7 Steps to Create a Content Strategy and Commit to It
You might have heard the saying: content is king. Bill Gates was the one who brought this phrase in 1996 in his article called (you guessed it right) Content is King. The essay came out back then, when blogging, podcasting, social media were foreign terms. Although more than twenty years have passed after this iconic piece was published, content is becoming more and more paramount to every business.
Articles, videos, pictures, guides, and any other type of material can boost business success. Then it comes as no surprise that 88% of today’s brands use content marketing to accelerate sales, increase brand awareness, and educate the audience about their product or service. It’s a strategic method to prosper with low-cost involved.
Cheap, yet effective marketing is key for smaller companies to establish in the market. Moreover, the good news is, 70% of internet users would rather engage with a company through organic content than paid advertising.
As good as it sounds, a few mediocre blog articles and lousy Instagram posts won’t help your business reach its goals. For it to thrive, you have to come up with a powerful content strategy. Often, the problem with campaigns is a lack of consistency and easy-to-stick routine. But it’s time to change the vicious circle. In this article, you will find practical tips that will help you to craft a compelling content strategy that is easy to commit to.
Seven Steps to a Better Content Marketing Campaign
The content campaign has to become the first and foremost guidance on marketing your business. Below are seven tips on how to develop a campaign that will lead your business to the next level of excellence.
- Set the goal to pave the way
The purpose of a content strategy is a fundamental part to begin with. The target is like a Northern Star for defining an audience, crafting ideas, and setting KPI’s. Think about why do you need a content strategy in the first place and what do you want to achieve with it.
These targets can be as simple as establishing the brand in the market, generating more traffic, or educating users about the product or service you provide. However, it’s easier to follow up with objectives when they’re specific. Specific means setting up a measurable target within an appropriate time frame, for example: generate 30% more organic traffic to the website within 4 months. After defining the goal, it’ll be easier to move on with the next steps.
2. Characterize the audience
Content without an audience isn’t worth much, the same goes if you’re targeting wrong people. The audience helps to come up with relevant topics, pick the most suitable communication channels, and adapt content types and tone of voice.
Probably you already have some specific people in mind, but you should go more in-depth. The critical point is to be emphatic and put yourself in consumers’ shoes. What are their concerns and problems that your business could solve? What communications channels do they follow, and what kind of content do they find relevant? Brainstorming on these simple questions will help you determine a person instead of a number on an analytics tool.
After having a better idea, what’s your ideal buyer, put it on the paper. Of course, it’s better to go paperless and use online tools. HubSpot Make My Persona is a great platform to create specific persona descriptions and make them look good. If you haven’t brainstormed on the first part, you can use the WebFX tool, which offers to create a buyer persona from scratch by identifying general features like age, gender, and geographic preferences.
3. Generate content ideas
I like to call it the fun part, but it’s not as fun when you face a creative flow block. We’re all humans, and you can’t generate 100 excellent ideas in one day. And it’s not necessary because the content is dynamic and depends on trends and emerging topics. That’s when many marketers slip, because if you came up with those 100 ideas for the upcoming year or two, eventually, they will lose relevance and stop generating leads. Moreover, you risk losing interest in producing content what’s so ever.
However, ideas that are more like guidelines for future material are highly recommended. Pick a three-month time frame and came up with several persuasive topics. You don’t need to create different issues for different channels, you can reuse them and adapt. This way, one piece can generate more significant value.
To make your content more relevant, always update it with trendy topics. If it’s challenging to follow up with every Twitter surge, you can always use public holidays, some seasonal ideas, and other occasions. Google Trends is a helpful tool to find trendy matters depending on the location and date.
4. Create content
Thousands of blog posts, pictures, and videos are being published every day. It’s hard to establish a unique voice and make your content authentic. However, it’s the goal to attract and interest your audience. Although you might want to pick topics that no one has ever discussed, it’s enough to find a fresh approach to the old ones. Perhaps you can adapt it and showcase it through your company’s perspective.
Despite authenticity, you should always strike for value and consistency. In the beginning, you have so many compelling ideas, you want to publish them all. Yet, it’s better to find a pace, and instead of flooding the web with numerous blog and social media posts, concentrate on creating value for followers.
Take a blog as an example. In the beginning, you might publish bi-weekly blog posts, which is good, because, at the end of a year, you will have 24 pieces of content. Remember that these articles will serve you a long time, so no need to rush.
Cluttering your content strategy with mediocre posts won’t take you far, and eventually, make you run out of ideas. To avoid that, consider reframing and recycling existing content. You can always adapt articles to guides and ebooks and turn videos into courses or series. That way, you can divide your content smarter and bring more value with less work involved.
5. Adapt ideas to different types of content
So, you have a bulk of topics, and now it’s time to adjust them to different types of content and media channels. Blog posts can become the starting point. Of course, choose what works for your business, but if you find it relevant, a blog post is a great way to start.
You can pick an article and adapt it to a video, eBook, or infographics. Post this new material on social channels. For example, written content might be more suitable for Twitter and LinkedIn, while photos and videos fit Instagram and Facebook better.
6. Reach your audience
If you defined the target audience at the beginning of crafting the strategy, then it will be breezy later on to find suitable media channels to reach them. There is a number of communication channels out there; however, to prosper, you don’t need to target them all.
However, it’s important to publish the right content depending on a channel. You might want to post more comprehensive and formal material on LinkedIn, instead of posting photos from a beach. On the other hand, long-form articles might not reach their full potential if posted on Instagram.
When you find what works best for different channels, make a calendar template to mark when and where you are going to post. You don’t need a complicated system, to begin with, an Excel sheet can do magic if used properly. Of course, to make your work more efficient, consider using scheduling and posting tools. Some useful platforms are Loomly, Buffer, Hootsuite.
7. Analyze and adapt
The secret to sticking to a content strategy is always updating and adapting it. Pick KPI’s for different content types and follow up. Always analyze whether the material is reaching its goals. If it’s not, perhaps there’s room for improvement, or you need to change your tactics completely.
As mentioned previously, it’s recommended to have some core ideas for a more extended period, but don’t go too far. Making set ideas for three months is enough because trends change, and your company adjusts accordingly. For instance, if you plan a year upfront and those topics become irrelevant, it would not only hurt your brand and engagement but also reduce motivation to create further. So, give yourself flexibility and don’t take the content strategy as a fixed plan.
Although almost every company in the world produces some sort of content, it doesn’t mean it’s all good and valuable. So, begin with a professional content strategy and strive for quality, then it’s only a matter of time before your business begins to flourish. Always remember that a way to a great content campaign follows only a few simple steps:
- Goals to lead the way
- Defining the audience
- Generating ideas
- Creating engaging and evocative content
- Adapting content to different mediums
- Reaching and communicating to your audience
- And always working on improving it
