Site icon Search Engine People Blog

How to Win The Content Marketing Hunger Games? May The Conversions Odds Be Ever in Your Favor

With the release of the "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire" movie, I couldn't help but notice a striking resemblance between the ferocious hunger games and the growing challenges that bloggers experience to find quality blog topics.

If Katniss Everdeen, the winner of Suzanne Collins' hunger games, was a blogger how could she win the content marketing hunger games?

Business blogging is gaining outrageous popularity, with thousands of new blogs piling up in a blink! How can Katniss make her mark in the midst of the fierce competition and the insane information overload?

Introducing Katniss Everdeen: The Ultimate Blog Topics Hunter in Action

Once upon time there was a highly successful business blogger called Katniss Everdeen. She lived in district 12. One day, a prospect emailed her a really good question that highlighted her brand's unique value proposition and showcased her industry leadership. She was too smart to take the easy route of replying via email. Instead, she decided to turn her comprehensive answer into a blog post.

She promptly emailed him back saying:

"Hi

[FirstName],

Thank you for raising this important question. I believe that my blog readers are eager to know my take on it as much as you do. I will publish the answer in my blog shortly and will notify you when I do. Thanks again for giving me a healthy dose of inspiration.

Your partner in success,

Katniss Everdeen"

Few days later, Katniss published the post, making sure to credit the sender by thanking him for taking the time to raise a very intelligent question that inspired her to share valuable insights with her blog readers.

Katniss proceeded and made a public notification to her prospect via Twitter @mention. Her heartfelt thank-you tweet read:

@ProspectTwitterName Thanks a million, [FirstName]. Your awesome question inspired a great blog post <BlogPostLink>.

Think of all the visibility and credibility rewards that Katniss reaped by answering a private question publicly.

Katniss is a huge advocate of the "Show don't Tell!" branding school. On the one hand, she showcased herself as a sought after expert that people come to for advice. On the other hand, she effortlessly "hunted" a great blog topic that her readers loved and appreciated.

What Are The Odds That Katniss Will Receive Blog-topic-worthy Emails?

Great question! If Katniss limited herself to randomly initiated blog topics , the conversion odds won't be in her favor for the most part. Instead, she cultivated a widely diverse fans-stimulated blog topic hunting field. This's exactly how she did it:

  • She got into the habit of explicitly asking her readers at the end of very blog post to suggest new topics in the comments
  • She created a static page in her blog titled "Q&A" where readers are encouraged to share all the questions, worries, concerns and aspirations they have in mind
  • She held "Top Commenter" contests on her blogs every month and rewarded the winner with a half-an-hour free Skype consultation that she ended with questions about the winner's feedback and the blog topics they wish she addresses in the future
  • She held frequent "Q&A" sessions with her readers on Facebook and Twitter and blogged about them
  • She spared no effort to strengthen her relationship with her loyal fans. She visited their social media profiles and commented on their blogs as her way of saying: "Thank you". Her strong bond with her avid readers enabled her to make a better assessment of the kind of blog topics they would appreciate
  • As her growing readership breaded a constant stream of quality questions, she responded to her keen audience on weekly basis by video and embedded the video to her blog for maximum visibility.Marie Forleo took notice of Everdeen's bold move. That's when her award-winning video series saw the light. Nice work, Marie. You rock!

    Are Fans-stimulated Topics Good Enough?

    Well, Katniss didn't stop there: She knew that 3rd party content is a blog topics goldmine. So, she welcomed guest bloggers, created frequent top 20 list posts for the best of the best content in her industry. Furthermore, she leveraged content curation to boost content creation and managed to legitimately steal other people's content.

    Moreover, she turned every imaginable social interaction that highlighted her brand's unique value proposition and showcased her industry leadership into blog posts. For instance, she took the lead and hosted a Twitter chat related to her field on regular basis and blogged about it. She also blogged about her "strategic" #FollowFriday picks every week.

    In all of the above blog-topic-hunting techniques, Katniss always remembered to give credit to those who inspired the topic in the beginning of her blog post and publicly notify them via Twitter @Mentions.

    When Katniss applied these proven tactics consistently, her business exploded. If she can do it, you can do it!

    Are YOU "In It To Win It?"

    I can't wait to hear your thoughts on the blogging hunger game winning strategy. Which of the tips presented here resonated with you the most? Can you suggest additional blog-topics-hunting best practices?

    Your valuable contribution is much appreciated. May the conversion odds by ever in you favor 🙂

Â