6 great sources for generating content
1. Your recruitment consultants
They talk to candidates and clients on the phone every day. They will certainly have some quirky human-interest stories – they type of thing that they may not even realise is content but actually makes a really interesting story.
They are talking to clients about trends in the market; they are talking to candidates about salaries – so use your people.
They are also having questions asked of them by clients and candidates, so they know what kind of information is being sought and what there is an appetite for.
2. Databases
Your database is full of information in terms of salaries etc. Think about how you can get some good data by segmenting the details you hold about your network of contacts. Journalists love data!
You can look at salaries or whether there is a particular regional demand for certain types of jobs / skills. If you work across different regions of the UK – or internationally – you can do regional / country comparisons using your database.
You can look at your vacancy levels, if you’re in an industry like tech where there’s notoriously a lack of diversity, then you can look at your data from this angle, are there more women or men applying / are there more men or women being placed etc. Look at the different demographics of your database and put together content that way.
3. Events
Are you holding events or are you attending an event? Could you generate content that way by developing questions to ask other attendees?
Or like we do at BlueSky, if you’re hosting an event, particularly if it’s a round table, use the event to create robust thought leadership content such as writing a whitepaper. Then you have that to use as part of your business development collateral, and you can use it as the basis of further content that you can stretch into different formats such as blog posts, social media, infographics etc.
4. The news
There’s an appetite for what the papers are writing about, what journalists are writing about, so can you take that and put a recruitment / talent spin on it?
Obviously, when there's a General Election, the outcome, whatever your preference was, will always have an impact on recruitment – particularly in regards to whether there will be any changes in legislation.
If you’re working in a particular niche, such as education or healthcare recruitment, what comes out of the election? What have the different parties have been promising? What policies may now be implemented?
If you’re writing blogs for your own site then think about what you can put in that’s topical in the headline – everyone talks about clickbait and to an extent it’s a negative term but only when the content does not deliver on what the title promised. People are more inclined to click on something that is topical, that lots of people are talking about at that moment in time. So think about headlines when you’re generating your content.
5. Your staff
If you’re looking to attract more staff internally, again your staff are your best resource – can you write some blog posts or make some videos where they talk about their role and what it’s like to work there? It shows a more real, more personal side to the business; the people behind the organisation rather than the business just saying how great it is. I would advise taking a warts and all approach, it’s real and people appreciate it more. While you don’t want your employees to completely trash you, you want them to be honest - recruitment is tough, consultants work long hours, you can’t be afraid to show the full picture or you won’t attract the right people.
6. Online communities such as social media
Look at your LinkedIn groups, are people asking questions you can answer? Can you ask them questions and run polls etc.?
Could you run a really quick 4 option poll on twitter? It will give you an almost instant response that you can write about.
Author: Steph King
