Content Generation


From 2011-2015, all employee content suggestions were sent to social@votesmart.org for consideration (see this wiki for how it was done). DevComm staff manage the social@ account. However, we now (2017) use a Content Ideas spreadsheet, so that non-devcomm staff and interns are able to see the progression of their idea, rather than it getting lost via email. To submit their idea, staff and interns simply type it in to the "NEW! Put your ideas here" section.

Introduction

Content for social media, the blog, and email marketing are important, but time consuming. Vote Smart staff have fresh ideas and stories to tell, but are constrained on time, financial, and personnel resources.

You need to consider:
Each factor will determine if the idea will ultimately be a productive use of time. Ultimately, Vote Smart needs valuable content to be created in an economical manner.

Goals

  1. Reach new users with our mission/ research tools
  2. Activate current users to become involved with Vote Smart (ie. sharing content, becoming a volunteer, member, ambassador, or intern)
  3. Generate revenue to keep Vote Smart going

Interconnections Between Mediums

There are currently three mediums we are put out content through:

  1. Social media
  2. The blog
  3. Email marketing

Each medium is different, but we can re-use content for multiple mediums. It is best to push out one piece of content on various platforms so that the most people possible will see the content you took resources to create. Therefore, it is important to consider the viability of the content you are considering creating for other mediums besides the one you envisioned.

Nature of the Current Mediums

Blog: The blog is a place to post content where anyone browsing our website may find it. It is a great place to publish our own content. However, the blog is not highly visible or trafficked on our website and is not visually appealing, which is a negative of using this medium.

Email: Marketing through email is very targeted. You are sending it to defined groups of people who have selected to receive communications from us. This includes members, VoteEasy users, ambassadors, alumni, e-newsletter subscribers. You might design an email to be more personal than a blog post, for this reason. Email is a great source of new members and a way to bring people to our website.

Social Media: There are challenges associated with posting on social media due to the brief nature of their designs. It is time-consuming to create content that is not long-lasting, which is why it is important to share content across multiple mediums. However, social media is an avenue for people to discover us and visit our website for the first time, ultimately gaining new users and (hopefully) new members.

Future Content Creation
In the future when the blog looks better and is more visible on the website, content created for the blog will be central to outreach efforts. This is because you can re-purpose any blog post for any other medium, and we have the ability to use our research to create our own timely and useful content. The opposite is not always true. From there, you can send the same content in email format, take bits and pieces from the blog post and turn them into social media posts, etc..

Subjects of Content

There are endless subjects to choose from (our database is immense!), but some may be too complex to seriously consider.

To make a good choice, you must consider
  1. Difficulty and time resources
  2. Interest to the public.

Below is a list of general topics with a bit of explanation:
Vote Smart programs: There are a lot of untold stories surrounding what each of us does everyday. Think about how you could talk about a specific process that is integral to quality, consistency, informativeness, etc..
Ex: "Find out how Vote Smart's key votes team selects which votes are 'key'"
New Projects/Programs: New developments, programs, or projects that you are working on that deserve a blog post about. Tell people what we are up to and how we are improving!
Ex: "Vote Smart has just release our mobile app, On Point!"
Utilizing "Current Event" data on website: there are plenty of opportunities to point a viewer/user directly to a newsworthy piece on our website. Often, the timing is crucial for the post to be interesting. You can adapt current events into a blog post and back it up with website pages, for example.
Ex: "Last night, President Trump gave his first State of The Union Address. Read the full speech:"
Ex: "Voter ID laws have been an important trend in state legislatures recently. This blog post provides an overview of recent legislation"
Stories from Vote Smart's Database: this is perhaps the most challenging type of post, because it involves some advanced knowledge of both our data as well as how to extract our data. We have dozens of stories from our 23 year history hidden within our database, as well as current event type stories.
Ex: "These are the top 10 states who re-elect their Senators"
Ex: "Find out the most frequent topics that are discussed by each party"

Things That Won't Be Approved


Keep these in mind when selecting a subject to do work on.

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