Mich Hancock is one busy gal. Besides being CEO of 100th Monkey Media, a company focused on creating quality human connections and interactions for B2B and B2C clients through social media, she is also the co-founder of TEDxGatewayArch, an innovative and thought-provoking organization that brings TED Talk experiences to St. Louis. As if that isn’t enough, she takes it a step further and interviews TEDx speakers and St. Louis movers and shakers on her popular MichMash Podcast and is a sought-after speaker, delivering workshops and seminars for organizations around St. Louis, including the Olin School of Business at Washington University.

Her approach to content marketing is refreshingly vibrant; you can see her shine in everything she touches. With so many projects, managing content for herself and clients requires processes and resources, many of which she shares below.

Lesson 1: Brand Publishers Connect with Their Audience

What challenges do Brand Publishers face?

Being seen and heard in a noisy digital universe. The main piece of advice—patience—do not expect overnight success, expect small successes and know that each one adds up to a bigger success each day.

Where do you find content inspiration?

We use a variety of resources:

We pay attention to the trends on Facebook, Twitter and Google Trends
We subscribe to industry newsletters on behalf of our clients in order to stay up on the trends of their world
For social media news and updates, we rely on Social Media Examiner, Mashable, Forbes and more

What are the most powerful content types?

We are in love with video! Professional videos, off-the-cuff authentic videos and live video all have a place with our clients.

Blogging is also important, especially for Google. For our clients, we create a mix of blogs to address FAQs and SAQs (should ask questions) blogs, evergreen blogs, and trending/timely blogs.

Podcasting is still trending and growing, it’s one of the best ways to highlight your expertise!

How do you know what content to post on a blog or social media?

Each client is different and this process depends on their budget. For clients that have the budget, we will conduct marketing research and develop a strategy from there. For other clients, we spend time with them to decide a posting schedule for each week that will cover all facets of them, their business, staff, culture, etc.

Lesson 2: Brand Publishers Create Their Own Workflow

How do you manage your content?

All clients are on a schedule that may include schedules for their newsletters, blogs, social media postings, etc. We gave “Post Masters” that are responsible for certain clients. I get a feel for the client and then can decide from there which Post Master would best fit their needs.

Most of our Post Masters are stay-at-home moms that love having a part time gig they can do from home, schedule posts at their leisure and have time to be moms. Of course, these women are smart, focused, and self-managing, we are so blessed to have them as part of our team.

For some clients, we have hired teenagers! Yes, my own daughter, Micki, takes care of Instagram for several clients and one my people, Jill, has a teenage daughter that posts for a few clients. Normally I would not suggest anyone do this, but our girls have this social media talent in their blood (plus our professionally-developed marketing strategy to follow) and they’ve proven to be really good at what we have them do. It has worked wonderfully! It’s like having a built-in intern, except this one has been primed for this opportunity.

Since I am my own brand, I have many places to be present—or appear to be! Therefore, I have various types of content on the websites and social media for 100th Monkey Media, as well as on my MichMash Podcast and TEDxGatewayArch. The schedule varies for all of these entities, I do have a tendency to create content on a whim, so yes, it is authentic, fun and has that feeling of spontaneity—because it is!

How do you create content that converts?

There are various types of content that convert and this is something that we would want to work through with clients that can afford marketing research and strategy. For some clients, it may be creating lists, to-do’s, Q&A opportunities, success stories, product releases, events and more. I often say that you have touch people’s hearts or funny bones to get them to pay attention, then you ask them to become a part of your world.

For B2C clients we can expect are shorter sales cycle, since many times the path from “I want/need” to “I buy” is quicker. For B2B clients, the path to a sale is much longer; it’s more like “I want/need” then the organization will begin to research, put feelers out, request information, make some calls, set up meetings, learn more, ask for proposals, etc.” The B2B client will need to commit to a series of content pieces designed to lead potential buyers intentionally down a path to purchase.

Lesson 3: How Brands Become Effective Publishers

Find the people within their organization that can act as spokespeople for the company and have them participate in creating blogs, videos and more for the company. Become comfortable with being transparent and showing off your true personality.

How do you make your content stand out?

We work in all verticals as our main specialty it H2H (human to human) communication. What helps us stand out is our ability to produce uniquely creative content that touches the heart or the funny bone. 100th Monkey Media specializes in consistent posting, content creation, advertising campaigns, LinkedIn campaigns, marketing research and strategy.

This article was originally published on Powerpost Digital