Swanson Russell

In theory, generating content for a Social Media communications should be easy. You're giving customers a peak behind the curtain of your business or providing them with expertise you have because of the work you do. It's taking what you do every day and capturing it in text, images, sound and video and sharing it with your followers.

But when it comes time to actually put pen to paper, coming up with topics can seem overwhelming. Here are some tips to help spark ideas and ensure you're capturing all the tweetable moments at your office or even in the field.

SET REMINDERS

Sharable things are happening all the time, but it can be easy to overlook them or forget to capture them as you go about your daily routine. Put a reminder on your calendar every week or so, so you are sure to think about what happened over the week that would make good social media content. This is also a great time to review what might be coming up in the next few weeks that could easily be captured and shared. I've created a quick checklist that I run through to spark ideas.

• Have we launched any new work that we could feature?
• Are there any upcoming events or Swanson Russell sponsored activities?
• Are there any upcoming trade shows that Swanson Russell is involved in?
• Is there any recent industry news that could be shared?
• Have there been any internal training sessions or presentations that our followers would find interesting?
• Is there any project work going on that our followers would like a behind the scenes look at? (Photo shoots, video shoots, concepting sessions, etc.)
• Are there any employee announcements?

KNOW YOUR RESOURCES

Identifying sharable moments is only half the battle. You also have to have the right tools to capture them. I'm terrible at remembering to bring a camera, and when I do have one, I'm not very good at using it. To make sure there's always a photographer or videographer available to capture Swanson Russell's social media gold, we've formed the AV club. It's made up of 6 interns who are all trained to use our video equipment and digital cameras. They're on-call to capture video or take photos for a blog post, a tweet or facebook post. Recent works by Swanson Russell's AV club include the Oktobeerfest-ivus video and the Thanksgiving video

DEVELOP A SYSTEM FOR SAVING IDEAS

Ideas for a post or tweet can come at any time, but can be easily forgotten if they aren't documented quickly. Having one spot where you can jot down your ideas as they come up is an invaluable tool when it comes time to sit down and start writing. I keep a text document open on my computer where I keep a running list of ideas. Or, you can keep an on-going google doc where you and your team can collaborate on capturing ideas. This is handy because it is web based and everyone can access, edit and add to it.

CREATE POST CATEGORIES

Think of this like sections of a newspaper. Creating a list of categories or overarching topics that your posts should fall into, can help put some structure to your brain storming process. Categorizing your posts will also help ensure there is enough variety in the types of posts you are making. Sample Post Categories include:

• Company Culture
• Company History
• Industry Expertise
• Product Specific News
• Educational Resources
• Industry News
• Behind the Scenes
• Poll the Followers
• Ask a question

COLLABORATE

Even if you’re ultimately responsible for social media content at your company, not all of the work has to fall on your shoulders. Invite your coworkers to help you brainstorm ideas. Ask for volunteers to help cover specific topics or areas of expertise. Working as a team allows you to divide up responsibilities, from coming up with post ideas, writing posts and actually posting your content; together you can divide and conquer.

Do you have a quick tip that helps you keep the tweets and facebook posts flowing? Share your thoughts in the comments below!