Megan Bungeroth

The biggest challenge is that this is the wrong framework — your goal should be to create content that your target audience will consider valuable and to do whatever you can to ensure that they find your content, through optimization, social, paid ads, etc. Website traffic as a standalone metric is useless. Unless you’re serving homepage ads, it doesn’t matter how much traffic you get if no one enters the funnel.

When determining what to update first, look at underperforming content that overlaps with trending topics in your content niche. You’ll be able to get a jump on ranking for tending topics with updated existing content because the content longevity will give it a boost.

Listen to what employees are already talking about in impromptu meetings, hallway convos, casual chats — then create content for them that helps solve their problems and contributes positively to the conversations they’re already having. Internal communication should feel like part of the ongoing conversation in your company, not edicts from the leadership team. So if you hear through the grapevine that people are struggling to integrate Jira into their workflow, create a blog or intranet post on 9 ways Jira can improve collaboration, then link it in your internal newsletter, share on company socials (bonus: this content can often serve as external content marketing as well) and circulate through managers.

You absolutely may want to memorize your speech, and I recommend either reading from notes OR memorizing completely. If you just remember the “key points” you’re much more likely to get bogged down in tangents, verbal tics and meandering. The key is to write a presentation or speech that’s so good that when you memorize and deliver it, it feels off the cuff. Don’t ACTUALLY go off the cuff.

Whole books, courses and careers have been built trying to teach this! Learning how to effectively deliver a keynote depends a lot on the skills of the presenter, but here are some actionable tips: - Practice more than you think you need to, in front of people you trust. Record yourself and watch it with a critical eye. Take notes and adjust. - Speak slower than you think you need to. - Ruthlessly cut what doesn’t drive your story forward. Every time you rehearse you should find something to cut. - Don’t over rely on visuals and tech. The best TED Talks, for example, use visuals sparingly. If you had to present without a screen, you should still be able to communicate your message. - Rehearse in the clothes you’ll wear.

If you’ve chosen the right sponsor, your audience is already interested in the product, and you should respond to that interest beyond just a single sponsored post/content piece. If you’re a creator with an athleisure sponsor, for example, you should plan on related organic content — maybe sharing workouts, reports on fitness trends — before and after your sponsored content. This helps everything feel related and that the sponsored content is a natural part of your editorial calendar and brand.