Last week, Cision’s journalism facing brand Help a Reporter Out (HARO) attended New Media Expo in Las Vegas. A premier conference for reporters, bloggers and podcasters, the gathering hosted over 3,000 attendees over four days of sessions.
We received tons of great info on content creation, storytelling and writing, so below we highlighted some of the best takeaways:
1. Writing is appetite. Content is habit.
Anyone can write, but in order to be great at content, and have your content produce results, you have to make it a habit. See Donna’s other reasons why we should stop calling it content here.
2) Without focus, an entrepreneur is as much use as a fart in a spacesuit.
This goes for any business or brand, really! Real businesses know that the road to success isn’t a linear path – it has many bumps, ups and downs. In order to run your business better, Chris advises that you’re always original, maintain professionalism, and have a profit-first mentality. See Chris Ducker’s other takeaways from his better business bootcamp here.
3) Don’t just create campaigns. Build tribes and inspire movements.
The human mind processes images faster than text, and the average adult attention span shrinks every year. Content that includes compelling images get 94 percent more total views than content without it. See all of Ekaterina’s visual storytelling tips here.
4) To survive the future, we must go back to what has worked in the past: caring and community.
Pat Flynn couldn’t have said it any better. Things are changing with the way that we interact with our audiences because of tech. In the past, it was the era of availability. In the present, it’s the era of on-demand. In the future, it’s the era of initiative and being able to predict what your audience wants, and getting it to them before they even ask for it. Get Pat Flynn’s past, present and future principles of building strong communities here.
5) We can pull out our devices now and instantly have an audience – all we have to do is provide the content.
Joel Comm reflected on the many ways we can use video in our daily lives to inform, entertain and help others with this unique format. He encourages content creators to check out live streaming apps such as Meerkat and Periscope and use it to their advantage.
6) You can’t buy loyalty. You have to earn it.
A good community is when every member feels they are getting more than they bargained for. See all of Katja’s tips for building blogging communities here.
7) A great headline presents a mystery that can only be solved by reading further.
David presented data from analysis on Adweek headlines and the results were simply and helpful tips for crafting headlines that get clicks, such as keeping it conversational, keeping it tweetably short, and piquing the emotional curiosity of your audience. Check out David’s great headline checklist here.
8) Think about content as an experience. It invites readers somewhere and gets them involved.
Hunter Boyle and Lynette Young provided tips for creating a raving fan base from some of our industry’s top influncers, and the best takeaway from their session came from Ann Handley of MarketingProfs.
9) We are empathetic creatures. We think in stories.
According to Amanda Coolong in her session, “Fix the news, don’t break it!”, the stories, metrics and messages that stick with us are those that are rooted in emotion. Read her nine principles of journalism and break down complicated issues into manageable pieces so stories are easier to digest by consumers.
Prefer your recap in video format? Check out our video summaries with the top takeaways from NMX on our Facebook page: day 1, day 2, and day 3.
