Planning your content strategy for 2015
Catherine Bowden - 1 April 2015
The start of a new year is always a great time to take a look at your objectives and aims for the coming months. Time spent getting things right now can reap great benefits later on and this is particularly true for your content strategy. We know that content is a key part of getting SEO to work for you, but it’s not just about writing great articles. You need to really know your customers and understand what they are looking for. You also need to make sure that you have an efficient way to share and distribute your content and that your site is set up to promote your content as much as possible. Finally you should put analysis tools in place to enable you to check that your strategy is achieving what you need it to.
A successful content marketing strategy incorporates many elements and here are the key things we feel that businesses should focus on:
Make sure your content attracts the right customers
As with all business decisions, the customer is key so the best way to start your content strategy is by taking a look at your client base and working out what they want to see on your site. An easy way to do this can be to look at the content you have already. Take a look at which posts get read the most and the ones that have the most comments. You can also use your social media to see which posts have been shared the most and use this information to drive your content plan for the next year.
It is also worth taking the time to look at the issues that affect your customer demographic, and considering what is going on in your business that might be of help or interest to them over the next year.
Audit your existing content
Make sure that your current content is still relevant and delete any out of date posts. You can also re-edit any existing posts to keep them fresh and up to date. If you know that a particular post always gets a lot of hits you may want to add some more information into it such as a link to a new product or service that you are offering as this is a great way to reach more people.
Work out how you will get your content shared
Once you have planned your content you need to work out how you will get it seen by your potential customers. Social media is a great place for getting shares, so make sure that your Facebook and Twitter sites are up and running. You should also work at building relationships with your key influencers. Happy customers, industry bloggers and complementary businesses are all people who will share and promote your content.
Look at your layout
Google is increasingly focusing on website design and how usable it is for the customer. So, you need to make sure that your content is easy to find and really stands out on your site. Don’t hide your company blog away – make sure that it is one of the first things your customer sees!
Understand what success looks like for your strategy
Underpinning any strategy is the analysis that tells you whether it is working or not. You need to understand what success will look like for you. There are a number of points you might like to look at when analysing your strategy. Make sure you have plans for regular reviews of your strategy when you can assess how it is working and amend or fine tune anything that is not getting you the results that you want.
Some things you might want to consider are:
• Page views
• Shares on social media
• Comments on posts
• Others sites linking to your post
• Time spent by customers on that page
By creating a robust strategy and knowing the outputs that you are looking for, you can make 2015 the best year for your website content yet!
Find out more about Wagada’s content marketing service in and around St Albans.
