Content Planning From a Content Enthusiast
Get ready to dive deep into all things content related with our podcast producer and special guest Zac Hazen! We'll enjoy a refreshing and classic Aviation cocktail with a fun gin-focused tangent. Does it taste like sucking on pine needles to anyone else?
A Classic Aviation
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 oz. of your favorite gin
- 1/4 oz. of maraschino liqueur
- 1/2 oz. creme de violette liqueur
- Lemon peel for garnish (optional)
This is a gin drink that even Rich can fully enjoy, much to the delight of Catelin!
- Fully gather all ingredients
- Pour gin, both liqueurs and lemon juice into a cocktail shaker filled with ice
- Shake very well
- Strain into your fanciest cocktail glass
- Garnish with a flamed lemon peel (Optional)
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Episode Transcript
Rich: Welcome to Cocktails, Tangents and Answers. I'm Rich, one of your hosts.
Catelin: And I'm Catelin, your other host.
Rich: Perfect. That gets the introductions out of the way.
Catelin: We did it.
Rich: Yay. We're done. So, our first word in our name is cocktail, and so that gives me a priority. And so, my priority is to share the cocktail for this episode.
Catelin: Yes, please. I can't wait. Tell me about it.
Rich: One of my favorites that I discovered by one of our favorite bartenders making them to go during the pandemic and COVID and all that stuff, which I hate talking about, but [crosstalk 00:00:39] silver lining-
Catelin: Yeah.
Rich: ... I learned about an Aviation.
Catelin: Oh, yeah. Tell me. And what's in an Aviation.
Rich: So, an Aviation is gin based and I am not a gin guy, but I found the Hendrix Midsummer gin.
Catelin: Oh my gosh. It will change your life. It's so good.
Rich: It really will. Those Hendrix infused gins, if you're not a gin person, are phenomenal.
Catelin: Yes. They have another lunar...
Rich: Yes.
Catelin: Is it lunar?
Rich: Yeah.
Catelin: They all have beautiful names and the label is gorgeous.
Rich: And the bottles are different colors.
Catelin: They're so... Yes.
Rich: So anyway.
Catelin: Gin, gin, gin.
Rich: Gin. About an ounce and a half of gin, lemon juice.
Catelin: Yes.
Rich: Fresh squeezed. You got to get the lemons and squeeze them yourself.
Catelin: Yeah. And you can't... Squeezed at the time of the making.
Rich: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Catelin: Don't try and do that ahead.
Rich: You can't pre-squeeze. No, don't squeeze 42 lemons and think you're going to make drinks for the next one.
Catelin: No, because it just like sours and it gets sad or unsours. I don't know. It turns.
Rich: And then maraschino liqueur, which is different than the juice maraschino cherries come in.
Catelin: Yes.
Rich: A lot. It's stone bottle.
Catelin: Luxardo is our preferred brand at home.
Rich: Ours as well. Yes.
Catelin: Yeah.
Rich: Ours as well. Then creme de violette, which we had to go find because-
Catelin: It's beautiful.
Rich: ... We didn't have that one here. That's what gives it its purple color.
Catelin: Yeah.
Rich: And then you can also use creme yvette, which I am not familiar with. We could not find that. We found creme de violette.
Catelin: Okay.
Rich: So you put those together in a shaker with ice and you shake, shake, shake, shake, shake.
Catelin: Shake, shake, shake.
Rich: And then you serve it straight up.
Catelin: Did you know that when you use a Manhattan shaker, you put the big one on the bottom and you shake the open part away from you so that if your shaker comes apart, it doesn't shoot all over the people that you're serving?
Rich: Oh.
Catelin: Yeah. I learned that last week.
Rich: And it's also-
Catelin: From one of my bartender buddies.
Rich: ... Not right in front of your face so it doesn't fly at you.
Catelin: Exactly.
Rich: Because you can't really inhale it all that fast as it's flying past your face.
Catelin: It's not a Manhattan shaker, it was the Boston shaker, the two-
Rich: The two cups?
Catelin: The small one, and the big.
Rich: Small cup and the big cup?
Catelin: Yeah. Shake the big cup away from your face so that if your shakers come apart, the mess goes behind you.
Rich: Yeah. We have one of those. The small cup is glass and has a rubber rim around it. And then the big cup is the stainless steel. And they go in there.
Catelin: Yeah. The example that he gave was if you ever put carbonated, and I was like, "Don't do that." And he goes, "No, don't do that. But some people do."
Rich: Who shakes carbonated?
Catelin: I don't know who is shaking bubbles, but that should stop immediately.
Rich: No.
Catelin: I want to go back to what you said about not being a gin drinker and really-
Rich: Oh, you want to dive into that today?
Catelin: We've had this conversation. Well, we don't have enough time for that, but I do need to plant a firm stake here and say that anything that you make with vodka can be made instantly better with gin.
Rich: So. I will give you the anything you can make with vodka can be made with gin.
Catelin: You're not buying the better qualifier.
Rich: The instantly better, it really depends on the gin. I think that's the biggest thing.
Catelin: Fair.
Rich: Because for the longest time-
Catelin: Yeah. It's not like-
Rich: The gins I had-
Catelin: ... You're drinking your grandpa's gin that tastes like a pine tree. That's not what I'm after.
Rich: Right. It's like when we were playing out in the pine trees on my aunt's farm and uncle's farm.
Catelin: Yeah. That Christmas flavor.
Rich: And you would get sap on your hand and you would have that pine smell.
Catelin: Yes.
Rich: That's what it tastes like. It tastes like I'm sucking on pine needles.
Catelin: That's not what I want for you or anyone else. [crosstalk 00:03:53]. There's a really lovely Japanese gin that is... It's so approachable and so smooth. Sub Roku in for whatever you're making with vodka and just try it.
Rich: Roku, the Japanese gin, not the TV streaming device?
Catelin: Correct. It's a little bit confusing.
Rich: I mean, it is purple. So, it could work. Yeah. And I think that finding the Hendrix gins, I have not tried the Aviation gin, which would be interesting in an Aviation.
Catelin: In an Aviation.
Rich: Would that be a double Aviation? We should try that sometime. [crosstalk 00:04:26]. The other thing that's very important to these is getting Luxardo cherries. You're supposed to garnish it with a cherry. Garnishing it with three cherries does make an eminently better. And the Luxardo cherries, you can find them at any liquor store. Most grocery stores have them.
Catelin: They will change your life.
Rich: They're so different and so good.
Catelin: Just rich and complex and the perfect texture.
Rich: And I feel like my entire childhood, I was lied to about what cherries in a jar could taste like.
Catelin: Oh yeah.
Rich: Because just completely different from those bright red and bright green things that you can get, which are great on a Christmas decoration.
Catelin: A fruitcake? I don't know.
Rich: Yeah, they'd be in a fruit cake. Sure. So anyway, so that's it. So you can put it in a cocktail glass. I mean, we did these at home all the time. Once we figured it out.
Catelin: Once found your creme de violette.
Rich: Yes. Because it was really expensive getting them from the bar. And we still did because we wanted to support them and we knew they were struggling and that's a big thing for us in business, supporting other businesses.
Catelin: Yeah.
Rich: But when we made them ourselves, I've had them in a rocks glass. I've had them in a wine glass. I've had him in a martini glass.
Catelin: Is this like a little bit like, "I will not on a train. I will not in the rain." Like, "I will drink-"
Rich: I will in any glass.
Catelin: Yeah.
Rich: This one does not need a special glass. I really like it in a coop glass though. Just because it feels glassy.
Catelin: There's just something about a coop glass that instantly makes... A coop glass is the gin of the glassware world.
Rich: Okay. I'll give you that.
Catelin: That's not a great-
Rich: With where you take gin. I get that.
Catelin: Yeah. It just elevates and makes it feel special.
Rich: You can also get the slightly larger ones that hold a little bit more volume.
Catelin: As if I don't already own those.
Rich: We are very, very particular on the number of ounces we could get-
Catelin: Yeah.
Rich: ... Into that glass.
Catelin: Yeah.
Rich: Because that's the problem with some martini glasses, it looks fine, but it holds like six ounces. You're like, "I'm going to be refilling this thing 14 times."
Catelin: Yeah. This is a thimble.
Rich: Right.
Catelin: I need an actual volume of said cocktail. Absolutely.
Rich: Yeah. So, if you've never had an Aviation, I highly recommend it. I think it is fantastic and one of my all-time favorites. And depending on how much creme de violette you put in it, I'm actually looking at a page of some images on Google, it can be a very light purple.
Catelin: Like a lilac or a...
Rich: Or you can go deep purple with that thing.
Catelin: Yeah.
Rich: Like-
Catelin: Jimi Hendrix.
Rich: ... You can really get there. Yeah, absolutely. The Jimi Hendrix Aviation. We should open a bar.
Catelin: Oh my gosh. It's almost like we are good at naming things.
Rich: That should be on your cocktail list in your home bar.
Catelin: Yeah.
Rich: The Jimi Hendrix Aviation and it's a deep purple. Fly that one by your husband.
Catelin: Yeah, my in-home bartender/spouse.
Rich: But it is like we're good at naming things, which might be a thing that we do sometimes. Funny that.
Catelin: It's actually one of my favorite things that we do because it's literally throwing things at the wall to see what stick.
Rich: It's a very exciting process.
Catelin: Yeah.
Rich: It's one of my favorites. We don't do a ton of it. I used to do a lot when I was naming weird things at the wireless company, we named everything that had to have a brand name, but doing it here, it's just so much fun. And it's really fun to watch the client's faces as they go through the experience because their experience is actually very guarded and sheltered through it so that they don't inject a lot of biases into the names.
Catelin: Yeah. Yeah.
Rich: And then when they get to the point when they can overthink stuff and really think through it's like, "Wow. We really came up with some really good stuff and it's really fun."
Catelin: Yeah.
Rich: So yeah. One of my favorites too.
Catelin: I think that's a really great kind of segue. I hate saying the word segue, because it's like, just get to the point.
Rich: I'm now picturing you on a two wheeled device going down the road.
Catelin: Our health insurance is not good enough for that.
Rich: Do not do it at work. Workman's comp. Oh, no.
Catelin: Yeah. We're going to chat with our content strategist Zac today about how he plans content, what that looks like, and I think that's a really interesting kind of look into what we do here.
Rich: Yeah.
Catelin: And how we help clients solve their problems.
Rich: Yep. And having done that some in past lives and even before Zac came on board here and we transitioned that over to him, it's kind of a fascinating process to start with kind of this blank idea of what you need to do. And then you come up with a strategy, and then you've got to find actual things to put into that strategy.
Catelin: To fill into that, yeah.
Rich: To tell somebody to create, a writer or designer or whomever. Really excited to hear what he has to say about that. That should be really interesting.
Catelin: Yeah. Yeah.
Rich: So with that, I actually have to go because Zac is also our producer for the podcast.
Catelin: He's planning the content for this podcast.
Rich: So, while we do this little break, I'm going to go swap places with him. And then you guys are going to talk about it.
Catelin: Enjoy this musical interlude. Feel free to take a dance break if you'd like.
Welcome back from your dance break. I am your host, Catelin, and I'm here with our content planner, content strategist. Let's start with that, Zac Hazen, tell me your actual job title.
Zac: Well thank you for having me. It's nice to be-
Catelin: In the room?
Zac: ... In the pod.
Catelin: Yeah.
Zac: Rather than outside-
Catelin: I'm thrilled you're here.
Zac: ... Seeing the delay, but yeah, I guess my official title might be content coordinator.
Catelin: Okay.
Zac: From what I understand.
Catelin: Just coordinator on paper and just something more exciting than that in my heart. How's that?
Zac: In my heart too.
Catelin: Well, first of all, can you just tell me a little bit about how you got here? Where'd you come from Zac? How'd you get here?
Zac: Well, I graduated from Morningside College in May, 2021.
Catelin: A fun fact. The last graduating class of Morningside College.
Zac: Yes.
Catelin: As they have now-
Zac: It's still a college in my heart.
Catelin: ... Exactly. Same here. We are both Morningside College alums, now Morningside University. We'll just put an asterisk in the show notes. Okay. I'm going to stop interrupting you.
Zac: But yeah, I graduated from there with an advertising degree, also graphic design and business minor, but that's not so important.
Catelin: It could be important though.
Zac: It's important to me-
Catelin: Exactly.
Zac: ... But maybe not so important to other people.
Catelin: So what we're really getting to the point here is everything is important in our heart, but not-
Zac: This is true.
Catelin: Okay. Keep going.
Zac: So while I was graduating, I guess, I had an internship, a digital marketing internship for K&B transportation, which is a trucking company in South Sioux City, Nebraska. And I actually did that with our digital specialist, Christian, as you already know-
Catelin: Yes. You two fascinate me. It is like two sides of a coin.
Zac: We are very different. Yes.
Catelin: But you compliment each other so well, and it is so funny to watch the two of you in the office, the handful of times. Anyway.
Zac: It definitely helps with our work too.
Catelin: Yeah.
Zac: We fill each other out a lot.
Catelin: Yeah, you play off each other really well.
Zac: Exactly. Yeah.
Catelin: Yeah.
Zac: But I had an internship there and before that I worked at an internship during social media, which is kind of getting into what I do here now. And even before that, I had an internship at a radio station.
Catelin: How many internships did you have?
Zac: I had three.
Catelin: Oh my gosh.
Zac: I was a go-getter I guess.
Catelin: Yeah.
Zac: But I really, I guess, was trying to prepare myself for this.
Catelin: Yeah.
Zac: With the whole content side of things. The radio internship actually helps a lot with the podcast stuff.
Catelin: Yeah.
Zac: Because all the audio terms I learned there... because for those that don't know, I actually edit this podcast. So, usually I'm on-
Catelin: Producer, editor, planner, all the hats.
Zac: All the different things you could probably do with a podcast besides hosting. Yeah. That's what I do.
Catelin: And look at you now, interviewee.
Zac: Yes.
Catelin: Extraordinaire.
Zac: It was bound to happen eventually.
Catelin: Yeah. Yeah. So out of all of those internships, you kind of decided this was it. The way that I've landed on a lot of jobs is like, "I never want to do that again." So hopefully you had a different experience where you're like, "Oh, this is really interesting. And I could see myself being successful at this."
Zac: So funnily enough, I actually decided that I wanted to go into advertising in high school.
Catelin: Wow.
Zac: Which is a lot different than a lot of people... I think people change their minds a lot.
Catelin: I'm still changing my mind. I don't know why I want to be when I grow up. That's too much pressure.
Zac: I took a business class that I really liked and I was in the marketing section and I really kind of resonated with that.
Catelin: Yeah.
Zac: And I decided, "Hey, this is what I want to do. I might as well just go all in on it." And funnily enough, the only two advertising programs I could find in the area, because I saw a lot of marketing business administration stuff.
Catelin: Yeah.
Zac: But advertising is, I knew I wanted to do that. So I kind of honed in on Morningside because I didn't want to go to UNL.
Catelin: It's a huge school. Yeah.
Zac: Yeah. It's a bigger school. And I like the smaller town feel.
Catelin: Yeah.
Zac: But yeah, definitely. I kind of honed in on it right from the start.
Catelin: That's really impressive. Especially, I know there's lots of research now about students or young workers kind of entering their career years. And the number of times that people will just 180, a hundred percent. Where they're like, "I did that. I don't want to do that anymore. I'm choosing an entirely different field." So, it's interesting for you to know that upfront.
Zac: Yeah. It's just something that I kind of clicked with. I think a lot of people find something that they want to do in their life and if they have a passion for, it's something that they can do well.
Catelin: Yeah.
Zac: And I just found that I had a passion for it, so I just decided to pursue it as hard as I could.
Catelin: What is it, because I think I know this answer for you, but that's not really how interviewing is supposed to go, but what is it about advertising and working at the agency specifically that resonates with you? What is it every day that you're like, that's the thing?
Zac: I think just how many different things and different hats you can wear.
Catelin: Yeah.
Zac: For me, I've always been kind of like towards the more creative side and at first I didn't know what that would be in business. How does that relate? But then I discovered that, "Hey, I actually really like coming up with ideas for content." And for me content's really fun because of how many different things I can do.
Catelin: Yeah.
Zac: And how I can challenge myself creatively, really.
Catelin: Yeah.
Zac: I mean, I schedule out social media for us. I come up with ideas for our podcast episodes.
Catelin: Yeah.
Zac: I do a lot of different things and that, to me, is like I don't want to sit in an office and do the same thing every day.
Catelin: Same.
Zac: And I mean, if I don't have any huge tasks to do, I can work on ways to improve different parts of our content and stuff.
Catelin: Yeah.
Zac: So that's really rewarding for me.
Catelin: I was talking to our creative director kind of in preparation for today and we just are both amazed at the speed with which you can come up with 10 ideas, the force in your head that's like, "This and this and this and this." And you make it seem so effortless when you're brainstorming through things. I'm like, "I can't come up with a whole cohesive sentence and Zac has just given us like 10 topic ideas for a client podcast." It is remarkable how just you dive in and you're a little bit fearless too, where you're like, "I don't know if this is going to end up making the final cut, but it's worth it to say it out loud and see what happens." It's so admirable because-
Zac: And that's something that definitely no idea is a bad idea-
Catelin: Yeah.
Zac: ... Until someone else says the best thing. But in my opinion, well, for me, it's a process.
Catelin: Yeah.
Zac: Because it doesn't just come overnight. I love brainstorming and collaborating with people and coming up with ideas. But if I didn't have an in place process for doing it, then I would definitely not be able to do it on a daily basis.
Catelin: That's actually a really great point. So when you are planning, how do you plan content for blog posts or topics or social calendars? What does that look like for you?
Zac: So, while I was working here actually, I kind of noticed some similarities to what I was doing. And also I did a lot of research on ways I can keep in fighting creative block because it's-
Catelin: It's so real. Absolutely.
Zac: It's hard to fight and it's hard to get rid of. It's going to happen.
Catelin: When you're staring at the blank page and you're like, "I have to fill this whole thing?" Yeah, I get it.
Zac: Exactly. And my process, which I will definitely get into, kind of fights that. The first thing I always do with any content is research.
Catelin: Yeah.
Zac: That includes analyzing competitors and what they're doing.
Catelin: Yeah.
Zac: For social, for blogs, for whatever. I also go on forum posts. A lot of the time, I don't think people realize that they need to create content that answers people's problems and questions.
Catelin: Yeah.
Zac: So looking at forums and seeing what people are asking related to your topic, for example, like, "Oh, how do, I don't know, how do I edit this video this right way?" Or "How do I design a website? What am I doing wrong kind of thing?" If someone asks that question-
Catelin: Yeah.
Zac: ... I can go and look at that forum post and find content that's tailored to that.
Catelin: So I'm picturing you doing the opposite of doom scrolling. You're just on Reddit joy scrolling like, "How many answers can I find today?"
Zac: Exactly.
Catelin: "This is going to be the best." Okay.
Zac: If you can answer those questions that people are looking for, then-
Catelin: Yeah.
Zac: That means it's great content.
Catelin: Yeah.
Zac: I guess another thing I do is I definitely talk to everyone in the office.
Catelin: You are the office chatter box here. [crosstalk 00:17:58].
Zac: Definitely in Omaha, we're kind of a kindred spirits in that sense, I think, because I definitely annoy Christian, who's definitely introverted, which we talked about in either in upcoming or previous episode, however we end up.
Catelin: Right, We'll hear from Christian. Yeah.
Zac: But I just want to ask them what they're seeing in their industry, what's trending, what they want to talk about, what they see value in. Because for our own content, getting everyone's opinion in, I'm not an expert in SEO, but Christian is-
Catelin: Yeah.
Zac: ... I'm not an expert at digital ads. Jerry is.
Catelin: Yeah.
Zac: So I can ask them what they see valuable or what they think clients would see as valuable.
Catelin: Yeah. I also think it's a more accurate representation of us as an agency too, when you're pulling in those multiple viewpoints and for you to be able to distill that down and make it meaningful is really... It's a gift.
Zac: Thank you. I appreciate it. The next thing I definitely do is digest the information that I'm given.
Catelin: Yeah.
Zac: I write it down in my notes. I write down the main points.
Catelin: [crosstalk 00:19:01]. Yeah. Yeah.
Zac: I definitely keep a catalog of third party articles and links that I can go back to. It's almost like a resource library at this point.
Catelin: Yeah. You have your own little J store.
Zac: Yes, exactly like "Oh, I need some content marketing tips. Let me go back to my sources that I've pulled." Definitely stuff like that.
Catelin: Yep.
Zac: And now this next part's going to sound completely counter intuitive.
Catelin: I can't wait.
Zac: But I recommend taking a break after you digest your information.
Catelin: Yeah.
Zac: Because if you’re just trying to, I don’t know, hammer down, like, “I need to get an idea done. I need to get an idea done.” It’s not going to come to you as easily.
Catelin: Yeah.
Zac: If you take a break, you don't know it, but you unconsciously process information-
Catelin: Yeah.
Zac: ... A lot better than you would just [crosstalk 00:19:45] sitting there, trying to think about it.
Catelin: Yeah.
Zac: So a lot of times what I do in the office is I just take a walk around until something comes to me because a lot of times what happens is I call it the Eureka moment.
Catelin: Yeah.
Zac: It's like, oh, a good idea will come to me based off of all the information I already researched.
Catelin: Yes.
Zac: And it's already in my head, I'm already thinking about it. But I took a break, so it's not-
Catelin: Mine always happen in the shower where I'm just like, I'm washing my hair. And I'm like, "Wait a minute. That thing from a week ago."
Zac: Same.
Catelin: "I solved it." Yeah.
Zac: Like in the shower, I'd be like, "Oh, podcast, episode idea."
Catelin: Yeah, yes.
Zac: "I need to write this down." And that gets to my next point. Write it down because-
Catelin: Right away too.
Zac: Yes, exactly. Because if you get the Eureka moment and you're far away from me notes or like anything you can write down on, you could easily forget it. So I always have the notes app on my phone.
Catelin: Yep.
Zac: Just ready to go. I
Catelin: I have so many separate notes for all of the random things that I think about throughout the day.
Zac: Oh my gosh. Yeah.
Catelin: I'm also told that's how Taylor swift writes all of her songs is with her notes app. So, if she's doing it-
Zac: You must be doing something right.
Catelin: Yeah. It's genius.
Zac: The last step is most obvious. It's just, you got to execute on those ideas.
Catelin: Yeah.
Zac: So create clear defined strategies and set actionable, measurable goals that you can accomplish.
Catelin: Smart goals.
Zac: Yes.
Catelin: Always a smart goal. Yes.
Zac: My mind's going back to morning psychology where the marketing professors smart roles.
Catelin:I can never remember what all of the letters stand for: specific, measurable, attainable.
Zac: Let's just pretend the last two don't exist because I don't remember either. But the first three are the most important.
Catelin: Okay. Well, we have those covered.
Zac: Yes. Yes.
Catelin: I think that's an interesting insight into kind of how content, which seems so nebulous, but when you sit down and actually plan it out or put pen to paper on a calendar, it becomes much more digestible and attainable as a smart goal. That idea that you can have a repeatable process to get to quality content is really intriguing to me.
Zac: I think ideation is a place where a lot of people struggle.
Catelin: Yeah.
Zac: Like, "How do I come up with ideas on a consistent basis?" Well, to do that you have to have a consistent process.
Catelin: Yeah.
Zac: And that's kind of how I've been doing it these past couple months.
Catelin: Yeah. Yeah. What do you love or how do you love finding original social content? What does that look like for you?
Zac: So, for original social content, I definitely go really hard into the research phase-
Catelin: Sure.
Zac: ... Of that whole ideation process and definitely a lot and more into the collaboration phase.
Catelin: Yeah.
Zac: Because when I'm creating our own content, a lot of the times it's just finding helpful tips that will help our audience and project us as an industry expert.
Catelin: Yeah.
Zac: Because really that's what we are.
Catelin: Yeah.
Zac: And we need to project that on our social.
Catelin: Yeah. As far as reshare, what are your two favorite sites to find like reshareable or industry specific articles? Where do you go to find those for
Zac: For third party articles, a lot of people would look for through RSS feeds. I think it's more valuable to Google specific terms that would relate to topics. I don't know if that makes sense, but-
Catelin: Yeah.
Zac: It gets kind of into like how SEO relates to content. A lot of the times what I do is I talk to Christian, our resident SEO expert.
Catelin: Everybody needs a Christian is what I'm hearing.
Zac: And he'll tell me some keywords.
Catelin: Yeah. Yeah.
Zac: So the keywords of like, "Hey, people are like searching this."
Catelin: They're looking for X and Y and Z.
Zac: Yeah. And maybe you can make content or find content that's related to this.
Catelin: Yeah.
Zac: And so I think that's another great point though is SEO and content?
Catelin: Hand in hand.
Zac: Yes. For you to create high quality content, your SEO has to be working just as hard. They need to work together.
Catelin: Yeah. Finally, I think I'm getting the flashing signal. We've been having so much fun. Are there any quick wins or I love a sports reference, any layups that people can use in their social content planning? Tell me an easy win.
Zac: I think instituting good research into your content creation process is the most important thing you can do.
Catelin: Yeah.
Zac: Because if you can get valuable information in your head and maybe my process will work for you.
Catelin: Yeah.
Zac: Everyone listening out there, but good research practices are definitely going to help you create better content.
Catelin: Just cultivating that expertise.
Zac: Exactly. If you know what your competitors are doing, if you know what people are searching for.
Catelin: Yeah.
Zac: Which goes back to the SEO, that's definitely important. Use keyword research when you're creating long form content and even social content, because that's going to be the most valuable content you can create.
Catelin: That's perfect.
Zac: It's things people are searching for.
Catelin: Yeah.
Zac: So the research is super important and definitely, I would say just have a consistent process in place.
Catelin: Yeah.
Zac: At the very least the research part of it will help you curate third party articles.
Catelin: Yeah.
Zac: So I think that's definitely, if you're going to make me single out a specific type of concept-
Catelin: You have to choose one.
Zac: Exactly. I think three point articles and putting in good research practices are going to really help you.
Catelin: Those are the quick wins.
Zac: Yep.
Catelin: Perfect. Zac, thank you so much. I learned something which I knew was possible, but I'm really grateful for your expertise and I appreciate you sharing your process with us.
Zac: No problem. It's nice to finally be in the pod.
Catelin: In the pod. Thank you so much.
Rich: That's it for another episode of Cocktails, Tangents and Answers.
Catelin: We hope you enjoyed listening. We enjoyed recording and this week's cocktail.
Rich: You can find me on Twitter or Instagram at Rich Mackey. I try not to make it too difficult. It's just my name. And you can find our agency at Antidote_71. That's A-N-T-I-D-O-T-E_71 on Twitter and Instagram as well.
Catelin: And you can find me at home sipping a craft cocktail prepared by my in-home bartender. It's my husband.
Rich: We'll be back next week with another episode and a whole new cocktail recipe, plenty, more tangents. And of course, answers to those pressing marketing questions.
Catelin: And if you'd like to send us a question, you can go to CTApodcast.live to get in touch.
Rich: Or you can call our hotline at (402) 718-9971 and leave us a voicemail. Your questions might be used for future episodes of the podcast.
Catelin: For now, like and subscribe. And we'll see you next week.