Can anyone break down the step by step to make a content strategy for the next 12 weeks?
I've managed to grow quite a big audience on Instagram (nearly 10k). While my content is a lot about the topics I care about I feel as if it's too diverse and I haven't found the golden thread. People often ask me what it is that I do and I've struggled to actually get any inquiries about specific services I have advertised, and I'm still trying out a few different products to see what sticks.
What's the step by step to plan a content strategy without wasting efforts that don't lead to sale or that attract the wrong audience?
I just write about what I know and share my stories and lessons learned good, bad and ugly. To generate ideas I look at the calendar to see if there are any natural opportunities based on the season or activities, ask readers to take a poll or quiz, keep a running list of topics I get asked about and note when I read or hear about something new I want to explore further, a trend, theme or idea that catches my attention. If it is an issue that affects me or my business then it is likely to be a topic that impacts others too. If I have a unique perspective to share or any advice I think may help others I get it out there via social media or whatever distribution vehicle makes the most sense.
Content marketing works hand in hand with traditional marketing medias and equally needs a well planned strategy.
Having quality and relevant content will increase conversion rates and ultimately create trust between the business and customer.
Producing content that answers questions and helps the reader not only fulfils the task of keeping an audience engaged, generates inquiries and sales but also boosts your online visibility on search engines.
When planning a content marketing strategy that drives inquiries it is worth considering the following things:
- Calendar events that you can sync content to.
- Themes that customers can relate to.
- Seek out problems that your customers need solving.
- Develop a list of your ‘golden’ keywords to be the building blocks of all articles.
- Distribution - planning where the content will be delivered to reach your desired target audience.
- Observe your competition - notice keywords and media mix.
- Create the whole story - don’t just front load the customers journey - keep the quality thread throughout their whole experience.
Once you have created content make sure you repurpose it - different sources of traffic may want to consume the information in different ways depending on how much time they have got or what device they are using - for example someone with lots of time may want to scroll through a detailed article but another person researching on their phone during their break may prefer an infographic that gives them summaries of the content. Not forgetting those commuters that like to digest podcasts or watch video’s.
It goes without saying that to build a business you have to continuously evolve and try new things, as well as testing variations. Growth hacking is a term that covers the business desire for fast growth on small budgets.
The main goal will be to build a large customer base that you can then focus on retaining. By combining strategy, testing and analytics a growth hacker is able to make quick decisions to move forward in the direction that is most successful.
Anonymous
This is so good, Paige! Thank you for sharing your lessons! I do most of these ideas too but how do you get organized?! What systems do you have in place?