Content Marketers
Thinking Like
6 Ways to Start
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Subject Matter Experts
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Vince Giorgi (of Hanley Wood Marketing) commented on a blog post* I wrote regarding managers’ roles in leading SMEs...
*My post: “Your company is ready to launch a social media effort. Now what?”
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“The most valuable role of the social media manager is to influence SMEs to think like content marketers.”
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GREAT IDEA!
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Also, Vince asked me...
Do you have any best practices to share?
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I’ve tried multiple ways to motivate SMEs:
‣ Obtaining mandates from senior managers
‣ Providing social media training to SMEs
‣ Recognizing content marketing behavior with monthly gift cards or other incentives
‣ Publicizing peer group efforts to leverage content marketing and having it included in their performance evaluations
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But, I’ve yet to find
HOLY GRAILThe
So I reached out to Vince to discuss our approaches, and this is what he shared...
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Paint the BIG PICTURE
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#1
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#1Make sure SMEs understand the strategic objective.
Are we...
‣ Building awareness for growth?
‣ Differentiating value proposition from the competitors?
People give more commitment once they understand the cause they're being asked to support
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Focus on the
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#2
small picture
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#2
Point out to SMEs great content already exhists at their desks, on their workbenches, and in their labs
It’s easy for SMEs to get overwhelmed with BIG PICTURE concepts.
Suggest they
‣ Think about customer pain points or product performance issues.
‣ Identify one key component of the broad topic that might be useful
Have them try to explain this single piece causally, as if talking to a neighbor across the back fence.
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Provide a Template
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#3
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#3
In their book, “Content Rules”, Ann Handley and C.C. Chapman describe how content managers at Kodak have developed what is essentially a fill-in-the-blanks template for SMEs.
Make life easier for SMEs with a template
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Show - don’t just tell
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#4
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#4Share samples you find effective (and analyze what works).
webinars
Take content SMEs have already
developed and show them how it
can go further.
blog posts
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Appeal to their
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#5
COMPETITIVE INSTINCTS
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#5
Identify competing organizations with SMEs that are building thier personal brands in the process
Foster friendly competition by noting who is gaining downloads and social sharing from their:
‣ Tweets
‣ Posts
‣ Videos
‣ White papers
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#6
Settle forHALF A LOAF
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#6Don’t expect every SME to develop pieces start-to-finish
Pair those who need it most with a writer who can turn their ideas into stories.
What you really need from SMEs are relevant topics, meaty insights, and useful takeaways.
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Are you trying something new to further engage your SMEs?
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