January 10, 2019
[ Social Media ]
#social
#strategy
#wild

7 Steps to Creating the Perfect Content Strategy

Having a clear content strategy will help you stay on top of your posting schedule and ensure that everything you put out is in line with your overall goals. Here are 7 steps to creating the best content strategy.

 

Step 1: Have a clear objective

Set specific objectives and they will guide all your content. Have you ever asked yourself why you need to publish content in the first place? Your objectives can be both short-term, for instance, posts leading up to an event or a product launch, and long-term: improving the SEO ranking of your website, generating more leads overall, or gaining more followers across various platforms. Your content should always contribute to an objective. They should also be in line with your brand/company’s overall objectives.

 

Step 2: Conduct a content audit

A content audit is an important step in understanding how you can organise and optimise your existing assets. The audit should be done on two levels: content and channels. Note down what content you already have and what platforms you use to publish them. This includes newsletters, articles, blog posts, and posts across your social media channels. Assess each based on these questions:

  • Is this evergreen content that can be repurposed and recycled for future content?
  • Which type of content performs the best? Which performs the worst?
  • Which channels reach the biggest audience?
  • Which channels encourage the most engagements and which underperform?
  • At what time of the day does my content get the highest engagement?
  • Does my existing content align with my company and content objectives?

Based on the evaluation of your current content, you will have clear direction in your strategy, knowing what type of content you should continue to develop and what platforms you should use to best get your message across.

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Step 3: Create content pillars

Now that you have an idea of your direction, you need to narrow down your focus. Content pillars will help you categorise the content you publish, making it easier to visualise how it lines up with your objectives. Content pillars vary based on your objectives but here are a few examples:

  • Company news
  • Behind the scenes
  • Events
  • Branding
  •  Product promotion
  • Interactive
  • Offers or calls to action

Rather than posting only self-promoting content, it is important to have a variety of content pillars, which together will help to build a three-dimensional image of your company. Ration the number of posts for each depending on the importance and effectiveness of the pillar. This will allow you to have a wider range of content, keep in line with your objectives, and reach the most people possible.

 

Step 4: Decide what type of content you want to put out

Look back at your all the information you’ve collected in the last three steps. Based on your objectives, assets, and content pillars, discern what types of content are the best to help you reach your goals and get you the most engagement from your target audience. This content can be:

  • Blog posts
  • Articles
  • Infographics
  • Reports
  • Newsletters
  • eBooks
  • Social media posts

Again, be sure to balance the type of content you publish to remain relevant and avoid repetitiveness.

 

Step 5: Create a plan

This is where all your posts will be organised by category and date, giving you a clear idea of when to post, publish, or send out your content. Below are some samples of clear plans:

1. Monthly Calendar

An overview of the day’s content across all platforms.

 

2. Monthly Calendar

Useful for long-term planning around date-specific events.

3. Platform Plan

A clear look at the content on a single platform.

Find a plan that works best with how you want to schedule your content.

 

Step 6: Delegate roles

A good strategy includes clear roles for your team. Be sure to dictate who is in charge of which content or platform and this will ensure that things get done when they should be.

 

Step 7: Be flexible!

Make your plan flexible enough to respond to and accommodate any sudden changes that may happen in your company or your social environment. This could mean recreating a viral trend and adding to the conversation or responding to a certain social event to show your company’s awareness. This will also help your content be more humanised and catered to your community.

 

Not sure how to do a content audit? Don’t know what your content pillars should be? Let us help you.