A client of mine had written an article about leadership in the pandemic that was viewed several hundred times on LinkedIn. It was a solid article, I liked what she had to say, but there was one point I wanted to help her shift.
And I want you to shift, too.
The reason for a shift?
Content, articles, videos, other things, have a life beyond their original publication date.
If I make a video, we republish it on our YouTube channel. We republish it to our Facebook business page.
This article will be published by email, on our blog, and will most likely be made into a pin added to our Pinterest boards.
What’s more, your content is a powerful way to leverage your time and credibility. If someone asks me a question, and I’ve written an article on it, I can just point them to the article.
So here’s the shift I asked her to make, and I’m asking you to make.
The shift: Don’t mention the big event by name.
At this point in the global pandemic, it’s just as easy to say, “When we’re all facing such challenging circumstances.” Everyone knows what you’re referring to.
Then, if the article gets read a year, two years, ten years from now, it won’t show up as out-of-date.
There is an alternative for when you really do want to speak to what’s going on. For instance, I’ve mentioned the pandemic several times.
Set an alarm and go back and edit it later.
Setting an alarm for maybe a 1-3 months later, depending on what the event is, which allows you to publish something that does mention the current event, and yet go back and change the wording to be more timeless.
Don’t believe me that content can have a long life?
Here’s an article I published March 12, 2008, over 12 years ago.
When Networking Events Feel Like A Drag
Honestly, except for maybe how my writing skills have been polished over the last decade, I could have written that article today.
And although there aren’t any recent comments on it, there is a comment left there from 2012, four years after I published it
Allow your content to have a long life.
Why shouldn’t you continue to use your content? Why shouldn’t your clients, and importantly, your potential clients, benefit from your expertise long after you’ve written it?
You can avoid reinventing the wheel, and allow your content to have a long, long life, by paying attention to current references and making sure they will make sense when the current event is long past.
With love,
Mark Silver, M.Div.
Heart of Business, Inc.
Every act of business can be an act of love.
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