Some tips to get your company's note read 10 times more

More and more companies are starting to use note.

So today, I would like to write about “What can you do to get more people to read your company's note?” as well.

From my perspective as an editor who supports the communications of companies and business leaders every day, I would be happy if I could share some helpful tips.

The keyword is “content creation.”

Just writing text doesn't automatically make it content. To turn text into content, it needs to be 1) useful or 2) emotionally moving.

A mere list of information or a string of sentences won't catch a reader's attention. Only by turning it into “content” will it reach many people.

So, how should a company turn its communications into “content”? I would like to talk about that.

Writing your company's “story”

First, the most accessible type of content is “company history.”

Every company has an untold origin story. How has the company walked its path to get here? If you interview people and write about the company's founding, it becomes a unique and valuable piece of content.

When writing a company history, what is important is not just writing about the successes, but properly writing about failures and the difficult days as well.

When it comes to corporate communications, one tends to want to talk only about the good parts, but what readers want to know is the stories of failure and things that didn't go well. And how did you recover from that? How did you overcome those hardships? Talking about that is more compelling.

Stories about the struggles of the startup phase or times when the company was in the red for a long time are things many people can empathize with. Whether the company is famous or unknown, a story that everyone can relate to can move people's hearts.

On the other side of the browser, there are many people struggling with their work or lives. There are also people who are afraid of failure and unable to take on challenges.

In that context, if you write a story about “how you recovered from a difficult situation,” you should be able to encourage, support, and give courage to those people.

A company history serves as content while also acting as a “self-introduction.” Therefore, I recommend writing a “company history” in the early stages of starting a note.

Summarizing company or industry “know-how”

What is easily read as content is, after all, “know-how.”

Know-how unique to that company. Know-how discovered while working. Know-how that each employee possesses. If you summarize and publish these on note, they become content that many people will read.

For example, if it's an organizational consulting firm, if you turn topics like “How can a company run smoothly?” or “What is the job of a leader?” into content, many different people will come to see it.

If you feel that "our company doesn't have any special know-how," it's a good idea to broaden your perspective and talk about the industry instead.

Talk about the industry, not your own company. If you do that, people in the same industry will be interested and read it, and people in other industries will likely come to see it too, because what is common sense in your industry can be fresh or surprising when viewed from another industry. (It's like the TV show "Job Tune," isn't it?)

Don't just promote your own company, boost the entire industry. If you share information with that kind of mindset, the benefits will eventually come back to your company.

If it isn't read in the first place, the company's appeal won't be conveyed.

When I share things like this, I sometimes hear sentiments like this.

"Our company doesn't really want to put out content. We don't want to share know-how. We just want to convey our company's appeal. We just want people to know about our company."

I understand that feeling well.

However, as a matter of reality, if it isn't read in the first place, people won't know you exist, and you won't be able to convey your appeal.

For that reason, isn't content as a "starting point" necessary?

When the desire to have people know about the company is strong, you tend to write notes like "Company XX has started a note!" But the only people who will click on that are employees or related parties.

Of course, there are many ways to use note, so I'm not denying those kinds of notes. It's just that it's hard for them to become something that many people will read, that's all.

The solution is to start with "content" such as stories or know-how. Then you can write your company introduction or what you want to convey in the second half.

Use content as the "entrance" and the company introduction as the "exit."

Just because you want to introduce your company, you don't have to start with the company introduction. If your goal is to "have many people know about you and read your work," I think there is such a way to do it.

Would you read that note?

In any case, what is important is the "reader's perspective."

What does the reader think? Would someone who knows nothing about your company read that article? Don't forget that perspective.

If you think, "Hmm, it's hard to adopt a reader's perspective..." then you should try imagining whether you yourself would click on that article.

If that article appeared on your Twitter timeline, or if someone shared it on Facebook, would you actually click on it to go see it?

If you think about that, you can calm down and adopt a reader's perspective. And you should realize things like "Oh, I need to make the title a bit more engaging" or "I need to make the content more useful."

It is unrealistic to expect many people to read something that even you wouldn't read. "Would I read this?" is a good benchmark to use.

Interviewing each other

…I have been speaking quite authoritatively, but creating content and publishing it yourselves is actually quite difficult. (That is why the profession of editor exists.)

Therefore, I would like to introduce some tips on what to do when you hit a wall in content creation.

One way is to "interview each other." This is a method where employees within the company interview one another.

For example, you could go talk to a top salesperson in the sales department and summarize their "sales tips" in a note. If there is a great PR person who lands many deals, ask them, "What is your daily routine?" If there is a super engineer who works incredibly fast, ask them, "How do you manage your work?" and so on.

There is a wealth of know-how and knowledge lying around within the company. It is a treasure trove of content. You should interview each other about it, and if you find something that makes you say, "That's interesting!" or "That's useful!," turn it into an article. (If the person writing it is having fun, that will come across to the readers!)

Of course, there is no need to turn trade secrets or highly confidential matters into content. However, content like work tips, ways of thinking about work, or things you value as a leader should be fine to share externally.

If many people come to see that content and learn about your company, it will lead to company branding. Your fan base will likely grow as well.

Above all, by providing content in that way, you can even contribute to the world—though that might sound like an exaggeration.

Make it participatory and get everyone excited

Another way to create content is to "make it inclusive and participatory."

In the world of the internet, an arrogant tone or a stance of "letting you know" from the top down tends to be disliked.

Rather than a top-down approach, the culture of "sharing" is stronger. A stance like, "I heard something useful, so I'll share it with everyone," is often better received.

Therefore, when you are stuck for content, it can be a good tactic to publish content that says, "We are struggling with content." You can just solicit ideas there. Try asking straight out, "What kind of stories do you want to hear?" or "What kind of themes would you like to read about?"

Then, you might get suggestions from people within the company like, "Why don't you try posting about this?" or you might get advice from readers. As you go back and forth like that, people who have nothing to do with it might come to check it out, thinking, "Huh? They seem to be doing something interesting over there."

If you are stuck with your note posts, try sending out a message saying, "Please help us make this exciting," "Please help us," or "Please lend us your wisdom," and people will appear to lend a hand. If you maintain a stance of "not just having the company create and push out content unilaterally, but creating the note together with everyone," a circle will form little by little, and things should start to get exciting.

Twitter and note are a set

To get many people to read your work, "spreading the word" is also important.

Just writing a note won't easily bring in customers. You have to create a "flow" that leads traffic to your articles.

To use an analogy, "just writing a note" is like opening a shop in a location that doesn't face a main street. Therefore, you have to point to the main street where many people pass by and say, 'There's a shop over here!'

That is where "Twitter" becomes important.

I personally was able to grow my followers on both platforms by running Note and Twitter at the same time.

When you write a note, promote it on Twitter. Also, people who read your note might tweet their impressions, so you can retweet them or send a thank you or a comment. This is quite important for spreading the word.

There is one more benefit to running Twitter properly.

That is that you can compile tweets that received a lot of likes into a note.

Writing a note is quite a bit of work. It's painful to write a note suddenly and have it not read at all. So, you can post several ideas on Twitter, and then compile the ones that were well-received into a note. This reduces the chance of it not being read at all.

With Twitter, you can do 'test marketing for your note.' Because you can learn 'what is easy to read?' and 'what is well-received?' on Twitter, you will be able to write notes with peace of mind.

Therefore, I recommend running them as 'a set of Note and Twitter.'

In the internet world, "individual voices" are strong

Finally, I would like to share one important thing.

It is that in the internet world, "individual voices" are strong.

I think many people feel this way, but it is easier to convey a message when you can see the face of a person, such as "so-and-so" within the corporation, rather than a message as a "corporation."

It is true that there are Twitter accounts like Sharp or King Jim that are successful with just the company name. However, imitating that requires a sense of style, and bringing out the "personality" of an account can be a daunting task.

Therefore, if possible, it should be read by more people if you post as 'Tanaka from the PR department of Company XX' rather than 'Company XX.'

"People" react to "people." They feel attracted to "people." And in the internet world, this is even more pronounced. You should write notes by taking advantage of this 'strong individual voice' characteristic.

In that respect, I feel it is better to have each employee have their own note account and compile them into a corporate 'magazine' rather than creating one corporate account and having everyone take turns writing.

So that you can see each person's face. So that a "personality" appears there. Making the 'vibe' of the account come across is a trick to making a note attractive.

What it means for a manager to write a note

And when it comes to "individual voices" within a company, the one with the most influence is, after all, the "manager." I believe that having the head of the company post is the most effective.

Susumu Fujita, the CEO of CyberAgent, has been writing his own blog since the company's founding, which has contributed to the company's branding, recruitment, and sales activities.

After all, a leader's words are the most powerful, and they are what people are looking for in these uncertain times. I often have the opportunity to help leaders articulate their thoughts and create content, and I truly feel that when leaders share their own personal voice and messages that convey their warmth, the response is incredibly positive.

It might be difficult for a CEO to find the time to write on note. In many cases, communication is left to the PR department. However, I believe the return on investment is growing year by year.

Even if it is hard to write as an individual, for example, you could try conducting an interview with the CEO on the company's note. I think it would be great to keep increasing the amount of content that lets people see the face of the leader.

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