Last week Social Media Club San Diego (SMCSD) hosted an event with Michael Stelzner, founder of Social Media Examiner and author of Launch: How to Quickly Propel Your Business Beyond the Competition. At the event, Stelzner shared his Elevation Principle — a blueprint on how to launch a businesses by developing a solid content strategy. He believes that if you focus your efforts around great content that provides value to your customers and eliminates marketing messages, your business could achieve stellar success.

I would have to say that of all the SMCSD events that I’ve attended, this event was one of my favorites. At the end of the presentation, I had already downloaded Launch and had a list of content ideas that I wanted to produce (stay tuned for a review of his new book). If you’re interested in learning more about Stelzner’s new book, you can download your first chapter of Launch today.

 10 Content Marketing Tips to Launch Your Business

1. The Elevation Principle Formula: Great Content + other people – marketing messages = Growth
2. If you can solve people’s problems at no cost then many of them will wonder what you can do if they paid for your services.
3. Cage your marketing messages. Marketing if friction to your business – it slows down your growth.
4. There are three things people want: insight, access to great people, and recognition.
5. 80% of your content should not have a marketing message tied to it. Just be willing to help with no strings attached.
6. Shine the spotlight on others such as outside experts and successful peers.
7. Primary Fuel: How-to articles, expert interviews, reviews, news stories, and case studies.
8. Nuclear Fuel: Report based surveys, white papers, top 10 contests, micro events (i.e. webinars, videos, podcasts).
9. 95% of your Facebook Fans will never come back to your Facebook Fan Page. Fans will get your information via the news feed.
10. Social Media Examiner will be releasing the 2012 Social Media Marketing Industry Report on Tuesday, April 3, 2012.