We hear all about content creation these days and how important it is to provide value to your customers. But how can you get started if you don’t currently have a strategy around content?
- Just get started. I’m facing this myself right now. I have so many ideas for blog posts but I know the importance of having a strategy. But remembering Mark Twain’s advice, it’s best to just get started. If you have ideas, record them right away! Then flesh them out when you can. You want to get moving on your content strategy, but it won’t hurt to post while you’re developing it. You can categorize your posts as you build your strategy.
- Talk to your customers. The whole point of creating content is to provide your customers with beneficial information. What do they need to know? What are their pain points and how should they address those issues? What kind of solutions can they put into practice immediately? You want to position your business as a resource for learning more. Be the source of the answers they seek.
- Identify your content pillars. These are the large “buckets” that your content will fall into. You can always add more, but start somewhere. List the categories your posts will fall into. For example, my pillars include content creation (how meta), branding, and social media management, to name a few.
- Build out your web. Ideally, you’ll have overarching pillar posts that are connected to other, more specialized posts. For example, I plan to have a branding pillar post with general information all about how to brand your company or yourself. Then I’ll link within that post to all the more specific posts I create, like Using Color for Your Personal Brand. You can think of it as a web of connected content, with the more interlinking the better. The interlinking is key; it will identify your site as an expert in your pillar topics in Google’s algorithm. Creating a plan for building out your web will give you direction for the content you need to create.
- Don’t forget to repurpose content! If your leadership writes a blog post, share it! Link to it! This is helping to promote your brand and you can use this as “free” content in your strategy.
- Share on ALL your social accounts. Your content strategy should include sharing on all of your social media platforms. It can sometimes feel like overkill from a marketer’s standpoint because we are looking at every platform. But remember, you have different followers on different platforms and if you only post in some places, you’ll be missing out on visibility from other sources.
- Go with the flow. Remember that this is a fluid process and you’ll should be making constant adjustments to your content strategy. Always be on the lookout for new ideas that will help your customers achieve their goals.