Lisa Gerber is the author of today’s guest post, the chief content officer of Spin Sucks and the soon to launch Spin Sucks Pro. She is an Idaho expat in Chicago, trying to make mountains out these molehills. They aren’t even molehills really. She also tweets for @spinsucksIt’s Tuesday night. I’m in the office wrapping up my day and creating my list for Wednesday. Here is what it looks like:
6 am: Get up
Ride bike to office – try not to be angry biker chick.
Coffee cup #1.
7:30 to 9: Spend about 90 minutes checking, commenting and responding to emails, my Google Reader, Twitter for both @lisagerber and @spinsucks, Facebook, and Google Plus.
9 am and coffee cup #2: My brain is optimally caffeinated at 1 ½ cups. It’s time to write. Close out the distractions and write content for Spin Sucks Pro.
11 am: My world revolves around a big fat spreadsheet called curriculum.xls. It’s the editorial calendar and the pivotal piece to any work for a CCO. I have several tabs set up, divided into big areas such as professional development, blogging, SEO, website, social marketing, and the last one is for random ideas – a sort of dumping ground to be sorted later. Each line has a topic, a deadline, an assigned person and it’s supposedly organized in sub-topics, steps and order of scheduled publication date.
I keep this open all day. As I go about my business, and ideas spark, I add them in the appropriate tab. Last week, I moderated a Spin Sucks Pro webinar with Marcus Sheridan, The Sales Lion. He is never lacking in content topics. He gets them every day from his sales team, and his customers. Every time anyone asks a question of their pool business, he asks himself, “Have I blogged about this?” He keeps a notebook in his car. I have my notebook too. and I have my spreadsheet.
Break and Reward: Facebook time!! Then, check all the networks and respond to anything that needs immediate attention.
Early afternoon: Screen queries and pitches for Spin Sucks. We typically invite guest bloggers, but still entertain pitches and queries. Our team has been working together to refine the blog guidelines and ensure we’re providing content that matters, and that provoke ideas and conversation.
Next, review the guest submissions for the following week. Edit or return to writer for requested edits. That was something that was hard for me to do at first; send it back for edits. No one has ever complained. Don’t be afraid to send guest submissions back for changes. It’s your house.
Late afternoon: Spins Sucks Pro contributions: Each week I brainstorm with the team on what subject matter experts we’d like to invite to contribute in the form of articles, videos, audio or webinars. I work with guest contributors on topics and guidelines.
4 or 5: Take a break for a run or a yoga class. I use that time to resolve any unresolved issues floating in my brain.
Evening: Wrap up loose ends, respond to emails, input Thursday’s guest post, comment on Spin Sucks, and write my list for Thursday.
That’s what the list looks like, anyway; not that the day ends up looking like that. Because, then I arrive at the office in the morning and well, the universe usually has other things in store for me. But a girl can dream, right?
I know a lot of you are chief content officers of your own businesses, whether by title or not. What would you add to the list?
Lisa Gerber is the chief content officer of Spin Sucks and the soon to launch Spin Sucks Pro. She is an Idaho expat in Chicago, trying to make mountains out these molehills. They aren’t even molehills really. She also tweets for @spinsucks
Tuesday we had an earthquake in Central Virginia. Maybe you heard about it. As of last night we were still having aftershocks and frankly, I don’t think any of us living here have gotten over the emotional shock of a 5.8 rated quake. I was sitting outside having lunch with my daughter in Charlottesville’s downtown pedestrian mall when the quake hit. It was definitely a WTF? moment as the motion and sound took everyone present a second or two to register the thought, “This is an earthquake.”
