As part of the "Blogging Tips for Business Professionals Series," Michael Neu, VP of Product Development for Relaborate, details 7 steps for creating "Stock" blog content.

1. Blogging Tips for Business Professionals
7 Steps to Create Stock Blog Content
Michael Neu | michael@relaborate.com
April 2012
@Relaborate

2. Stock and Flow
Overview • Robin Sloan made a great comparison of
Defined how the traditional economic concepts of
Why Flow is Easier stock and flow relate to media in our
Why Stock is Important
modern world a few years back. The term
is increasingly being used to describe
Creating Stock Content
Trending News media in terms of content as well.
Use Info
Collaborate • Robin introduces 2 main types of
Ask Questions content: Stock and Flow. He describes:
Use Insight — Flow as ephemeral.
Polish — Stock as the items with staying power.
Publish and Seed
Conclusion
@Relaborate

3. Stock and Flow
Overview • “Flow is the feed. It’s the posts and
Defined the tweets. It’s the stream of daily
Why Flow is Easier and sub-daily updates that remind
Why Stock is Important people that you exist.
Creating Stock Content • Stock is the durable stuff. It’s the
Trending News content you produce that’s as
Use Info interesting in two months (or two
Collaborate years) as it is today. It’s what people
Ask Questions
discover via search. It’s what
Use Insight
spreads slowly but surely, building
Polish
Publish and Seed fans over time.”
Conclusion
@Relaborate

4. Stock and Flow
Overview • A healthy mixture of stock and flow
Defined content is very important.
Why Flow is Easier • However, most businesses we have
Why Stock is Important
interviewed seem to being doing a better
job with flow content these days, and tend
Creating Stock Content
Trending News to fall off when it comes to stock content
Use Info creation.
Collaborate ― This is because it’s a lot easier to
Ask Questions retweet something or reblog it on
Use Insight Tumblr than it is to create the original
Polish content in the first place.
Publish and Seed
Conclusion
@Relaborate

5. • However, there is downside in not
Stock and Flow
Overview investing in stock content.
Defined ― Stock content is the content that
Why Flow is Easier generally goes deeper, creates more
Why Stock is Important value, adds knowledge and contributes
to your industry.
Creating Stock Content ― It takes more time and effort to
Trending News create, but it often provides more
Use Info value.
Collaborate ― Companies and Brands that only invest
Ask Questions
in their flow content
Use Insight
(Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, etc) run the
Polish
Publish and Seed risk of only being a conduit versus a
creator.
Conclusion
@Relaborate

6. Stock and Flow
Overview
Defined
Why Flow is Easier
Why Stock is Important
7 Tips for Developing
Creating Stock Content
Trending News Stock Content
Use Info
Collaborate
Ask Questions
Use Insight
Polish
Publish and Seed
Conclusion
@Relaborate

7. Stock and Flow
Overview
Defined
Why Flow is Easier 1. Look at what’s trending
Why Stock is Important
• Monitor the flow content about your
Creating Stock Content
Trending News industry and your brand.
Use Info • This can be Twitter, Q&A sites, Popular
Collaborate Questions on your website, misunderstood
Ask Questions or misused terms, etc.
Use Insight
Polish
Publish and Seed
Conclusion
@Relaborate

8. Stock and Flow
Overview
Defined 2. Use this information to inform
Why Flow is Easier
Why Stock is Important
• Generating in-depth analysis on what is
being asked or what is popular is a great
Creating Stock Content
Trending News source for longer, more well thought-out
Use Info blog posts.
Collaborate • It also allows your Company or Brand to
Ask Questions engage in the conversation in a more
Use Insight meaningful way.
Polish
Publish and Seed
Conclusion
@Relaborate

9. Stock and Flow 3. Collaborate between your team
Overview
Defined • Often the person with the most knowledge
Why Flow is Easier or skill on a subject is not you.
Why Stock is Important
• Reach out to the subject matter experts
within your company. This may be product
Creating Stock Content
Trending News people, HR, customer support, engineers,
Use Info your executive team, etc.
Collaborate • Everybody has different and unique
Ask Questions expertise. And when they say that they
Use Insight don’t have time (which they will), ask them
Polish if they would at least answer a few
Publish and Seed questions.
Conclusion
@Relaborate

10. 4. Ask them to answer a few pertinent
Stock and Flow questions
Overview
Defined • This small step goes a LONG way in solving
Why Flow is Easier the “bloggers block” problem.
Why Stock is Important
• Given no direction, people panic and run
away, or will stare at you crazily when
Creating Stock Content
Trending News asked to write a blog post on behalf of the
Use Info company.
Collaborate • However, when prompted with specific
Ask Questions questions in an area that they have
Use Insight knowledge, it is more like an interview. By
Polish playing to their ego, (people actually love
Publish and Seed to share their knowledge) you will get
more fully developed responses.
Conclusion
@Relaborate

11. Stock and Flow
Overview
Defined
Why Flow is Easier 5. Use their responses and insight
Why Stock is Important
• Assemble these responses and use them to
Creating Stock Content craft a long-form blog post.
Trending News • Create it in a form that looks nice, adding
Use Info photos or images, and then ask them to
Collaborate review it. You will be amazed at their
Ask Questions
reaction when they see it.
Use Insight
Polish
Publish and Seed
Conclusion
@Relaborate

12. Stock and Flow
Overview 6. Polish & Optimize for the web
Defined
Why Flow is Easier • Once you have a nicely written blog post
Why Stock is Important
you need to polish it.
• Add video, images, headlines,
Creating Stock Content
Trending News subheadlines, quotes, media and any other
Use Info formatting that will make it easier to read.
Collaborate • Additionally you want to make sure it is
Ask Questions SEO optimized by running through a quick
Use Insight checklist.
Polish
Publish and Seed
Conclusion
@Relaborate

13. Stock and Flow
Overview
Defined 7. Publish and Seed
Why Flow is Easier
Why Stock is Important
• Although the above process is more about
creating the content, it’s also important to
Creating Stock Content
Trending News remember to seed your content.
Use Info • Look at step 1, and find the groups,
Collaborate forums, blogs, and tribes that this content
Ask Questions piece is targeted towards and share it with
Use Insight them.
Polish
Publish and Seed
Conclusion
@Relaborate

14. Relaborate believes every employee
Stock and Flow
has a story to tell, an experience to
Overview
share, or insight worth elaborating
Defined
Why Flow is Easier upon. Our software makes it easy for
Why Stock is Important writers and subject matter experts in a
company to collaborate on high quality,
Creating Stock Content timely and relevant blog content.
Trending News
Use Info
Collaborate
Ask Questions
Use Insight
Polish
Publish and Seed
Conclusion
@Relaborate

15. Stock and Flow
Overview To Try Relaborate:
Defined Email: Michael@Relaborate.com
Why Flow is Easier www.relaborate.com
Why Stock is Important
To Learn More:
Creating Stock Content www.relaborate.com/blog
Trending News
www.facebook.ocm/relaborate
Use Info
Collaborate
www.slideshare.net/relaborate
Ask Questions Tweet @Relaborate
Use Insight
Polish
Publish and Seed Thanks for your time!
Conclusion
@Relaborate