Web 2.0 brought some serious changes on how content is being used. Producing valuable information for your audience is a must, especially when you want to educate your visitors, leads or clients on certain topics related to your industry. That’s why we wrote this blog post so you can create a content marketing strategy that actually works.
Content is king, but how do you manage all that content? Well, it is best to start working on a content strategy that will give you a structured overview of what the creative and when to distribute it on your different communication channels. If you don’t have any idea where to start from, we’ll help you with some key insights.
Here’s what you should take into consideration:
Find your objectives
First of all, you need to find out what you want to achieve. This way, every piece of content you create will serve a certain purpose for your business: increase brand awareness, generate traffic or leads, create a list of subscribers, etc.
Of course, you will need to make all of these objectives measurable. This way, you will be able to appreciate your content’s value and see how it can lift up your business.
Once you establish your SMART goals, try breaking down each one of them into smaller steps you need to take in order to achieve them. By simply determining all goals for a longer period of time, you will help the content creators during their work process.
You can use various types of content to achieve your goals: blog articles, case studies, e-books, podcasts, webinars, interviews, live streaming videos, etc.
Don’t be afraid to get as creative as you want, but make sure you use the right channels that will enable you to reach your clients.
Establish your target audience
If you want your strategy to work, you will need to create one by focussing on the audiences you create it for. What type of content is your target audience consuming? What are the sources they prefer? What format? What about the tone of voice?
The best way of getting your job properly done is to develop buyer personas. Consider their journey in the buying process while creating your strategy.
Don’t forget to take into consideration how you will reach out to your target audiences.
Nowadays, it’s naïve to believe you will obtain the wanted results only by relying on organic website traffic. Invest in social media in order to increase your reach.
Choose the right social media platforms based on the interest of your audience.
Choose the content that suits your case
Once you have established your goals and audience, it’s time to choose the types of content you want to use. For instance, if you need to increase the traffic on your website, you can use blog posts, share website content on social media, awareness ads, Influencer posts that link to your website, etc.
If your purpose is to generate leads, you will need to use e-books, webinars, white papers, and downloadable content in general that enables you to collect basic contact details of your leads.
Another thing you have to consider is your resources. If you don’t have the budget for contracting specialists for video content (or you don’t have a specialized in-house team), it might be better for you to use other types of content.
Stick on what fits your brand – and even more, on what you can afford.
Plan your content distribution
Planning and spreading the distribution of your created content is as important as the other mentioned steps. The best way to do this is by creating a content marketing calendar. Make sure everyone in your team will have access to it and will know exactly what their responsibilities are.
Consider all the steps: idea, research, creation, distribution and the follow-up process.
Promote your content
These days, promoting your content is a must. You can use owned media (such as your website, blog or social media channels), earned media (reviews, mentions, reposts, shares) or paid media (PPC ads, display ads, remarketing, paid influencers, etc.).
Of course, you don’t need to use all of these channels. Just test and choose those that fit your brand. But don’t stick to the familiar marketing channels you are already using.
Experiment with new ways of content distribution. For instance, on Facebook, you can write a post, add a link to a blog post, start a poll or create a contest. Test, analyze, improve, and repeat.
Evaluate the results
Don’t stop your efforts here. It’s mandatory to track your content’s performance and strive for perfection. There are plenty of tools you can use, from Analytics mode provided by certain tools you use to specialized programs.
Compare the performance of various types of content and share your findings with your team. This way, you will be able to involve everyone in the process.
There you have it! This is all you need to consider when creating your content marketing strategy. It will take some time to plan it from scratch, but it will help you have a clear vision of what you want to do.
We created a calendar that you and your team can use as a starting point in order to easily create and organize content. It will help you keep track of the main activities: type of content, responsible persons, task status, call to actions, metadata, measurements of success, etc. You can personalize it as you wish, considering the processes of your business.
Pro tip: Read more about our marketing tips and tricks on our blog.
