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Rehashing information that’s familiar – and even “played out” – within your industry is a recipe for some yawn-worthy content. Attending conferences and events like Content Marketing Conference is a great way to pick up fresh content ideas and content marketing strategies.
Here are 6 ways to leverage your time at a conference to boost your content marketing techniques:
Mimic the Method, Not the Message
While the content ideas for a high-end cosmetics company wouldn’t translate to, say, an aftermarket car accessory audience, the basic content marketing principals and distribution channels can be similar.
Once the framework has been drawn out, each company can create new content and plug that fresh content in for a ready-made solution. hey can easily compare notes on frequency, length and conversion rates to save one another valuable trial-and-error time.
Roundtables and informal mixers at conventions are a great place to talk about subject lines and unusual content tricks that you can potentially take “home” to the office.
The Social Media Backscratch
Attending a conference isn’t simply about the seminars. Networking, one of the most powerful takeaways from any major business event, can actually help improve your social media reach. Following new connections, and encouraging them to follow you back, offers a trio of unique benefits:
- Extended reach for your content as they retweet, share, and comment on your posts
- Collaboration and co-marketing opportunities
- Inspiration from watching your fellow social media marketers at work – find new methods to apply to your own content distribution
Social media networking also keeps the lines of communication open without the need for constant emails – the casual connection of social media helps keep you in the loop for additional events and conventions your extended network may be attending. One excellent content marketing event can easily turn into years of “heads up” notices about additional content creation resources, keeping you on the forefront of innovative ideas.
A Fresh Pair of Ears
The men and women sharing sessions seats are smart, capable and interested in the messages around them – an ideal sounding board for generic interest. If they express confusion or seem puzzled at your elevator pitch, this is a huge red flag that changes need to be made in your storytelling. If their interest seems to trail off, you might be guilty of the “escalator pitch” – a sales scenario that progresses too slowly and lacks substantive content marketing. In this case, you’ll need to tighten up your message and figure out how to create content that gets your points across more efficiently. While you might not necessarily glean direct writing tips from your peers, their reactions can speak volumes.
take note of the questions that come up during introductions – those are the same questions conversion-primed searchers are typing into browsers to find you.
Catching a Professional
When the goal is to create content directly, smart businesses also use their presence at a content-oriented event to seek out copywriters or copywriting solution providers. These professionals, who help eliminate the hunt for writing tips entirely, can be a little hard to track down in the wild – especially for a company that has never used them. Not only are they a prime source of content marketing ideas if you decide to collaborate, their storytelling “voice” can add new life to your brand message. Depending on the volume of your content needs, you can either look for an individual copywriter or have a conversation with a content creation company, an innovative solution that manages a large group of writers for on-demand content.
Creating Content FROM the Content Marketing Conference
You may be attending the event to hone your content creation skills, but your presence at the event can also be tapped as a subject. Customers view companies that invest in technology and marketing research favorably, and your newfound network would likely appreciate a “shoutout” of mentions, photo tags and branded hashtags if you decide to live tweet or live post the event. A clever marketing push can help you earn beneficial results from attending the conference before it’s even over, whether they take the form of account follows, public conversations on social media or blogs about your day-to-day experience at the event. It’s a meta approach that’s easy to master with very little effort, and it will help get your feet wet for putting your new content creation ideas to good use.
How to Get the Most Out of Your Event
Between seminars, mixers, meta events, after parties and casual conversations, there’s a lot of fantastic opportunities packed into a convention like the 3 day Content Marketing Conference. It’s natural to feel a little like a kid in a candy store as far as information is concerned, but to make sure it’s actionable, you’ll need to take notes. Here’s how to record those “aha!” moments before they slip away:
- Prep a folio with a legal pad, slots or a container for business cards, as well as a place to keep your session schedule.
- Make sure you stock up on your own business cards before traveling to the event (you’ll probably need more than you think!)
- Setup social media accounts prior to attending, if you haven’t already. There will be a lot of “follow” opportunities at the event.
- Use business cards as notepads – write a few key words from your conversation with an individual directly on their card.
- Consider taking cell phone snapshots of gathered business cards each day and emailing them to yourself; that way, you can’t lose them!
- Set aside time after you get back to respond, reach out and connect with new network nodes.
- If permitted, consider recording (or requesting a recording of) the sessions you attend so you can pay attention in the moment and take notes later.
- Pick up books, guides and other free content creation materials to review after the event.
A busy content marketing conference is the perfect storm of ideas, opportunities and tips for boosting your content performance, so make sure you’re primed to listen, learn and use it. Ready to have a great time and make your business the best it can be? Now is the time to get your tickets for the 2016 Content Marketing Conference, happening May 17-19 at the Rio All-Suite Hotel in Las Vegas.