How do you become a leading voice in your industry? For that matter, how do you even get your foot in the door? The answer is content —blog posts, eBooks, whitepapers, articles, infographics and more.
BUT – what if you don’t like that answer? What if the thought of sitting at your desk and hammering out a blog post on your keyboard sounds about as appealing as gouging out your eyeballs with a dull spoon?
Then this post is for you!
Finding the motivation to Write relevant blog posts and consistently share great content positions you and your business as an industry leader. But finding the time and mustering up the talent to put together great content can be really tough.
That’s where lists – those irresistible listy listicles – come in.
You don’t have to be much of a writer to create content that gets eyes on your brand and people to your website. By curating content, you can leverage excellent articles that already exist to keep current and potential customers engaged. You’ll become trusted voice in your industry, a disseminator of trusted and reliable information. And you won’t have to do the dirty work of writing original content.
Creating a List Post that Gets Found and Shared Online
Just like where you sit at lunch dictates your popularity in high school, the company you keep online can make or break your brand. The power of list posts is that by linking to and mentioning other websites, thought leaders and influencers, you give lift to your own brand and gain exposure to new audiences.
Here are 9 types of list posts to create and share with your audience:
- Ask influencers: Tweet a question to people in your space that have a big presence and compile their answers into a blog post, like we did with our post, The Most Important Online Marketing Lessons of 2015 for Small Businesses.
- Ask your audience: Your customers and prospects want to hear from people who are just like them. Ask your audience a question to come up with a list of engaging, fun content – similar to when we asked our audience of small business owners about their Thanksgiving Traditions.
- Tap into employees: Ask your employees one question and put their answers in a blog post. We did this with our blog post, What Our Core Values Mean to Us.
- Use comment sections and reviews: Is there a topic that’s sparking conversation? Show your readers what others are saying about a hot topic in the comment section of your blog or other blogs, linking back, of course. For instance, we compiled what our customers were saying about us on several review sites in this blog post.
- Make a list of resources: Are there business tools you use that you would recommend to your customers? For instance, a bank might have a list of the 20 most affordable colleges within 100 miles, or a used car dealer may have the 10 best subcompact cars with links to each company that builds them. We put together a list of the 8 Marketing Podcasts Every Entrepreneur Should Hear for our audience of small business owners.
- Help your audience find more content: Where do you go to find content about your industry or niche? Create a list of blogs or resources for your audience, like our list of 21 Great Small Business Blogs.
- Be an inspiration: What keeps you motivated and moving every day? Put together a list of quotes or a fun list of internet memes. We shared small business inspiration in our Monday Motivational Quotes post.
- Find examples: You know a good thing when you see it in your niche. Curate and share those instances of excellence using images and links to tell a story. For instance, at Hatchbuck, we know good content marketing when we see it, so we put together this post on 12 Awesome Examples of Content Marketing Done Right.
- Link to old posts: If your business and blog have been around for a while, you probably have a good amount of blog content. Find a theme and make a list – kind of like we’re doing in this post right now!
When it comes to content marketing and blogging, creating a list of curated content might sound a little bit like cheating. But, the reality is, these types of post aren’t just easy to create, they’re easy for your audience to digest and share. Mentioning other brands, leaders, and even your own employees can get new people to share your content, broaden your network and help your list posts gain instant popularity.
When you don’t want to write a blog post, make a list. You’ll save time while growing your audience and showing potential customers your value.