1. Choose Topics Based on Conference Sessions

Show organizers do their research and know what will interest their target audience. Take advantage of their hard work. If a topic is on a conference agenda, it’s on the minds of people in your industry.

Study the agenda and session tracks to get a sense of trending user problems and concerns.
 Conference keynotes and sessions highlight trending topics in your market that you can cover in your blog. You’ll also get ideas for keywords to use in your writing. If you work in content marketing, take a look at this list of conferences to start exploring sessions and speakers.

2. Repurpose Your Speaker Presentations

If your company has a presenter scheduled at a conference, collaborate with them to write blog post before and after the event. It can be a win-win for both of you. You’ll create awareness for the speaker, and you’ll save time on content by tapping into the presentation as your source material. For a complete guide to repurposing content, see Curata’s Content Marketing Pyramid framework.

For this specific scenario, consider creating pre-event content to talk about why the presentation or panel is relevant, but don’t give away all the presenter’s ideas. Frame the pre-event content towards questions the speaker will answer to encourage readers to attend the session. Link to the speaker bio and abstract on the show site. Post-show, position your speaker as a thought leader. Because the speakers just presented on this topic at a conference, they will already have a sense of authority on the topic. Also consider posting a version of the speaker’s presentation on SlideShare and make that the call to action for your blog.

Curata has posted several SlideShares after various events, such as this presentation from their October 2014 Content Marketing Forum, which has received 41,866 views and 22 downloads.

3. Leverage Webinar Content

Does your company produce webinars? Here’s an opportunity similar to conference sessions. Write posts based on your webinar content, with pre- and post-event content following the same guidelines suggested for conference presenters. This helps gets more mileage from the event and more thought leadership for you. For pre-event content, webinar registration is a desirable call-to-action. Post-event, have readers register for an on-demand view of the webinar.

4. Make the Most out of PowerPoint Presentations

If your sales, product and executive teams make presentations in internal meetings, customer meetings, or analyst briefings, you’ve got another source of blog ideas and reusable content. Turn presentations into thought leadership, but keep it neutral. Instead of focusing the content on your product or service, stray from egocentric marketing by creating a set of best practices or tip to follow to excel in your industry.

If the presentation has a strong talk track, cut and paste content from the script to save time building your blog. You might find some suitable images within these presentations as well. (Take a look at this guide to crowdsourcing content across your organization for more tips)

5. Learn from Your Customers

Does your company host customer councils or user conferences? Feedback from these events reveals what’s going on in customers’ minds and what they want to know more about. Ask your colleagues who run the councils for transcripts of the meetings. Or better yet, sit in on these meetings to receive real-time insight.

Did the council agenda and speakers generate any “aha” moments for attendees? Anything that catches people’s attention is a strong candidate for a blog post, because it could have the same impact on a broader audience.

Blogging and events have a mutually beneficial relationship. Each can strengthen and amplify the other. These days, that’s what marketing is all about – an integrated web of connections and content, all leading to useful information that helps readers and customers find answers they need.

To learn more ways to fill your editorial calendar with content, download Curata’s eBook, How to Feed the Content Beast (Without Getting Eaten Alive).