Not enough time to create good content? Just COPE!

August 11, 2015

One of the biggest challenges that nonprofit communications professionals face is churning out a stream of engaging content to feed blogs, Facebook pages, e-newsletters, and other channels.

With so many channels that need quality content and limited time and resources, how do we keep up? Anna Marshall, Director of Digital Media at AdoptUSKids tells people to just COPE!

Before you assume that Anna is a heartless taskmaster, I should explain that COPE stands for “Create once, publish everywhere!”

The philosophy goes like this: rather than creating unique pieces of content for each and every communications channel you have, focus on fewer pieces of good quality content, then use them everywhere. Anna explains that she originally drew inspiration from NPR’s digital concept and uses this idea as a broader philosophy for communications professionals.

By re-purposing content across ALL of your communications channels, you can get a lot more bang for your buck.

Anna notes that AdoptUSKids held a Facebook Q & A event during National Adoption Month. Now they are taking the questions and answers posted during the chat to build out the frequently asked questions section of their website.

Similarly, they started the Twitter hashtag #IFosterBecause for National Foster Care Month and made images from some of the more notable tweets which they are now sharing on their Facebook page.

Here are a few more ideas of what you can do:

  • Develop a slideshow or Exposure photo essay? Share it on your blog, in your e-newsletter—you can even divvy up the individual images and share them as “Photo of the Week” features on Facebook
  • Write a cool blog post? Use Twitter to post a few quotes from it in the weeks after you publish. Share it on Facebook and post a photo from it to spark interest.
  • Give a good speech at an event? Have someone take photos and do blog post summarizing the event.

Small and mid-sized nonprofits in particular can stretch their limited communications resources by implementing this concept. And even better, this helps ensure that your most important audiences won’t overlook the best stories and content that you have to offer.

Teresa Guillien