My article on trends in coding for primary packaging appeared in the June issue of Packaging World. This is my first article for the publication. I've written extensively for the magazine's sister journal, Automation World.
In a recent post, I outlined my thoughts on the growth of the Brand as Publisher. One of the greatest challenges that brands acting as publishers face is continually coming up with new and relevant topics for their blogs. The creation of what those in traditional print media call an “editorial calendar” is a difficult chore for many brand/publishers, since this aspect of content creation can be challenging for those not intimately familiar with the creative side of the publishing process.
As a corporate blog post writer, I often feed my clients suggestions for new posts that I know are applicable to my client’s market. For those within the corporation tasked with creating a monthly editorial calendar for their company’s blog, it is not enough to rely solely on their ghostwriters for topic suggestions. One trick that I’ve shared with my clients for generating fresh topics is to use LinkedIn Group discussions.
By following the discussions within compatible groups, it is easy to not only keep abreast of the issues that are at the top of their client’s minds, but also to generate blog post ideas. The discussions within LinkedIn groups are a wellspring of potential blog topics. Within a given discussion, there may be multiple angles on a single significant topic, each of which can become a separate blog post. And the best part about this tip is that each day, depending on the LinkedIn group, a raft of new topics are being introduced.