The Power of Creating Your Own Content

It can often feel like we’re living in a breaking news cycle. Endless controversies have created a storm of breaking news, which can make it extremely difficult to break through and secure earned media for your organization, candidate, or elected official. We’ve written about how to get press before, but it’s equally important to create your own content.

When you or your organization create your own content, you essentially serve as your own news service. You are creating the kinds of profiles and features you’d want to see. At a time when news media tends to chase controversy, this is not only a smart strategy, but necessary.

Given the state of media today — in which we’re all competing for attention — creating content can be a powerful tool to help define and build your brand, capture your audience’s attention, and increase your name recognition without getting on TV or in the local newspaper.

Blogs & articles

Writing and posting relevant, substantive blogs or articles is a great way to improve your website’s search engine optimization (SEO) while simultaneously growing your brand. Blogs allow you to choose the piece’s focus, cite your own research, or use your own examples to highlight your work.

For example, if you are an elected official, you can write about the legislation you’ve introduced or the constituents you helped. You could, for example, write a profile piece on a veteran that your office worked with, outlining how your staff was able to help them secure benefits or get them the support they were owed.

Once you’ve drafted a blog, you can distribute it via social media and email newsletter, further expanding its reach and ensuring people see the work you are doing. Creating your own articles or blog allows you to mobilize powerful anecdotes about the work you or your organization does, framing it the way you want. It gives you more control over how you tell your story.

Videos

Much like the articles you write profiling someone or something your organization or office did, you can create videos that highlight this work, too. The videos could be interviews with a constituent who received help, a day in the life of a member of your team, an educational video about a recent piece of legislation, a how-to video about filing benefits – the options are endless.

Creating your own video is a fun alternative to an article. Depending on the goal, long or short-form videos are great options. While shorter videos tend to perform better on social media platforms like Instagram, consider also uploading longer videos or informational interviews to YouTube as a way to provide resources to your audience.

A short video showing you hard at work could be a nice alternative to the traditional social media post. Consider both options depending on the topic you are focusing on and don’t be afraid to experiment with videos until you find what works.

Podcasts

Depending on the nature of your work, a podcast can be a great way to engage an audience while highlighting the work you are doing. The podcast could outline different initiatives you are working on and your accomplishments, or it could feature guests or experts that you work with. Make sure to find the approach that works for you or your organization. A podcast (like certain video formats) is more labor intensive than other kinds of content, so make sure you have the capacity to produce, record, edit, and upload the episodes.

If you work for an organization with a lot of experts or if your organization produces a lot of valuable content, a podcast could be a good investment to grow awareness of your expertise in the policy space. Conduct some research into the kind of podcast you want to create – it doesn’t have to be a weekly podcast; it could be monthly or even every other month. Find a format that works for you and that you can maintain consistency with.

A podcast is also a great way to grow your audience. You can explore podcast swaps with people or organizations in similar spaces, offering to be a guest on their podcast and for them to come on yours. This helps expose you and your work to another audience ecosystem.

Email newsletters

Regardless of the kind of work you or your organization does, it’s imperative that you have an email newsletter and, more importantly, an email list. This is a list of people who have agreed to receive communications from you or your organization. Building an email list helps keep organized the hundreds or thousands of people who are supporters, fans, or interested in your work — people who you can mobilize or communicate with to achieve your goals. It’s an important resource that deserves your attention.

You can use your email newsletter to keep people updated, provide resources, seek information, or even sell products. Be sure to engage regularly with your list and make an effort to grow your list by encouraging people to sign up for your email newsletter on social media and via web forms.

Conclusion

These are just some of the tools you can use to create your own content. As the news landscape gets increasingly crowded, the ability to tell your story is critical. Take control by producing your own material and distributing it to your audience. Find the content that works best for you or your organization and make sure it’s interesting or valuable to your followers. By creating your own content, you shape your message and directly engage and connect with your audience.