1. Featuring veteran journalist, Amy Vernon

2. Maddie Grant, CAE of
SocialFish

3. Finding the stories

4. Tips & Tricks
• Google Alerts:
• Set up alerts for your main keywords
• Google sends you an email once a day of links to
appropriate articles
• RSS
• Choose your feed reader (I like Google Reader) and
subscribe to appropriate blogs/news sites
• Forums
• Find forums in your niche/genre and join
• Twitter Search
• See what people are saying about what you’re covering

5. Types of stories

6. Targeted
Any piece of news that relates to your niche/genre. They can be quickly
recapped and take little effort.
• Industry happenings
• New releases
• Personnel changes and moves
Writing Time: LOW
Social Potential: LOW
Value: Helps share important news, caters to your core audience, boosts SEO and
helps keep the blog filled.

7. Funny
A play off the news, but with an eye toward the absurd.
• Start from the news, but focus on the funny
Writing Time: MEDIUM
Social Potential: HIGH
Value: Shows a light-hearted side, ability to bring in traffic, boost SEO and
expose you to new audiences.

8. Commentary
The approach covers popular news stories, but makes it your
own by expressing opinion.
• Covers the news from a specific angle.
• On a news release – is this a departure from the norm? Has
this worked in the past?
Writing Time: HIGH
Social Potential: MEDIUM
Value: Establishes your thought leadership, boosts SEO.

9. What Works

10. Infographics
• Don’t just throw up a
bunch of stylized text

11. Infographics
• Share information in
an engaging,
informative way

12. Infographics
• Visualize data
• Make numbers
tangible

13. • Video is huge
• It doesn’t have to be Video
expensive
• When it goes viral, it
goes HUGE

14. Lists
• Top 10 is played out.
Try top 9 or 17. Or 87.
• Superlatives (best,
ugliest, smallest)
• Appeal to nostalgia
• Riff off current events
• Incorporate memes

15. • “Evolution” (of a logo, a singer, etc.)
Timelines • Design is important
• Memes are still good
• Yes, this is a type of infographic

16. • Large, attractive photos.
• Slideshows need to be short, or very
Photos fast-moving
• UGC (user-generated content)
encouraging readers to send in pics.
Note: the photo above had 102K views on StumbleUpon • Then & Now
• “Separated at birth?”

17. How-to
• Teach your readers something
they don’t know.
• Teach your readers something
they didn’t know they needed to
know.

18. Making it
happen

19. Relevant
• Obvious linkbait is
obvious.
• Can be funny, irreverent,
but not off-topic
• i.e.: Write about topics that
make sense for your
audience.

20. Comprehensive
• If you’re gonna do a list,
make it cover the subject.
• Why do top 10 if you can do
top 34?
• People like learning things
they didn’t know.

21. Consumable
• You can go heavy on text if you break it up with images
• Vary what you offer
• People have short attention spans, particularly online (darn
those kids and their MTV!)

22. Final tips
• Link out. People will notice, visit and maybe even link to you.
• Illustrate whenever possible.
• K.I.S.S.: Keep it simple, silly
• Emulate content you like.
• Look at your piece before you post — would you read it if you
happened up on it?

23. Contact me
Amy Vernon
@AmyVernon
avernon@internetmedialabs.com
http://facebook.com/AmyVernon
http://linkedin.com/in/AmyVernon
http://internetmedialabs.com

24. September 27 – Your New Content Strategy
On Demand – Google+ for Nonprofits
On Demand – Pinterest for Nonprofits
On Demand – Marketing in the Round

25. http://thinktank.commpartners.com