When I was living in New York City creating preschool content, my business partner and I would do some really off-the-wall things to keep our minds juicy, our creativity flowing and our work authentic.

I loved every minute of it.

One of the most memorable and creatively-freeing experiences we did was belly dancing. Yes, belly dancing. Eight women gathered at our Manhattan loft. We put on colorful, jingly skirts, gave ourselves goddess names and danced to music. I transformed into “Illianna” and left my inhibitions at the door. The idea of doing something new was invigorating and the result breathed life into our work.

So, I developed a list of eight ideas to help you tap into your artistry and create compelling content.

Are you ready? It’s time to release your inner artist!
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“At Panera grabbing lunch, this Panini is delish!” #nomnomnom

“OMG, this vacay to Cabo is going to be a blast! Off to get some sun, see you in a week!” –feeling excited

“So annoyed with my boyfriend, he is just so rude!” (changes relationship status to ‘It’s complicated.’)

If you scroll through your social media feeds right now, I guarantee 50% – 75% of the posts will be something similar to these. As social media has become a bigger part of society, conversations about online privacy are almost as popular as conversations about Game of Thrones.

The most debated part of the convo? Whether or not lack of privacy on the Internet is a byproduct of the transition from old-school ideals to new-school norms or something more. Is this mentality of “tell me everything” something we should be scared of?

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Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve seen hashtags on Twitter and various other social media outlets. As the hashtag has gained popularity, it has become clear that some people clearly do not understand the proper usage. Let me take a moment before I rant about this #idiotic #usage to go into a little #hashtaghistory.

What is a hashtag?
A #hashtag is a metadata tag. Essentially, a hashtag is a keyword assigned to a piece of information that helps describe the item and allows it to be found again by browsing or searching. As an example, if you made a tweet about snow on Christmas morning, you might #hashtag your post with #WhiteChristmas.
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Remember when you were a tween and you told your mom you were going to be at your girlfriend’s house but instead took the train into New York City? Or how about when your teacher asked you questions about your book report, but you didn’t know the answers because your best friend wrote it for you?

What happened? You got caught!

Your mom found the train ticket stub in your jeans pocket when she did the laundry and the teacher watched you like a hawk in class because she didn’t trust you anymore.

What did you learn? As your mom no doubt told you countless times: “Honesty is the best policy.”
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There is nothing like the promise a new day brings. You get to start fresh, try new things and be a part of our ever-changing culture. Embracing each day with this positive attitude provides an opportunity to learn and propel oneself further in life, closer to your goals and dreams.

Why not apply this to business?

Social media, the Internet and technology have changed your brand’s ability to communicate and attract an audience. And, it has equally changed your audience’s desire and ability to communicate with your brand. This paradigm shift in our culture is one of the biggest in history affecting businesses. It’s time to embrace this shift. It’s exactly what the promise of a new business day brings.
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Have you ever noticed what happens when you put your intentions, ideas and thoughts out to the universe and show the world, without fear, who you really are? Synchronicity!

Apply what I am about to share with you to your business and observe how you will divinely attract what your business needs to prosper.

The Law of Attraction and Bikini Marketing

The Law Of Attraction says, “like attracts like.” So I challenge you to think about building your business and attracting your audience with that idea in mind.

Only when you are authentic in your business initiatives are you able to attract those who are seeking you.
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Have you ever watched a telenovela?

I have.  While flipping through the billion or so channels provided by modern cable companies the other day, I landed on a Spanish-language network. A telenovela — essentially, a Latin American soap opera — was playing, and I immediately got sucked in.

There was drama.

There was expression.

There was suspense.

And I loved every minute of it, even though I had no idea what the actors were saying.
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It’s time to stop wondering whether you should create a mobile app for your content-based website. The better course, in the great majority of cases, is to just create a website with responsive design — so it automatically adapts how it displays to visitors based on what device they use to access your site.

Oh, I guess you could go with a mobile app. Then your users could enjoy this wonderful set of experiences:

1. When they come to your site, they are met with a splash page telling them to download your app.
2. They are redirected to the app store to download it. (Let’s hope they can remember their password.)
3. They wait for eternity to download the file.
4. They try to determine, without any context or incentive, whether to accept your “push” notification request.
5. They launch the app and then try to find the one thing they were searching for to begin with.
6. They get regular updates to the app requiring the use of more bandwidth (which contrary to popular belief, isn’t free.)
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Everybody hates tabloid news. It’s fake, slanders people’s names, wastes paper. It’s a burden to society. No normal member of society would ever read that trash.

Oh, who am I kidding? Tabloid news is fantastic. As content marketers, we should look to tabloid news as an example of how to grab people’s attention with little more than a picture and a headline. Tabloid news is entertaining—you can’t stop reading. In a lot of ways it’s like a train wreck – you don’t want to watch but you can’t seem take your eyes off of it.

So, as content marketers, how do we make our material have that same mesmerizing effect?

Here are a few suggestions to help pull your audience in.

1. Turn heads with your headline. Your headline or title should catch the reader’s attention. Tabloids do this well. Words like “desperate,” “nightmare,” and “hellhole” appear often in tabloids, catching the reader’s eye and attention. The purpose of the headline should be to make the reader want more; to catch their attention and captivate them. Tabloids sometimes even stretch the truth. I’m not advocating that you lie, but cleverly wording a headline to make the reader wonder never hurt anyone.
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Listen, I am a romantic and I believe love at first sight can happen. And when it does, fireworks go off! But more often than not building a lasting relationship takes time. Trust, honesty and respect are all required. Toss in the aspiration to live a similar lifestyle and you might just find yourself committed.

The courting we do as brand marketers with our audience is similar and the requirements are very much the same. People fall in love with brands they trust.

Branding is about making an emotional connection — like the pure happiness you feel when you take your first sip of a tall, decaf, skinny, two pump vanilla latte from Starbucks. It might even be your favorite part of the day. Somehow, it is always what you need and lives up to your expectation every time.
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