Developing a content strategy is too often overwhelming, though it doesn’t need to be. Coming up a strategy that will really connect with your audience can be a daunting task, but don’t worry any longer. Here are five steps to helping you create the successful campaign tools you need and want for your company.
1. Set objectives
When you start the process, keep in mind you should understand the difference between content strategy and other forms of traditional marketing. Once you have the difference defined, start by setting goals and objectives you want to see with your content strategy plan. Make a list defining what you specifically wish to accomplish with your content. Include reasons why you want to accomplish them. This shows the exact purpose for your content strategy endeavors and clear-cut rationale for the things you want to see accomplished.
2. Develop and track your strategy
When you’ve decided exactly what you want to accomplish, create several different ways to approach these goals. Use several different content pages and track the bounce rates, clicks and unique visits from your pages to properly understand what works best to connect you to your audience. Once you define the results you want and identify what clicks most with your audience, you can narrow down your content strategy plan. Ask yourself what kind of content will push you closer to meeting your goals. Don’t fully rely on your first content strategy being successful; it takes time and careful procedures to gear your content correctly for maximum results. Tracking your audience engagement will help you when building your most successful campaign tools.
3. Extend your reach
Content strategy is only as important and useful as your community reach is long. Where are you getting your clicks from? The Internet is a boundless space, but there are places where your clicks will be better received than others. Of course, social media outlets are always great for sharing your content and business, but where else can you find ways to reach your target audience? Execute a search to extend your reach to your audience.
4. Extend your conversation
Part of extending your reach is also extending the conversations you’re having with your audience. Keep track of your posts and content feedback to analyze what content is receiving more views and comments. You might have some authors who are more popular than others. Or maybe some of the content you’re posting is more engaging than the rest. Identify what is driving your most well received posts and promote it to maintain a great Internet presence and audience reach. Also, interact with those who are engaging your content. When someone comments, comment back. If your audience is conversing with you, continue it as long as you can. Proper audience engagement will prove to be one of your more successful campaign tools.
What are some things your company is doing to develop its content strategy? What’s working for you? Have you established goals for 2013 that are different than years past? Share your ideas and tips in the comments below.