How to be good at content
Season 5, Issue 10, spilling the beans
Content seems to be a topic I’m seeing everywhere lately. Today’s issue is inspired by a very long comment I wrote in reply to someone giving tips on how to be good at content on LinkedIn, but then I checked another tab and when I came back to LinkedIn to publish the comment, my newsfeed refreshed.
Well, this is my newsletter, so here’s my 2 cents on the matter:
Just have something good to say
That’s it. That’s the secret. Think long and hard about what it is you have to say, whether that is actually interesting to anyone other than you, whether it falls into the category of ‘educate’, ‘entertain’, or ‘edutain’, and what it is that only you can add to the topic. Use Harrison’s advice to measure (or 6th sense it) whether or not what you have is worth saying.
Then, and only then, can you do a content strategy (my guide for that here). Use Eden’s advice and ask ‘what’s the best format for this content to be presented in'?’ Find contrast in your topic to make it interesting, whether that contrast be an opinion that goes against the grain, a before and after, or a with and without (I went over contrast in my customer testimonial framework).
When in doubt, cover the who, what, when, where, why (I covered this in my ‘how to write a pillar page’ issue). Check out how Hubspot does it.
Want to get into the nitty gritty theory of communication? I wrote about Gricean maxims, and cultural communication preferences here. B2B marketing emotions do exist, and I went over them here. If you are in the very common situation of having to edit your own work, use this framework to take a step back and evaluate what you’ve written.
If your content is super visual, fine art concepts do apply!
Rapid fire favourite resources from my Mehdeeka spreadsheet (linked in the footer of this email):
It’s ok to be shitty at content, if you’re aware of it
All the advice above applies (and is helpful) if you’re nodding your head along and saying “yes” - but if you’re looking at it and you’re like “oh no”, don’t worry.
The relaxing thought I have to give you is:
It’s better to do nothing at all then to do a half assed job
Full transparency, not a healthy thing to tell yourself in your personal life, but when you’re at work and you have limited resources, it’s a great thing to tell your boss when they say “we should have a company blog and post at least once a week”.
If you have nothing to say, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Just keep on trucking.
If you want to say something, but you have nothing to say, then you do have a problem and this is something to explore in a brainstorm or some sort of idea generating activity.
My LinkedIn comment
And finally, what I had written in my sadly lost to the internet LinkedIn comment, if you want to get better at writing or creating content, my advice to you is to consume it, go outside your standard genres (yes, go read some fiction or watch a movie), and create. Start to keep a collection of samples that you really like. Once you’ve got a few, try to identify why you like them. This will help you develop your personal style.
Once you know what you like, try to include it in what you’re creating. Don’t copy the samples you collected, do original work.
In a work setting, you can build up a library of ‘go-to’ phrases you think capture the essence of your company’s brand and what you’re trying to say. Being repetitive at work can kind of be your friend, you’re driving a point home or being ‘on-brand’.
But if you’re really serious about being good at content, you’ve got to look outside your bubble. Great content often comes from being referrential to topical news or popular culture, or using a classic (a trope, a stereotype, classic lit, mythology, etc.) as a reference or a base. You’ve got to build up your personal library.
Did ChatGPT write last week’s issue?
Hell no. It didn’t write a single word. But I did carry out my experiment (as detailed in last week’s issue) and here are the highlights:
I asked ChatGPT if it knew the Mehdeeka Substack and it said it only scrapes “high profile Substacks”, ouch
I gave it Issue 8 and asked it to summarise, in my tone, the issue. It actually removed all the words that make it ‘my tone’, e.g. the “I’m practically frothing” line, which intiated this entire experiment was re-written as “I'm practically bubbling with excitement.”
When I asked it to write a new Mehdeeka issue, I got this:
Hey there, savvy B2B SaaS Marketers! It's Kayla Medica here, back with another exciting edition of our newsletter. Today, I want to dive headfirst into a topic that's been turning heads and revolutionizing the way we engage potential customers: interactive product demo platforms. Get ready to discover a game-changing tool that will leave your competitors in awe and propel your sales to new heights!
And then it made a bunch of tool recommendations, called XYZ DemoGenius (recommended for having robust analytics), ABC ShowcasePro (recommended for having seamless CRM integrations), and PQR DemoMaster (apparently has great personalization - with US spelling).
My hot take on it all
ChatGPT is the aggregation of everything on the internet, I.E. it’s literally the average. If you want to be just slightly above average, sure, take it as a first draft and do a human edit. If you want to be good, then scroll back up to the top of this issue and ask yourself what do you actually have to say?
If it’s nothing, then use ChatGPT.
Recs for the week
I’ve put plenty of work links throughout this issue, so I’m keeping this section as entertainment.
If you’re interested in fine art but find it overwhelming, try the anime Blue Period on Netflix. It’s a real beginner-friendly intro to art and the opening song is also very good. I recently bought and read all the manga because I wanted to know what happens after the anime ends.
The Marvelous Mrs Maisel just ended last week and I found the series was always a fun watch. I really enjoyed having a comedy to watch while it was on and I do feel like I’m going to miss it! (Succession also ended this week but I’m still processing the finale)
Quick note - this is issue 10 of this season, and I usually do about 12-13 issues per season before I take a break (my breaks are always however long I feel like I need, so it’s not really fixed when Season 6 will start). If there’s a topic you’d like me to deep dive on your behalf before I go on break, let me know! I usually start to run out of steam around this point in the season, so I wholly welcome suggestions and requests.
See you next week for #11!