How to Develop Your Own Content Strategy

Yo, it’s Alessio Cordeddu from EdithMedia.com and today I wanna talk to you about how to develop your first kick-ass content strategy.
To start out with, I would say that the art of storytelling has definitely changed in the last few years. It’s changed in terms of distribution, promotion, reach, etc.
Yet, the main goal of a story is always the same: grabbing people’s attention.
So, first of all we need to find out what people’s attention is focused on…

Oh well, we already know it.
If you look around, everybody holds their smartphone in hand. Then, as business owners, we’d better find a way to get into those phones earlier than our competitors.
It goes without saying that developing a kick-ass content strategy would lead your business to both getting new customers and deepening the relationship with the old ones.
Business owners tend to wrongly share the same pieces of content across all the platforms.
They only share numbers, trying too hard to sell their products.
That’s why they don’t succeed.
Instead, those who succeed have recognised that stories are easier to remember than data.
That customers primarily use emotion rather than information.
That in the long run, human brain doesn’t distinguish between reading or hearing a story and experiencing it in real life.
Successful brands don’t explain their products’ characteristics anymore.

Better, they make us grasp a brand-new prospective - showing how our lives can change by purchasing their product.
Nowadays, advertisers and social media managers are into the business of emotions.
They have to convey emotions by sharing high-quality content and not pushing to sell their stuff.
It might sound counter-intuitive, but if you want to sell a shitload of stuff and get to top of your realm — you need to focus on the long term: long-term relationships, long-term business strategies, etc.
We’ll come back to this point pretty soon.
As an eternal student, I spend a lot of time studying big brands behaviour. I’ve gathered a few common features that they follow when it comes to telling a story…
It’s kind of a repeatable pattern, so don’t miss it out!
STEP 1) Define your mission
This point is particularly important because it comes with the most crucial feature of your social media strategy: congruency.

Sharing different pieces of content across all the platforms doesn’t mean that you have to do it randomly.
I like to see each piece of content as a piece of a puzzle.
Each piece fits in with the old ones — and all of them create a story, a map.
Find your mission, and start producing content.
It might be audio, video or written word — it just has to bring value to those who consume it.
Does it sound easy?
This point alone would deserve a whole article (or even a master’s degree): take some time to find your mission.
If you need some inspiration, just look at Nike’s page - they’re ridiculously good at producing top-notch content.
As you already know, their pay-off states: just do it.
Their mission is to motivate and inspire athletes, and they’re probably the best in the world at doing it.
I’ve extremely loved one of their last photos — a young Cristiano Ronaldo companied by the words “this boy knew” and their logo. Simply brilliant.
STEP 2) Create your story
Once you define your mission, you have to create a good way to spread it to the World.
In Jonah Berger’s book — “Contagious — Why Things Catch On”, the author says that we have to build our own Trojan Horse: a carrier narrative that people will share, while talking about our product or idea along the way.

I find it such a great point.
Basically we teach people how to share their experience with us.
Word of mouth still influences a lot of people — and social media marketing is word of mouth on steroids.
People hate to look like walking advertisements. They don’t want to talk about data, they want to convey emotions.
That’s why they have to be taught how to spread the mission we defined at STEP 1. How to do it?
Once again, it’s always a matter of good content.
The easier it is, the better.
Don’t be afraid of hiring an expensive video-maker: he will help you to dive deeply into your business’ gist and show it in the best way possible.
Not to mention, that video will be staying onto your timeline forever.
STEP 3) Your client’s alter ego
This is the funniest part of the strategy.
It comes directly from my background as a sheer digital marketer. I usually suggest my clients defining an actual “buyer persona” based on their typical follower’s characteristics.

Give him/her a name, write down what their job, age and education are. What’s their biggest dream, and what they’re doing to achieve it.
What are their concerns, fears?
This point will lead you to find out what words or subjects resonate most to your followers.
Take everything into account, and your content will become more relatable to them, and that’s exactly what they’re looking for.
BONUS: Look for an actual face on the Internet and assign it to your follower’s profile. Print it and keep it on your desk.
What would it like to read? What kind of content would it like to consume?
It will stimulate you anytime you’re lacking inspiration.
STEP 4) Build up your own context
Find your own way to tell stories, to release news through your own filter.
Oftentimes, the context that surrounds a story is much more interesting than the story itself.
TV series, fiction, podcast, and also VLOGs’ success is based on this point. They create a well-defined environment, in which followers can feel welcome and expect a certain type of interaction.
I personally follow various daily VLOGs, and sometimes it happens to watch a boring episode, due to a boring day. But the next day, I’ll still be there.
People will crave to get to your channel and discover what you think about up-to-date events. Furthermore, they will be willing to engage with your posts and interact each other.
As I wrote in an old article of mine, people want to match a voice to a brand. Work on that voice, that style. It has to be vividly recognisable by your customers.

Prefer a simple language over an over-elaborated text. It has to arrive to those who read as soon as possible. Keep it short and clear.
Oreo is such a master in creating their own context. Their whole social media strategy has been built up on showing the world through their OREO wonderfilled lens.
Their profile is the result of great minds meeting a huge budget, have a look at it.
STEP 5) Jab, Jab, Jab… Right Hook
If you follow me on Instagram, you know that I’m a huge fan of Gary Vaynerchuck.
In his book “Jab, Jab, Jab… Right Hook”, he talks about the importance of creating and sharing top-notch content on a daily basis, in order to get closer to the customers and to deepen your relationship.
Bring value to your followers — E.G. if you have a restaurant — show them how to cook your most popular dishes, reply to their comments, clear up their doubts.
It’s not gonna be easy, but it’s definitely gonna be worth it.
Share great chefs’ recipes, wish them a good Monday accompanied by a delicious pasta.
Bring, them, value.
Then, only then, throw your right hook. It might be a promotion, the launch of a new product, etc.

I want this to be the last point of this article. You know why?
‘cause it’s tremendously important.
My generation has been bombarded by an infinite amount of bad advertisements.
I still remember the first time I got an Happy Meal from McDonald’s and it was completely different from what I expected. And I could keep on talking about popular products that don’t meet the expectations provided by the advertisements.
This is the reason why we tend to be generally skeptical of persuasion attempts.
Also, people are less likely to argue against stories than against advertising claims.
Thanks to your pieces of content, your product or service take a place into customer’s life. Anytime they live the same situation you’ve created in your context, they will think of your brand and products.
This was Alessio Cordeddu from edithmedia.com, and I wish this article can help you somehow.
Thanks for your attention,
Peace
