How to Get More Mileage Out of Your Creative Ideas
We’re all busy, we all have a ton of things on our plates so why not work smarter, not harder? Today I want to focus on how to get more mileage out of your creative ideas. You can’t afford to waste another moment living in a constant state of creation mode.
Look, I’m never going to knock valuing your creative process or enjoying the act of making something brand new. The only thing I’d advise against is making something new, only to toss it to the side, forget about it and then focus on the next shiny idea.
When you live that way you waste the potential of not just one of your creative ideas but all of them. You should give each new concept the proper attention it deserves! The best way to do that is to take something, like a blog post and make it into some other valuable resource like a Periscope series, a workbook or even a desktop wallpaper!
It doesn’t matter what you’re actually making as long as you’re working smarter not harder. The last thing you want is to be that person just adding noise for the sake of it. Today lets ensure that the time you spend is put toward adding value to what you’ve already produced. I know you can do it and by the end of this, I know you’ll be able to walk away with more than enough ammo to maximize the value of each new concept.
Social Media & The Pinterest Rule
Social Media is probably the easiest way to get more mileage out of your creativity. This is my philosophy: If you can pin it, then you can tweet it and gram it too! The same can be said for Snapchat/Instagram Stories, Facebook and any other social platform that crops up between now and the time that you read this.
Pinterest is visual. That visual aspect of it can easily translate to other visual platforms like Instagram and Snapchat. The thing that puts Pinterest over the edge when it comes to this golden rule is that typically people go to Pinterest to either learn something or be inspired. A lot of the viral content on Pinterest not only has an aesthetically pleasing clickable image but it also has substance!
This makes it a no brainer to then share anything that’s good enough for Pinterest on Twitter as well. Just adjust the image size to fit the market and you’re good to go!
Now, instead of you personally crafting 20 witty tweets you can scroll through Pinterest and make sure that anything you pin, you also schedule as a tweet! Remember, we’re working smarter here NOT harder!
Editorial Calendar
I know I’ve gone on a bit about editorial calendars. Something about the organization of it just gives me warm and fuzzy feelings. I’m the person who has a field day organizing my pantry so . . . yeah.
The point is a while back I attended a free workshop held by, Infopreneur Queen, Regina from byRegina. It was called Blog Like a Mag and one of the suggestions she gave was to think about each month of your blog like a magazine.
Instead of asking yourself, “What is the theme of this issue?”
Think, “What is the theme of this month’s blog content?”
“How does it relate to the theme for next month and the rest of the year as a whole?”
So, let’s say October is about blogging basics. Starting up a blog, naming it, finding your brand voice etc. The initial idea of “blog basics” then guides the rest of the month’s posts. When you think about November you can then ask yourself what is the next step or how can I add to what I’ve just taught.
Mailing List
That insanely popular blog post you wrote? Share it in your newsletter too! Give your email subscribers a taste of a few of the points you made but don’t give it all away. Tease them and then suggest that they catch the rest of the article on your blog.
You can use this strategy on days where you’re low on ideas for newsletter content. Personally, I like to recap some of the major talking points I made or the current theme I’m exploring that week. Some people like to give their audience the extra VIP treatment and will send teasers or entire posts to their subscribers before it goes live on the site.
Guest Post
Now, this one is slightly different than the others. Most of the suggestions I made involved turning a blog post into something else. In this case, you can’t simply repost old content onto someone else’s site. The SEO gods aka Google would hate you! Instead, I suggest that you elaborate on one or two points from a past post and turn it into a new one.
You can also start backward and take a point that you made on social media and turn it into a guest post. Maybe one of your tweets got a lot of love where you were speaking from the heart. Or maybe you got real on Instagram and a lot of people responded. There are plenty of things we say or post in social that doesn’t necessarily make it to our own blogs but it might be the right valuable fit elsewhere.
Podcast or YouTube
Feeling a bit flashy? If you want to know how to get more mileage out of your creative ideas and make a big splash this is the way to do it! Now, you could argue that YouTube could have fit in with the rest of the social media I mentioned earlier. However, I think that podcasts and YouTube are kind of their own beasts.
These are two options that I’ve toyed around with myself but I don’t think it’s personally the right time for me to pursue either. Still, don’t let me prevent you from making the most of your content!
Add an audio component or a YouTube video as an alternative way to consume your content. Go the extra mile and create a full blown podcast to go with each topic and I know your audience will appreciate it! After all, we all consume information differently. Some prefer to hear it while others prefer to see the person who’s teaching it to them.
Lead Magnet
Workbooks, planners, checklists, resource guides, workshops, eBooks, oh my! There is literally a lead magnet for everything these days and there are plenty of reasons why.
It’s most likely the first thing that comes to mind when someone thinks of how to get more mileage out of their creative ideas. I wouldn’t blame you if you assumed this whole post was going to be about lead magnets. Hah.
Can I let you in on a little secret? I really hate that phrase. It was between that and “content upgrade” which isn’t much better so I just went with the former. Regardless of what you call it these things work! As long as you make something that your readers are into, you’ll get results. It’s about taking those concepts you already have positive feedback on and converting them into a functional resource.
A good lead magnet results in a tangible gain for the reader. If you blog about the legal side of blogging and then offer your readers a checklist of everything they need to have in their privacy policy then you’re giving your audience a quick win!
Collaborations
Not every collaboration that you’re approached with will be right for you. You can, however, create great collaboration concepts from each of your own creative ideas. When I first started talking about creativity earlier this year I could have just hunkered down and wrote post after post about that topic.
Instead, I allowed each post idea to influence every aspect of Violet Roots. It guided me from one subject to the next, gave me inspiration for my Instagram captions, and led to my Creative Command Interview series.
That series has become one of my most popular collaborations. I really enjoy seeing how you react to each new perspective on the creative process and the overall positivity to fosters.
What do you think of these tips on how to get more mileage out of your creative ideas?