Content Creator and Inbound Marketer, Erica Tafavoti

Hey here!

We are starting our Live Chat with Erica Tafavoti, Content Creator and Inbound Marketer now! It will last for an hour 😄

Here’s more from Erica:

“What I Do: I’m a natural writer with a passion for content marketing, currently working as a Scrum Master for a real estate technology company. I work with just about every department in the company and do my best to make projects go as smoothly as possible! I also run a restaurant and food blog, Bacon & Braids, and do some writing for local food publications. I’m also looking for freelance writing opportunities! My biggest career goal is to work with local businesses (particularly restaurants!) to help them create a memorable brand experience for their customers.

Others: My free time revolves around two main passions: food and dogs. When I’m not cooking or eating, I’m volunteering at my local animal shelter. I photograph dogs on the weekends for the shelter’s Facebook page, and I also foster — so my home is a revolving door of sweet dogs! I also have one permanent BFF and nap buddy, my pitbull mix Chuy. To burn off a few of those aforementioned calories, I also love weight lifting, yoga, and playing tennis and golf. I love to be outdoors!”

Thanks for joining us today, ​Erica!

“Yay, so excited to be here Alfred Lua! A thousand thanks for having me! I hope my fingers can keep up. 😄”

Content Marketing

Erica, what do you find most challenging about content creation/marketing and how do you deal with it? 😊 — Alfred Lua

“Great question!

Hm, I’d say delivering the right content at the right time, to the right people. Even the most impactful message can be off-putting if it’s delivered at the wrong time, or to someone who isn’t ready to hear it.

I think it’s important if you work for a company with sales and customer support to take time to engage with them as regularly as possible! The people on the front lines always have the most timely, unfiltered information! And even if you don’t, jump in as many forums/facebook groups/linkedin groups as possible and start conversations with real people who are potential customers for you.”

Thanks for joining us, Erica. Does the company you work for have a defined sales funnel and do you create content to address different parts of the funnel? — Joshua Price

“Yes! We use Marketo defined scores to funnel leads down, from marketing qualified to sales qualified. Of course, those scores are never perfect, so there’s lots of adapting as we go!”

In your opinion, does it matter how dry content for ​content marketing​ is? My content production experience was in ​content for entertainment​; I’m curious about how you’d frame the differences in the nature of those two content types, besides just intention. — Damon Clark

“I think the two definitely go hand in hand, Damon! The best content marketing is a wonderful blend of both — it’s easy to read, but still informative. I think Hubspot does a wonderful job of that. They write in a clever, playful manner but still nail their key points.

I think it’s much harder to master writing for entertainment, Damon! If you have that down, I bet you’d make a killer content marketer. 😁”

Is there a specific process you go through when creating new content, like a structured plan of finding your content, inspiration, etc and working towards the final product? — Sommer Leach

“I use a Trello board for content ideas that spring up, but I’m not quite ready to create them yet, Sommer. If you come across a great resource you’d like to use eventually, stick it on a board somewhere until you’re ready for it. But when inspiration strikes and I know “this is the right time for this”. I put my headphones on, listen to a focus playlist on Spotify, and knock out a first draft. Then, take a step away and edit later in the day! I wrote a bit about that process here

Why don’t you write like you’re running out of time?

Trello is a gamechanger! I fell victim to the bookmarking or Pocket-ing for too long before I admitted I needed to be more organized!

(Hat tip to Jay Egger for sharing about the free Pocket to Kindle service!)

Great question, Sommer! In that same train of thought, do you spend more time planning or writing? Would love to hear more about your content curation process — Sami Grady

“I would say personally, I spend much more time planning. Real estate is a super seasonal business, so getting the right eBooks or blog posts out when people need to hear them is the tough part. I’ve been told I’m a particularly quick writer, so that part comes quite naturally. I try to get a first draft out in one setting, in the time it takes me to go through one bottle of water!”

In regards to ‘Buyer Persona’, how does knowing one’s age and the number of children he/she has is useful? — Vipul Bansal

“I think it totally depends on the product! Though I can see there may be some correlation between those factors and disposable income 🤔 If your product is more of a luxury item. For the type of products I work with, it isn’t necessarily helpful information.

But I have written a buyer persona template for real estate agents to use before, and for them it’s incredibly useful! Age and children help determine what they discuss and show their clients. So, it depends!”

Writing

What are some of your favorite writing projects or pieces that you have produced? Any that you are particularly proud of? 😊 — Sami Grady

“I put together a “Real Estate Marketer’s Guide to Social Media” a few months back that I was super proud of! It touches on the different social networks and how real estate pros can use them to improve their brand and discover potential clients! I’m digging for the link now and will add it in just a second!”

Hi Erica! I agree, writing for entertainment is much harder. There’s a fine line between personality and sounding, well… silly — and I say that because a lot of the time I hit well off the mark. What skills have you learnt or practises do you employ to keep it engaging? — Lex

“It’s definitely something I’m always working on as well! One thing that’s helped me is just getting more comfortable saying things that are just a biiiiiit out of my comfort zone. Having a blog or public journal on the side had helped quite a bit. You can get comfortable really “writing like you talk” on Medium or a personal blog.

And depending on your job and how conversational you can be, you can always dial it back for professional work.”

Did you get into content marketing because of your work on your blog? What made you want to start the blog? — Jay Egger

“I remember discovering a lifestyle blog called The Londoner when I was a senior in high school and thinking “Ok, this girl has life figured out.” She ate, traveled, and looked so cool doing it all! I started up my food blog a few years later after I became more comfortable writing, using wordpress to make code changes, and on social media. Having that side outlet has really helped my writing!”

My biggest problem is I get scared that what I’m doing isn’t original. I love playing board games, video games and eating, but I feel like I’d just be ANOTHER board game blogger — Jay Egger

“Oh, there’s definitely tons of food bloggers too! But I figured if it was something I’d be doing anyway (eating for me, playing board games for you) Then maybe something I write would entertain or inform someone else, it’s worth it!

I’ve met so many wonderful people writing for my food blog, and I bet you’d experience the same!”

How long into writing did it take you to get noticed? I’ve done some paid freelance writing and it has gone off well but I feel weird just writing on a blog when I could potential find an outlet to pitch. — Jay Egger

“I think having a blog as a source for your writing definitely comes in handy when contacting or pitching someone for a writing piece, Jay! For me, when I contact a local food magazine, I can point them to my blog. It gives them a sense of my tone, and shows that this isn’t just a job for me, that writing is my hobby too!

I wouldn’t say I got noticed, necessarily, but it did take me a few months of writing to get the nerve to contact a local magazine and say, hey, I think I can do this!”

So you went from blog writing to freelance writing? — Jay Egger

“I do both! I only freelance write on food for now, locally. So it’s definitely not enough to pay the bills. It’s more for exposure/diversifying my portfolio at the moment. I’m seeking out more freelance work in the form of more technical writing. Blog posts for tech companies, etc.”

Thanks so much for the reply! If I may ask another, what’s your number one tip for a personal blog/personal Medium site? I’d love to blog but get bottlenecked with nerves when I’m trying to come up with a topic. — Lex

“ I struggled with the same thing very recently! I would say, don’t be so hard on yourself! If you write because you love to write, rather than putting immense pressure on yourself with every post, it will eventually become much easier to hit “Publish”. Getting one or two out and getting over that initial cringe really helps! I’m fairly new to blogging/Medium, so it’s still something I’m getting over!”

A conversational style (“Talk to me like a person”) seems to be the direction everything is heading. Do you read outside of work, and do you read and enjoy anyone with a heavily ‘contrived’ voice? Such as Hemmingway, Kipling, or an online writer, etc. — Damon Clark

“I wouldn’t say I particularly seek out anyone with a contrived voice. But one of my favorite books, Ishmael by Daniel Quinn, is definitely not too conversational at all! Recently I’ve been more into biographies which are extremely conversational generally! So I would say I lean toward that.”

Personal Growth

Do you have any big goals, writing or otherwise, for the next year, Erica? — Sami Grady

“Personally, I want to to publish a blog post a week on my food blog, Bacon & Braids. I tend to get caught up in work and go a few weeks between postings. I want to be more consistent there and really build an e-mail list!

More professionally, I’d like to be published on more technical websites as a guest author and be able to diversify my income a bit with more freelance work. I’ve got dreams of moving west eventually (Portland or Seattle are calling my name) so I’d like to become more comfortable writing in different verticals and a stronger all-around content writer.”

Hi Erica! It’s so exiting to have you here! I feel completely identified with what you just said about “Pocket-ing”. How do you manage your time? Do you have some kind of routine? You said you spend a lot in planning. You also keep in touch with every department. I guess you also read a lot (books, articles, etc). And you also have to write before the inspiration goes away (as I just saw in your Medium post). Seems like a lot! — Jorge Calle

“I use Pomodoro as often as possible! But on days with tons of meetings, it isn’t too helpful. I try to spend my lunch break and the last 30 mins of the day reading all of the articles I’ve come across during the day that I’d like to read. And then if it relates to something I’d like to write, I’ll add it to a Trello board for use later!

I also try to spend 30 mins-1 hour a day out of notifications (slack, email) to knock out the must-get-done tasks for the day. I just have to send a message about it so no one’s looking for me!”

Just read about pomodoro. Do you use an actual timer or a digital one? — Jay Egger

“I’ve used a few different chrome extensions. None are perfect, but different ones have different benefits. This one is good:

Pomodoro Timer

Just because pomodoro sounds pretty cool what do you typically do during short breaks? — Jay Egger

“I usually go for a walk around the office or a quick breath of fresh air outside! Jay, I’m a fitbit wearer, so I have to get in those steps! 👣

Thanks for the answer Erica. Indeed, Pomodoro is a powerful tool limited by the situation. Love your tips! Using Pocket as a general pool and Trello for filtering what is related to your writing. What app do you use for your must-get-done tasks? — Jorge Calle

“ We use JIRA for project management, so if it’s directly related to my scrum team, my tasks are there. Otherwise, it’s good old fashioned paper and pencil on my desk!”

What’s a day to day look like for you as a scrum master for the company you work for? — Joshua Price

“I typically come in the morning, look at our JIRA planning board, and make note of any tasks that seem to be taking a bit longer than anticipated. Then, we have a morning standup, and I bring up any of those tasks if they aren’t already mentioned. Then, from there every day is a bit different! I still work a lot with our marketing department even though that isn’t technically my title, so I coordinate with Product Marketing Managers for any release notes or customer marketing. I’m talking with developers and our project manager all day, every day, trying to find out their needs.

It’s definitely true “servant leadership”. If anyone needs it done, I get it done. I touch base with every department from IT to our Executive Team every day.”

“Thanks everyone for chiming in here! So awesome to chat with all of you guys! Feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn or send me a follow on Twitter! Can’t wait to chat with you guys more in the community!”

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