Erika Heald is the host of the weekly #ContentChat LinkedIn Live video podcast for content marketers, held Mondays at noon Pacific. As a B2B marketing consultant, she helps organizations define and execute content marketing strategies that drive business and professional growth. As a creator, and gluten-free blogger helping people discover gut-friendly farm-to-table food. She frequently speaks at B2B marketing industry events on employee brand advocacy, content strategy, customer experience, AI readiness, and social media topics. You can find her on her blogs erikaheald.com and erikasglutenfreekitchen.com.
The #ContentChat Bulletin: Does Your Content Format Fit the Job?
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On our road trip to Sea Ranch earlier this month, we listened to the Dungeon Crawler Carl book one audiobook. We've both read the entire series, and thought it would be fun to listen to the much-raved-about audio version while we were in the car for 4+ hours. It was amazing. The voices were on point (and hysterical). And it truly added a whole new dimension to the story. I know many people who regularly listen to audiobooks to squeeze in some book time while commuting or doing mundane everyday chores. When I launched my book Content Foundations in January, I initially thought I'd release an audiobook. But as I talked to folks about how they were using the book, I realized that wasn't the right approach for me to deliver on the book's WIIFM (What's In It for Me). I mean, do you really want to hear someone reading aloud every element of a creative brief template? No, you do not. And no, I didn't want to read that out loud, either! Content Foundations isn't high-level thought leadership that's meant to spark conversations. Sure, there is some of that in there, but at its heart, it's a working book. Readers are going to stop, reflect on their internal challenges and existing processes, and apply the frameworks and templates the chapters serve up, then come back and see how they can build upon that layer. A straight audiobook version would be a little awkward for that. So, instead, I dedicated 12 editions of the #ContentChat livestream and podcast to working through the concepts from each chapter. Along the way, I've heard from folks listening to the podcast as they read each chapter in the book, and even gotten notes from new readers who heard an episode of the podcast first and recognized their own content operations challenges. If my sole objective in publishing the book had been direct book sales, giving away 12 conversations worth of its primary ideas would have been a terrible idea. But that wasn't what I wanted this content to do. Rather, I want to reach as many people as possible with a new way of thinking about building a solid foundation that supports you as you scale your organization's content beyond the in-house marketing team. It's a good reminder why, before you put a content idea into your editorial calendar, to stop and ask yourself three questions:
Sometimes, the answers will validate what you've always done. These questions may validate keeping with your status quo. But sometimes, they may point you to an entirely different format or channel that's much better suited to the job, as they did for me. Coming Up on #ContentChatContent Chat is my weekly LinkedIn Live video chat focused on sharing expertise and ideas amongst the content marketing community. Join the conversation on Mondays at noon Pacific / 3 p.m. Eastern. RSVP for our upcoming conversations by clicking the chat date below to get a reminder and to access the chat.
Until next time, stay safe and be well! Cheers, Erika |
The #ContentChat Bulletin
Erika Heald is the host of the weekly #ContentChat LinkedIn Live video podcast for content marketers, held Mondays at noon Pacific. As a B2B marketing consultant, she helps organizations define and execute content marketing strategies that drive business and professional growth. As a creator, and gluten-free blogger helping people discover gut-friendly farm-to-table food. She frequently speaks at B2B marketing industry events on employee brand advocacy, content strategy, customer experience, AI readiness, and social media topics. You can find her on her blogs erikaheald.com and erikasglutenfreekitchen.com.
Kupo and Bulleit enjoying the view on one of our walks in Sea Ranch last weekend. My partner and I trekked to the Coast this past weekend with our bulldogs, taking a long weekend road trip to celebrate my birthday. I wanted to listen to and see the ocean, and have a hot tub available for soaking whenever I wanted. We found a great vacation rental in Sea Ranch that ticked all the boxes. When we arrived and started unpacking, I noticed a few things that made this vacation rental a lot different...
If I were giving today’s #ContentChat talk in person, I wonder if I’d be met by picketers holding signs reading, “Boycott all writers who use AI!” Everywhere I’ve gone online over the past two weeks, I’ve seen increased hostility toward AI use, like the Threads post from someone outing another writer for using AI. As it turns out, though, they were using it to create ads to sell their books—not to write the books themselves. Yet, this was somehow still grounds for ruining all the authors’...
It's probably an anomaly that it's taken nearly 10 years of volunteering with shelter animals to have one of them happily poop on me. But that just happened. She was a Frenchie with coloring very similar to my own Kupo's. I'd been giving her all the scritches and scratchies. She'd been having an amazing time. Then, all of a sudden, she hopped up onto her bed, moving as far away from me as was possible in her kennel. I misinterpreted it, at first, as her being overstimulated and done with our...