8 Tips for an Effective Digital Content Strategy
We all know that content is king. We know that one of the most effective ways to market your brand today is by creating effective content.
Think about it. You probably spend much of your day on the internet looking at articles, images, videos, audio, and other media. Much of this media is intended to promote a brand or get an idea across.
So how do you replicate the same for your business?
You want to create an effective digital content strategy. This, unfortunately, is not as easy as it may seem.
But not to worry! We’ve got you covered.
The Guide to Create a Digital Content Strategy
A digital content strategy is a blueprint to decide how to create content to promote your brand.
Here’s what you need to do to make a great digital content strategy:
1. Your Target Audience
You need to think about who you wish to speak to. Think about whom would best like your brand’s product/service. This is the first step in deciding how to create your content.
If you are speaking to a younger crowd, you may wish to opt for a more casual tone. For an older crowd, you may wish to be serious and measured. You will also get an idea of what type of content to produce and on what platforms.
You should use this as an opportunity to research what types of media your target audience would respond to the most – do they prefer articles, videos, podcasts, etc.? And what social media platforms do they most prefer?
2. Share Press Releases
This is often overlooked by many content strategists. Every now and then, you will have a major event that occurs within your company. This can be the launch of a product/service, a partnership, or an achievement by a company leader.
These events should be shared through a press release. A press release gives a brief statement on a major achievement within your company. This is one of the best ways to promote your brand and draw attention to its successes.
You should seek a great press release writer who can reflect these achievements. We suggest looking at this writing service to find the best writer.
3. Media
Once you have figured out your target audience, you will have a better idea of what media they best respond to.
Consider how often you want to write a blog post, design an infographic, make a video, or record a podcast. Make sure that your company works on hiring the right talent to create this media.
As you put out your media, you will notice which ones are faring well with your audience. This will help you decide what media to continually produce to best cater to your audience’s needs.
4. Content Management System
You need to consider which is the best content management system for your brand. You can opt for the ever-popular WordPress. Or maybe you want something more sleek and simple like Squarespace. The platforms are endless.
You also want to consult the marketing team on what content management system is best suited for them. Ideally, they should use one that they are familiar with or that they can easily learn.
You want to consider the aesthetic that comes with the content management system. Do the blog posts look neat and easy-to-read from your content management system? Are you able to seamlessly incorporate videos and audio content to your brand’s website?
5. Analytics
Once your content begins to build momentum, you want to properly analyze how it is faring. Using a service such as Google Analytics or Matomo Analytics, you can see how popular your website and content is.
Among the analytics you can look at is the traffic that your content is receiving. You can compare if the traffic has been growing, declining, or is stagnant. You can see demographics – looking at the age groups that visit your website. You can also look at the geographic location.
There are many metrics to look at through an analytics platform. These are necessary to determine and continuously update your content strategy. You may wish to ask your marketing team to produce a regular report of how your content is faring.
6. Setting Goals
As you continue to produce content and analyze its success, you are ready to set goals.
A goal may be increasing traffic each month. Or you may wish to reach a new target demographic. Setting these goals puts your marketing team in a position to think creatively and strive for growth.
Think about your goals and how they can improve your brand. Perhaps each month you can set a new goal and look at the results at the end of the month. If you fail, you can set new strategies to make sure you hit your goals next time. If you are meeting your goals, you know what to continue doing.
7. Social Media Distribution
Outside of your brand’s website, you want to consider where else you will share your content. The first place is always social media. As we discussed in our first tip, you can decide where to share your content (Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, etc.) to best suit your audience.
You also want to utilize each social media platform differently. For example, press releases, white papers, case studies, and other “serious” content can be shared on LinkedIn. Instagram could be used to share promotions. And Facebook is ideal for interacting directly with your audience.
8. Revise Your Strategy
The final step is to always revise your strategy. You don’t have to worry about getting your strategy “perfect” the first time. The strategy is a blueprint for how to prepare and schedule your content.
As your content wing grows, you should always look back at your strategy and revise it. Perhaps you want to increase the frequency of your posting. Perhaps you want to create different types of content.
If you regularly revise your content strategy, you will always be ahead of the game.
Send Your Content to the World
Now that you know how to prepare your digital content strategy, you are ready to send your content to the world. Producing and sharing content will help your brand grow and your company prosper.
Be sure to read more great content on how to grow your small business.
