintaining a consistent presence. They will go through periods where they post daily and work to engage with other accounts, only to go dark for a month or longer. Because social media is a top-funnel marketing tactic, it is rarely attributed to direct sales. This means it is often one of the first things to get cut from the budget or from your team’s to-do list. 

Burnout is also a real issue for social media managers. Coming up with creative content day-in and day-out can exhaust anyone, causing marketing managers to post fewer updates and skip days here or there. 

Fewer social media updates mean lower engagement rates. Social media algorithms use the snowball effect to promote brands. I’ve worked with clients where their posts received unprecedented engagement rates on an average post just because an image or video shared a few days prior went viral. Brands with high engagement rates will continue to get the exposure they want while inconsistent brands will start back at the beginning every time they take a break.

Fortunately, you don’t have to constantly fight burnout and dedicate several hours per week to social media content creation. With a clear editorial calendar, you can quickly fill up your work and ensure that you have content even during the busiest times in your office.

This guide will walk you through the editorial calendar creation process and provide tips for easier management and delegation.

1. Find an Editorial Calendar that Works for You

There are dozens of companies that are dying to give you an editorial calendar template. You can download these for free and use them at face value, or you can modify the templates for your own needs. You can find two popular editorial calendar tools at HubSpot and CoSchedule. 

Decide what kind of template works for your brand. Some people will embrace a clean spreadsheet while others will want a more traditional calendar view. A calendar view will also give you visual cues to make sure that your content isn’t too cluttered together or certain themes aren’t posted too far apart. Personally, I prefer a hybrid. I am a visual learner, so I prefer to have a calendar that I can glance at to see what content is going live and when. However, I also use a spreadsheet to reduce clutter, make it easy to grab information and allow multiple people to collaborate at once. 

Below is the calendar view that we will work with throughout this article, using September 2019 as the sample month:

editorial calendar example

2. Look for Major Holidays and Events

Once you have an editorial calendar, start with the easy days. Block out Christmas, Thanksgiving, Memorial Day, or whatever major holidays fall on that month. What posts will you need for these days – both before and during the holiday? Will the office be closed? Would you like to honor the holiday?

Below is an example of a content note for Labor Day, which falls on the first Monday of September.

social media calendar example

Outside of national holidays (where banks and schools are closed), there are also lesser holidays that many companies celebrate on social media. IHOP promotes Pancake Day while Dunkin lures customers in on National Donut Day. Even if your company doesn’t offer a special deal based on a holiday, you can still use these minor events to create quick, image-heavy social media content. Below are a few holiday examples for September.

social media calendar

You can take these holidays as lightly or as seriously as you want. For a cheeky post, you can encourage employees to leave the office and take a long lunch on National Cheeseburger Day, or you can use an event like Business Women’s Day to highlight unequal pay in the workplace.

3. Promote Your Blog Content

As a copywriter, I am always begging my clients to promote their blog content on social media. This is a great way to drive traffic to your website and share the content that your team worked so hard to create. Plus, if you create blog content consistently, then you should always have something to share on social media. 

As you can see, our editorial calendar example is updated to share blog content that is published twice per month.

editorial calendar

You have two options when reposting blog content on social media. First, you can post your top posts. These pages have a history of success and will likely generate higher engagement rates. However, you can also repost content that wasn’t as successful when it went live. This can give it fresh life and drive new people to read it. You work hard to create your blog content – don’t waste it.

If you focus on evergreen blog post ideas, then you can continue to share blog content several months after it goes live.

editorial calendar example

4. Schedule Throwback Days

There’s a reason why #ThrowbackThursday has more than 49 million tags on Instagram. Looking back on where you came from compared to where you are now is exciting – in both your personal life and as a brand. You can apply the principles of Throwback Thursday to your social media calendar – even if you’re not posting on a Thursday. 

This option is particularly popular for brands with a long history that can share old photos or companies that have grown significantly in the past few years.

social media editorial calendar

5. Develop a Content Series

As you can see, your editorial calendar is starting to fill up. Even before you create a social media post, a third of your days already have content planned out.

Your next step is to come up with a series that fits the month to develop content around. 

For example, September is Self Improvement Month, which several brands can create social media posts around. A local gym could post health tips or an office could create content focused around growing professionally. 

A few common series that brands rely on to fill their social media editorial calendars include:

  • Employee spotlights
  • Customer profiles or testimonials
  • Top tips or hacks
  • Countdowns to certain events
  • Definitions of industry jargon
  • Behind the scenes peeks

You can create a series that lasts a few weeks (like a five-day countdown), or one that lasts several months. You can also create content for the series all at once and then schedule out the posts, helping you save time over the course of the month or year.

DIY editorial calendar

6. Leave Space for Breaking News

There will be a few spaces on your calendar that you can save for last-minute posts and emergencies. There are also times when your brand shouldn’t post. As Hurricane Dorian pummeled the Bahamas in September, brands like Royal Caribbean needed to clear their social media channels so they weren’t offering cheap deals to the affected areas. They also needed to use the space to talk about their part in the relief efforts.

Leave two or three days where you can pause your content (or move it to a different day) to post relevant information as needed. You never know when a throwback post will get replaced with breaking news.

editorial calendar social media

Try to make your “free days” on less popular social days for your brand. I used the weekend as an example of when your company can afford to go dark if nothing comes up during the month.

7. Create a Spreadsheet for Industry Content

Just by following this process you can fill up the vast majority of your editorial calendar before the month even starts. From here, you only have a week or two that you need to come up with content for. Instead of using your creative energy to create 30 days of content, you only need to fill in 10 days. 

I recommend keeping a spreadsheet or Google doc with interesting content, links, images, videos, memes, or anything else that would be interesting for your brand. You can also share this document with others in your marketing team (or company as a whole) to add to. Then, you can pull from this list to create engaging content.

social media content ideas

How to Use a List-Based Editorial Calendar

At the start of the article, I mentioned how you might use a spreadsheet to create content instead of a calendar. For the sake of example, here is what a list format would look like, using the first few days of September.    

social media list calendar

Once you know what the post is going to be, you can write in the copy, start pulling relevant images, and collect necessary links to go with the post. 

Pro Tip: you can also use this list to report on the success of your social content. Create tabs listing the impressions, likes, comments, and shares for each post, which you can fill in after the content goes live. Then you can see what content your audience loves and what content they hate. This way you can always keep improving.

social media tracking

Create Content and Schedule it Ahead

Social media is (and always will be) a daily activity for your marketing team. However, you can plan ahead to limit the amount of work it takes each day. 

Following this process, you can draft 30 social media posts for the month in just a few hours. You can save the content and post it as needed, or use tools like Buffer to schedule the content out. If you choose this option, continue to monitor your posts. Check the content when it is supposed to go live, respond to comments or questions, and stay engaged on your channels. 

Just because you can create dozens of social media posts in just a few hours doesn’t mean your social media management is reduced to a monthly activity. 

An editorial calendar is meant to help you take control of your social media channels to prevent burnout and maintain consistency. When used well, it will provide you with a clear plan where you always have something in your queue to keep your audience engaged. 

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

‹  Older posts