Thoughts on Content Marketing & Community Management
I published my previous personal progress update on April 14th. That was over a month ago. Almost two. I felt like it had come on the heels of the update before it. (It didn’t.) Now I feel like this one is coming in even faster. (It isn’t.)
Time flies, and time doesn’t care if you’re having fun.
I’m big on community. It’s the common thread connecting all my work. It started with gaming forums in high school; then tech meetups in college; and then conferences (WordCamps) after moving to Toronto.
When I joined GoDaddy in 2015, it was to serve as the Community Manager for GoDaddy Pro. This was the first time I’d thought of “community” at a professional level. All my community work had, up to that point, been volunteer-based.
I’ve since moved on from that Community Manager role. The last couple of years have focused on content projects like the GoDaddy Blog. But my “community itch” hasn’t gone away.
I’m still a believer in the power of community marketing, as much as I’m a believer in the power of content marketing.
It feels like time goes by faster with each passing month. It feels like I just wrote my last progress update. Yet we’re a quarter of the way through 2019 and quickly approaching the half-way mark of April.
I celebrated my birthday a few weeks ago. It’s good fortune on timing. It falls neatly at the end of Q1, signaling a sort of changing-of-the-seasons. We roll into spring, and I can’t think of a better time for reflecting.
So where are things, since my last check-in?
I attended WordCamp Miami 2019 a couple weeks ago. During that time, my Twitter account unleashed a flood of live-tweeted takeaways.
Most of those tweets came from the detailed notes I was taking. This habit of sharing highlights and commentary during conferences is my way of staying engaged and breaking the ice with other attendees. (I’m terrible at networking.)
Beyond that, the consolidated notes, tweets, and photos also make for a great post-event asset. Especially when it’s focused on the evergreen aspects of the information, like actionable advice, learnings, and follow-up notes.
So that’s what I did with WordCamp Miami. Instead of posting a typical “recap” blog post, I led with what most potential readers would care about:
50+ tips for freelancers from WordCamp Miami 2019.
Yes, the post is still a recap. But it’s not about the event. It’s about the value that came out of the event. The insights, the lessons, the conversation.
These details are partly why people attend conferences like this in the first place. So if I can capture some of that, and put it back out into the community, I feel like that’s a decent way of paying it forward.
I’d love to see similar recaps coming out of other conferences. It’s more practical than watching all the recorded sessions. So how do you do it? I have a five step approach that I bust out every time.
Happy Monday!
I pre-ordered Company of One late last year. I’ve followed Paul‘s writing for a while, and this felt like an opportunity to show some support.
When I first got my hands on the book, I thought it’d be written exclusively for freelancers and solopreneur side hustlers. But as I progressed through the chapters, I started thinking that it’s really about running a sustainable company at 1x instead of chasing the mythical 10x.
What follows are my summary and notes for Company of One.
Happy Tuesday! We’re now several days into March. And as with January, February flew right by.
Yeah, it’s a short month — but February felt particularly quick.
I’m writing this on a sunny Sunday morning from Burlington, Ontario. We’re in town for the annual Chilly Half Marathon.
I try my best to give my business to local coffee shops, so I’m hanging out at Tamp Coffee Co. while my better half does the running.
You don’t need expensive hardware or software to create content for the web.
TL;DR = Invest in educational content. Spend the money. Build a strong portfolio. Spread out the risk. Use your content wherever it makes sense.
Happy Monday!
Last week I published a blog post about Reach Teach Sell. It’s my practical framework for marketing and content strategy. It includes seven steps aligning to the customer lifecycle:
Most of my day-to-day work at GoDaddy focuses on teaching through educational content. You’re going to find a ton of articles on the GoDaddy Blog filled with tips for small businesses.
Read moreTreat educational content like a passive index fund.
Reach Teach Sell is a practical marketing framework that I’ve iterated on since ~2013. It was originally a means of thinking about marketing funnels, but it has since evolved to encompass the entire customer lifecycle. Reach Teach Sell informs how I think about marketing, and within the scope of my day-to-day work, how I think … Read more
Happy Thursday, and welcome to the end of January. That’s 1/12th of the way through 2019, or 8.3%. (Yikes!) I set a dozen goals for myself at the start of the year. Each month I’m checking in to see what incremental progress I’ve made, if any. Here’s where I’m at: What’s working? Reading one book … Read more