Make your content match your strategy
If you are like me, you agonise about what content to develop or share – how to keep a stream of ideas flowing… It isn’t fun!
Sometimes the ideas stop but don’t fret – its not the end of the world – step back … breathe and re-evaluate your strategy before moving on!!
Documenting Your Content Strategy
In our company, we are always looking at strategy first, content is exactly the same, your content strategy goes beyond the surface of what content you’re creating – why are you creating it, who is it for, what channels will you deploy it in, and how does each element support your content marketing strategy.
Did you know that within WSI we’ve discovered only 42% of content marketers document their content marketing strategy?
SO… if you’re feeling stuck, here are some tips to help you target for choosing the right topics for your Content Marketing Strategy
1. What are your organisational goals – do you really understand them
Why do you have a content marketing strategy in the first place? What are the goals of the organisation – what are you trying to achieve, you need to completely understand them..
For many companies, the leading organizational goals could be lead generation, increasing brand awareness, driving engagement, any number of objectives, BUT that’s OK, this is the starting point, and depending on the goals and needs of your particular organization, various types of content marketing are available to choose from.
2. Let the customers tell you – Use your analytics
Make use of your analytics to pinpoint what your audience likes. If you ever feel stuck choosing the right topics for your content, select your top-performing content pieces and try a new spin on an old favourite.
Analytics can help guide your decision making when it comes to your content marketing strategy. A useful tool that many businesses are exploring nowadays is a fully integrated content management system (CMS). For instance, Hubspot’s content management system allows content marketers to create and manage their content at ease, optimize their content to drive results, and track the performance of their content.
Access your social media insights and analytics to make informed calls when brainstorming new content ideas. Once you’ve identified your top posts, see if there is a common topic among them. Does a particular content type (e.g. text, image, video) consistently perform better than others? You may also want to analyze the level of engagement (e.g. likes, comments) on these posts.
3. Go on the Front Foot – Ask your audience
Asking your audience is another tip to help you choose the right topics for your content. At the end of the day, your audience is the people engaging with your content, so it’s important to know what type of content they want to see.
There are many ways you can go about this. It can be as simple as setting up a poll or posting a question on one of your social media channels. Ask your followers what type of content they want to see and leave room for open-ended replies.
Or even, let your FAQs help create blog topics – understand your most frequently asked questions from your target audience can help you choose the right topics for your content marketing strategy. Even when you feel like you’re running out of ideas and content, FAQs tend to evolve with trends. As time passes, the FAQs will change, shining light on new trends, challenges, and topics you can potentially address.
4. Define a digital marketing goal for each individual content piece
For each content piece you create, evaluate the topic and see how it stacks up to each of your organizational goals. This will also help you select the right key performance indicators (KPIs) to track and measure.
For instance, if lead generation is your leading organizational goal, the content goal should be aimed at appealing to the customer at different stages of their buying journey. In this case, content types could include creating e-books, white papers, or case studies.
If sales are also one of your top organizational goals, it’s important that the content you choose moves the sales needle. Good content that moves the sales needle doesn’t just inform, it builds trust.
Let’s say brand awareness is another one of your company’s organizational goals. In this instance, your content goal might be to generate referral traffic. Possible content types to consider are guest posts or influencer content. For example, collaborating with micro-influencers can help you cast a wider net to increase your brand visibility.
It’s important that the topics you choose align with your organizational goals in order to deliver an effective content marketing strategy.
Conclusion
Mapping out and choosing the right topics for your content marketing strategy takes strategic planning. Make sure you understand what content works for you, and what your customers engage with.
Make sure to document your content marketing strategy and make live by updating it as you go and content trends evolve. Choosing the best topics is a fundamental part of developing and driving an effective content marketing strategy.
If you need some help – reach out to us!
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