#Mynewsnight Takeaways!

Look, a visual pun!

This is a tear off take away which relates to our blog on #Mynewsnight Content Wars.  It's a checklist to help you create the best content to tell your brand's story.

•  Work across teams
• Collaborate internally across teams and share results. Remember that your best ambassadors can be your colleagues
•  Give your colleagues an easy way to share and generate content
•  Social Media Campaigns
• Approach competitions with care: don’t focus as much on numbers as quality of interaction
• Keep it simple. Bear in mind what works: exclusives, concise wording, pictures and clear actions
• Remember that social media interaction works best when teamed with face to face. Try Twitter parties!
• Deal with negative sentiment on social media as you would in any other channel: before dealing with comment, first figure out why it was said
• Try new things, it’s the only way to learn social
• Play with timings as much as themes- you may be surprised
• Bear in mind the real-time nature of social. Don’t pre-plan too much or you’ll come across as inauthentic
•  Effective campaigns can directly increase sales. Execution is key
• While not all activity is measurable in tangible results, that doesn’t mean it’s not worth it. They can help you stay front of mind
• Engage with bloggers using Twitter by encouraging them to share with their followers. Often simple strategies are the most effective
• Start by thinking about your audience’s behaviors. Bear in mind that it can be more effective to join existing conversations than start new ones.
• Storytelling
• Dynamic stories relate to people on a humanistic level. We crave witty content.
• Find your porn: what turns your audience on
• Remember we are image obsessed and our attention spans are shorter than ever: Snapchat being valued at 1 billion demonstrates this. Think of your content as a transient moment; how are you going to create brand entry in these competing moments
• Re-imagine what you already know:  the press release doesn’t have to be prescriptive. In fact, it shouldn’t!
• Don’t be lazy: meaningless quotes, pat on the back phrasing kills content
• Be relevant. Get your subject line right. Don’t use attachments. Build a relationship. Include links. Put it online
• Traditional media is still relevant and important. Coverage means more eyeballs that drive synapses and creates brand entry
• Know your themes, create content around this, promote the hell out of it then measure your results
• Think like a publisher, not like a marketer:
• Publishers look for the best possible content to drive their ad revenue. Increase value and the revenue will follow.
• Interact with other stories: content curators like Huffington Post challenging the old guard with visual and digital content
• Distracting people from the daily grind works. 
• Newsrooms package content which package stories and sell your brand
• Don’t forget the element of surprise in building memorable moments
• Big budgets should be fought for. But money doesn’t guarantee scale, it’s about sincerity.