How to Get Your Movement Noticed Over the Noise

For any of us in social venturing, it’s almost certain that you will need to some online content in some form or another to get your movement noticed.  Whether blogs, podcasts, webinars, or all of the above, the simple reality of movement building today is that you’ve GOT TO have an online content presence.  Just as you can’t escape this reality, you also can’t escape the reality that millions of other movements are out there, competing for the exact same time, attention and dollars that you are shooting for.

If this is you, I feel your pain.  I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve been there.  But, as I’ve been fighting the good content fight over the past few years, I’ve picked up a thing or two about how to get a piece of content noticed in a way that brings people into your movement.

Below I’ll unpack 5 tips that have helped us to dramatically grow the number of eyes on all the content we create (HINT: it involves creating less content):

1. Observe the 20/80 Rule. I used to spend 80% of my time creating content and 20% promoting it.  Don’t do this.  You’ll end up spending a lot of time creating beautiful content that no one reads.  Instead, spend 20% of your time building content and 80% of your time spreading the word about it.  (we’ll come back to this on #4)
2. Build a Content Calendar. It’s critical that you have a plan and that you write it down on your calendar.  For me, I spend the first week of every month creating all of the content I’ll need for that month.  That way, the last three weeks of each month are dedicated exclusively to spreading the word.
3. Follow the 3x3x3 Matrix.  Remember that for every piece of content you produce, there are literally millions of people in millions of communities who may enjoy & benefit from it.  Your main job, therefore, is to find them and get your content in front of them. So, try to share each piece of content content 3 times on 3 different mediums.  For example, you write a blog post on fundraising and you share it in 3 different Facebook groups, 3 different local newspapers, and in 3 different Twitter conversations.
4. Re-purpose, re-package & re-use content.  Remember the 20/80 rule?  This is where you implement it.  Oftentimes, you can tailor an existing piece of content to a particular community simply by changing the title or a few sentences along the way.  Think of ways that you can continue to modify your content so it becomes valuable for a number of different groups.
5. Lift others up.  People are much more likely to share your content if you’ve spent some time helping them share their own work.  Make a list of the 10 communities (e.g. Facebook group or well read blog) you’d like to have your content shared on and start following them.  Then, comment on their content, share it, ask them questions, get engaged with them.  Once you have that kind of a relationship, you’ll find them very amenable to sharing your content.

It’s a noisy world out there, but these tips will help your message stand out!  Feel free to reach out to me if you want to have a convo about how to build in some viral content marketing to your social venture.  Always glad to chat!

-Josh