Crafting A Strong Content Strategy

2. Unlike other Internet clickbait trends and marketing fads value-added content creation never goes out of style. The other thing about content is that consistency is of utmost importance. Even if you stop putting out quality content after a couple of months of great articles, any traffic gains you enjoyed will most likely fizzle out before the end of that month. Today, it’s not just enough to create a few pieces of unique content in order to stand out among literally thousands of content creators. Crafting a strong content strategy in today’s world means you need to offer value that is not currently being delivered by our competitors. Everything from your brand values to your target audience behaviour needs to be taken into consideration.

3. Everything from your brand values to your target audience behaviour needs to be taken into consideration. Most often, when marketing efforts fail to deliver consistent results it is because you have not carefully crafted a content strategy that leads the user on a positive journey of discovery. The lack of an effective content strategy is the most common barrier to the success of your brand marketing.

4. Start with simple, focused goals The first step towards a strong content strategy is to ask yourself why you are publishing content in the first place. Are you are you seeking more traffic? Engagement? Sign-ups and conversions? When you are clear on the purpose of your content creation exercise, you will be in a better position to craft a well-rounded content strategy that drives results. Defining the rationale behind your content strategy will also help you align your brand message with your content - making your published work more engaging and relevant. Relevant niche content helps you distinguish your brand over the world wide web that is slowly getting over-saturated with generic content an over-saturated industry.

5. Identify your target audience Crafting relevant content is like finding a needle in a haystack if you have no idea who you are pitching your ideas to! Market research isn't just for marketing agencies and startups - any business can benefit from a deeper understanding of their target audience that results from thorough market research. If you are part of an established business, take a look at your past engagement metrics to give you an idea of what your audience is interested in. This will help you identify target audience behaviours that drive interaction with your brand.

6. The next step is to fill out detailed profiles of different kinds of audience personas. Once you figure out what your target audience looks like, you can personalize your content and make it more engaging for every target segment.

7. Bonus tip: Use your audience profiles to help you determine the best channels for sharing content.

8. Platform-specific themed content Remember those bedtime stories that you heard from your grandmother when you were little? Remember a story you read somewhere that touched your heart? Ask yourself this: An impactful way to engage your audience is to use a cohesive, themed content. Instead of writing a hundred standalone articles (though there is nothing wrong with that) you will get better engagement if you write a bunch of 3-10 article series. The deeper you explore themed content, the more knowledgeable your followers and audience will think you are. That said, pay close attention to the platform you are posting to - if you are going to be publishing on a social platform, you will want to think about where your content will appear and tailor your writing to the platform rules and the type of audience that hangs out on that platform. Shorter content for quick-consumption platforms like Twitter, and leave long-form content for your blog page What really made those stories so remarkable? Which parts really tapped into your personal emotions? What made the story so relevant and relatable?

9. Diversify your content The key user to engagement in 2018 is to consistently publish quality content. The thing with consistency though, is that if you are writing the same things over and over, readers are going to get bored (even if you put out quality content. Once in a while, switch things up to break the monotony. For example, if you are always writing how-to articles, switch things up by interviewing an expert in your field. If you want to learn more about switching up your content, check out this videoby Youtube creator Roberto Blake. Specifically, he talks about three types of content you can switch between in order to keep your content strategy varied and your content interesting:

10. Hub content Remember those bedtime stories that you heard from your grandmother when you were little? Remember a story you read somewhere that touched your heart? Ask yourself this: Search-friendly content, tutorials, how-to articles Help content Share-friendly content, personal stories, content that sparks an emotional response What really made those stories so remarkable? Which parts really tapped into your personal emotions? What made the story so relevant and relatable? Hero content Purpose-driven content, newsworthy articles, serves a bigger purpose outside the publishing platform. Diversifying your content in this manner can help you reach out to and capture a broader audience base and keep your brand dynamic!

11. Staying Organized As your content creation progresses, your content bank can grow to mammoth proportions. Have a system in place to manage your content creation publishing from start to finish. Posting content may only take a few minutes but there is a lot of work that goes into managing a content channel before and after that. No matter how good your content is, sporadic, haphazard publishing will probably not do you any good.

12. Remember those bedtime stories that you heard from your grandmother when you were little? Remember a story you read somewhere that touched your heart? Ask yourself this: Here are a few tips from our team to help you streamline and manage your content creation process better: Use editorial calendars because these make it easier focus your thinking and create ‘deeper’ content. Keep things simple. Having ten downloadables and five videos for a single post is inefficient, exhausting and unnecessary - especially if you are a one-man army. If you are fortunate enough to have a team, assign clearly defined roles to each member of the team to ensure efficient collaboration. What really made those stories so remarkable? Which parts really tapped into your personal emotions? What made the story so relevant and relatable?

13. Your team must have an editorial lead who guides your content strategy. This person will manage the editorial process, writers, editors as well as content project deadlines. Train your content writers well. When creators have proper directions, they will be better equipped to hand in quality content to your specifications. What really made those stories so remarkable? Which parts really tapped into your personal emotions? What made the story so relevant and relatable?