What Is Content Strategy? Why Your Site Needs One
Read Time 28 mins | Written by: Joel Falconer

Your website is one of the most important pieces of your marketing arsenal. It’s where you can showcase your products and services, connect with customers and clients, and build trust. But if your website is lacking a content strategy, you’re doing yourself a disservice.
What is content strategy? Simply put, it’s the planning and execution of creating, managing, and optimizing content for your website. This includes everything from developing editorial calendars to writing blog posts to creating social media schedules. A good content strategy will help you achieve your business goals by providing valuable content that engages your audience and drives traffic to your site.
What is a content strategy?
A content strategy is a plan for creating and managing content in order to achieve specific business goals. The strategy outlines the type of content that will be created, how it will be distributed, and how it will be used to support the business.
For example, a company's content strategy might include plans to create blog posts, infographics, and ebooks on a regular basis in order to drive traffic to the website and generate leads. The strategy would also specify who will be responsible for creating the content, what format it should take, and how often it should be published.
What are the benefits of having a content strategy?
A content strategy offers numerous benefits. By planning out and organizing your content, you can ensure that it is effective and relevant to your target audience. This can help you build credibility, establish trust with customers, and increase conversions.
1. Increased ROI
Having a content strategy can increase ROI for your business by 43%. A content strategy is key to success for brands that want to generate leads, increase sales, or raise brand awareness. A well-defined content strategy helps marketers achieve their marketing goals efficiently and effectively.
2. Increased brand awareness
When a company has a content strategy in place, it allows them to better connect with their target market. The content produced will be of a higher quality, which will help create stronger relationships between the customer and the brand. Additionally, search engines will be more likely to rank the company higher if the content is high-quality, giving the brand more authority.
3. Improved customer loyalty
A content strategy can improve customer loyalty by providing quality content that amplifies brand awareness, solves problems, and influences decisions. Understanding the customer journey helps you empathize with your audience and solve the right pain points, which can lead to increased customer loyalty. Other benefits of having a content strategy include improved search visibility and authority, and the ability to reach your target audience without being blocked.
4. Increased website traffic
When a website has a content strategy in place, it can see an increase in website traffic as well as many other benefits. A content strategy provides a plan for what kind of content to create and how to promote it, which can lead to increased brand awareness and revenue. Additionally, the strategy is like a flywheel - it gets easier over time, meaning that the benefits compound if you stick with it even when your competitors have given up.
5. Improved search engine ranking
Having a content strategy in place can improve your website's search engine ranking. Search engine optimization (SEO) is a powerful and durable source of traffic, and evergreen content (content that is relevant over long periods of time) has SEO opportunities. News does not have SEO opportunities because it changes too frequently. Content marketers must research keywords in order to rank well in search engines. Content that is relevant and valuable to the search engine algorithms will rank higher. Adding video content to your website can increase traffic and rankings. Creating and publishing high-quality content is essential for website success.
6. Increased web presence
Your business needs a content strategy to ensure that your web presence is consistent and engaging. A content strategy will help you create and distribute relevant, valuable content that speaks to your audience. Measuring the success of your content will allow you to make necessary changes and improve your overall web presence.
7. Increased social media following
When a website has a content strategy in place, it can increase its social media following and see numerous benefits as a result. By creating engaging and useful content, website owners can encourage their audience to share that content with their own networks. This leads to increased followers and potential customers for the website. Additionally, well-crafted content helps build relationships with potential customers and establish the site as a credible source of information.
8. Increased brand credibility
A content strategy can help to increase brand credibility and provide other benefits by helping to improve the expertise, authority and trust of a company. Creating high-quality content that is well-researched and covers relevant topics will help with this. Google continues to improve its understanding of entities, which allows it to more easily recognize authoritative authors. Having a search volume behind a top-of-funnel query can be an indicator of the quality of your content.
9. Increased brand awareness
Developing and implementing a content strategy can help increase brand awareness and provide numerous benefits. Quality content is key to attracting customers, engaging them, and building trust. Good quality content can help increase search visibility and authority, as well as improve brand reputation.
10. Increased revenue
When a business has a content strategy, it can increase revenue by attracting more website traffic and generating new leads. By creating evergreen content, businesses can experiment with other marketing tactics to generate revenue. By educating prospects and generating awareness for the brand, content is also a valuable asset for increasing revenue.
How do you develop a content strategy?
Creating a content strategy involves researching, planning, producing and distributing content.
Marketers should use a variety of research methods to determine their goals and objectives, target audience and topics that interest them. They should also assess the competitive landscape and identify potential opportunities. Once these steps have been taken, marketers can develop an editorial calendar that outlines topics, publication dates, and channels for distribution.
Finally, marketers must monitor their content performance and make adjustments as needed. Having a good understanding of analytics will help them measure the success of their strategy.
Step 1: Define your goals
The goal for content is to increase awareness, lead capture, and conversion rates. The success of the content strategy can be measured by analysing the relevant metrics such as page views, time on page, bounce rate, and conversions. Additionally, qualitative goals can be distilled into measurable objectives to help assess the success of the content strategy.
Step 2: Find out all you can about your audience
It's important to understand your audience and what they care about. Knowing your audience's habits and preferences can help you create content that is tailored to their needs. Additionally, understanding their challenges and interests can help you create content that resonates with them.
Step 3: Examine your competition
By understanding your competition, you can learn what content strategies they are using and how to adapt or improve upon them. Additionally, by examining your competition, you can identify any areas in which they may be vulnerable to your own marketing efforts.
Step 4: Develop a written roadmap
The first step in developing a written content roadmap is to understand the overall goal of the project. What are you trying to achieve with your website or blog? This will help determine the type of content that needs to be created.
Once you know what you want to achieve, you need to research your audience. Who are they? What do they want to see on your site? How can you reach them? This information will help shape the direction of your content strategy.
After understanding both the goals of the project and the needs of your audience, it's time to start mapping out a plan. Use a template to create a comprehensive and concise roadmap that outlines everything from governance and workflow to promotion and distribution.
Now that you have a plan, it's time to start putting it into action! Begin by documenting production and content workflows, creating a content calendar, and onboarding and training team members on the new strategy. Then start promoting and distributing your content through various channels, keeping an eye on metrics along the way so you can optimize as needed.
Step 5: Identify the best channels to promote your content
The best channels to promote content can be identified by understanding which platforms are popular with the target audience and using them accordingly. Multichannel marketing is the standard approach to digital marketing, so it's important to use all available channels. This will ensure that the widest possible audience is reached.
Step 6: Measure your content strategy
You can measure your content strategy by evaluating your goals and metrics. You can also improve it by being adaptable and constantly evolving.
What goes into a content strategy?
1. Define your goals
One of the most important aspects of content marketing is setting goals. Without goals, it's difficult to determine what content is successful and what needs to be improved.
Start by defining how you want your content to impact SEO. Do you want to increase website traffic? Rank higher in search engine results pages? Increase leads or sales? Once you have a general idea of your goal, you can start defining specific goals and metrics to track progress.
Your goals should be meaningful, time-bound, and quantitative in order to be achievable. This means they should be specific (e.g., "I want to increase website traffic by 20% within six months"), measurable (e.g., "I want to increase website traffic by 20% within six months by publishing 2 blog posts per week"), and relevant to your business.
Content should be aligned with your marketing funnel and goals to ensure the most effective and efficient use of resources. For example, if your goal is to generate leads, then you'll need to create content that is appealing to potential customers early in the buying process. Conversely, if your goal is to increase brand awareness, then you'll need to create content that is more top-of-the-funnel.
Qualitative goals can also be set, such as wanting to become the authority on a certain topic. However, it's important to remember that qualitative goals are harder to measure than quantitative goals. Relevant metrics can help track progress toward these types of goals.
Once you've defined your goals, it's important to make sure they are specific, measurable, achievable, and relevant to your business. This will help ensure that your content marketing strategy is effective and efficient.
Here are a few tips for defining your goals:
1. Define your objectives
What are you trying to achieve with your content? Are you looking to generate leads, increase brand awareness, or drive sales? Defining your objectives upfront will help you tailor your content strategy accordingly.
2. Determine your target audience
Who are you trying to reach with your content? Knowing your target audience will help you create content that is relevant and interesting to them.
3. Set measurable goals
Goals should be specific, measurable, achievable, and relevant to the business. This will help you track progress and determine whether or not your content is successful.
4. Define relevant metrics
There are a variety of metrics you can use to track progress toward your goals, such as website visits, social media engagement, leads generated, etc. Choose the metrics that are most relevant to your business and goals.
5. Align content with the marketing funnel
Not all content is created equal. Some pieces are meant to attract attention and generate leads, while others are meant to convert prospects into customers. Make sure your content is aligned with the marketing funnel and corresponds with the stage the prospect is in.
2. Conduct persona research
The next step in developing your strategy is to figure out who you're talking to (and who you want to be talking to). It'll serve you well to have a holistic view of the audience:
- Demographic data (age, gender, location, etc.)
- Which websites do they visit most frequently?
- What platforms do they use to communicate? (Do they prefer Twitter or Instagram?)
- Whose opinions do they trust?
Once you have a good understanding of your target audience, it's time to start doing some persona research. This involves creating fictional representations of your target audience members, which you can then use to guide your content strategy.
There are a few different ways to go about this. One popular approach is to use demographic information to create archetypes. For example, you might have an "urban mom" persona who is active on social media and likes reading parenting blogs. Another option is to think about the needs and motivations of your target audience and create personas based on those. For example, you might have a persona called "the struggling student" who is looking for help with her homework.
No matter how you choose to do it, persona research is a key part of any successful content strategy. By understanding your target audience better, you can create content that speaks directly to them and resonates with them.
There are a number of different ways to conduct persona research. Here are a few:
1. Survey your audience.
You can survey your audience directly to learn more about their demographics and interests. This approach is especially useful if you have a large audience or if you're targeting a specific segment of the population.
2. Use social media listening tools.
Social media listening tools allow you to track mentions of your brand or keywords related to your industry across social media platforms. This data can give you insights into who is talking about your brand and what they're saying.
3. Use Google AdWords data.
Google AdWords allows you to target ads to people based on their interests and activities on the web. You can use this data to get an idea of which topics are most relevant to your audience.
4. Conduct interviews with customers or stakeholders.
If you have access to customers or stakeholders, you can interview them to learn more about their needs and how they interact with your content. This approach can be especially valuable if you want to get detailed feedback about specific pieces of content.
3. Define your audience segments and buyer personas
When creating a content strategy, it is important to know who you are targeting with your content. This means defining your audience segments and buyer personas.
Audience segments are groups of people with similar characteristics, such as age, gender, interests, or job title. Segmenting your audience allows you to target them more effectively with your content.
Buyer personas are fictional representations of your target customers. They help you understand what motivates your target customers and what they need from your product or service. Defining your buyer personas is essential for creating effective content.
There are a number of different data sources that you can use to segment your audience and learn more about their wants and needs. For example, you can use demographic data from surveys, social media data, or purchasing data from ecommerce websites.
By understanding your audience segments and buyer personas, you can create content that is more relevant and engaging for them. This will help you achieve your business goals, such as increasing sales or generating leads.
4. Conduct keyword research
When it comes to content strategy, keyword research is essential. By finding the right keywords for your audience and developing content around them, you can drive traffic and higher SEO rankings for your website and brand.
There are a number of great tools that can help with keyword research, including Ahrefs and Google Keyword Planner. These tools allow you to find the keywords that are most relevant to your audience, so you can create content that resonates with them. Additionally, you can use Google Trends to determine the popularity of certain keywords. This tool allows you to see how often a particular keyword is being searched for, so you can gauge its potential for your content strategy.
By using these tools and incorporating relevant keywords into your content, you can create a strategy that drives traffic and engages your audience.
5. Conduct content research
Content research is the process of gathering information to help you understand your user's needs as well as the topics and keywords they are interested in. This information can be used to create content that is relevant and useful to them.
There are a number of different ways to conduct content research, but the most common is to use search engine analytics and social media monitoring tools.
Search engine analytics can give you an idea of what topics people are searching for on your website. This information can be used to create content that targets those keywords and topics.
Social media monitoring tools allow you to see what people are talking about on social media websites. This information can help you determine which topics and keywords to focus on when creating content.
6. Brainstorm content ideas
When it comes to content strategy, you always want to be brainstorming new ideas. Here are some tools to help get you started.
- Feedly: Feedly is a great way to keep track of all the latest news and trends in your industry. You can create custom feeds for your niche, and then use those as sources of inspiration for new content ideas.
- BuzzSumo: BuzzSumo is a tool that lets you see the most popular content across all social media platforms. This can be a great source of inspiration for creating your own viral content.
- BlogAbout: BlogAbout is a tool that helps you find blogs to contribute to in your industry. This can be a great way to build links and get your content in front of new audiences.
- CoSchedule Headline Analyzer: The CoSchedule headline analyzer is a tool that lets you test the impact of your headlines before you publish them. This can help you make sure your headlines are as attention-grabbing as possible.
- HubSpot's Website Grader: HubSpot's website grader is a tool that grades your website on factors like SEO, traffic, and social media engagement. This can be helpful in identifying areas where your website could use improvement.
How can you come up with great ideas when there's so much noise out there?
- One way to generate new content ideas is to think about what your audience wants. What are their pain points? What are they curious about? What do they need help with?
- Another way to come up with content ideas is to look for gaps in the market. What haven't you seen covered before? What's been overdone? What are people tired of seeing?
- Finally, you can also come up with new content ideas by looking at what's working for your competitors. What are they doing that you can emulate or improve upon?
To get started, come up with a list of topics that your audience would be interested in. You can use your existing top-performing content as a starting point, or come up with a list of keywords and brainstorm related topics.
Once you have a list of topics, it's important to determine which ones are the most relevant to your audience. You can do this by using tools like BuzzSumo, Ahrefs, and Semrush to see which topics are getting the most engagement online.
Once you have a list of relevant topics, it's time to start creating content!
7. Choose a content management system
When it comes to choosing a content management system, there is no one-size-fits-all answer. However, there are a few key things to keep in mind when making your decision.
1. What are your team's abilities?
Do you have a developer on your team who can help manage the CMS? Or is the CMS going to be something that can be managed with little to no additional code? If you don't have a developer on your team, you'll want to choose a CMS that is easy to use and doesn't require any coding.
2. What are your goals?
What does your organization hope to achieve with its website or websites? Are you looking for a CMS that integrates forms easily so you can gather user feedback? Or do you need a CMS that can handle large amounts of data? Consider your organization's goals when making your decision.
3. What's your budget?
While most CMSes are free, some do come with a price tag. Make sure you know what the cost of using a particular CMS will be before making your decision.
Once you've considered these three factors, you should be able to narrow down the field of viable content management systems to a few that fit your team's needs and goals.
There are a lot of different options to choose from. But which one is the best for your business?
To figure that out, you'll need to consider your needs and budget. Some CMSs are more expensive than others, and some are more customizable. Others are easier to use, making them a good option for small businesses or bloggers.
Here are a few of the most popular CMSs:
- WordPress: WordPress is the most popular CMS in the world. It's free and very easy to use, making it a good option for small businesses and bloggers. It also has a huge community of developers who can help you with customization and development needs.
- Drupal: Drupal is a good option if you need extra customization and data management capabilities. It's also free and has a large community of developers. However, it can be more difficult to use than some other CMSs.
- Sitecore: Sitecore is often used for enterprise websites that need strong security and scalability. It's not free, but it does offer a lot of features and can be customized to meet your specific needs.
- Magento: Magento is used by more than 200,000 online stores across 20+ industries. It's not free, but it offers a lot of features and can be customized to meet your specific needs.
- Ghost: Ghost is a blogging platform that's used by millions of people. It has a streamlined design, making it easy to use and perfect for bloggers. It's also free and open-source.
These are just a few of the many CMSs out there. There are plenty more, so make sure you consider all your options before choosing one!
8. Plan your content calendar
Your content calendar is your best friend. By plotting out your content in advance, you can ensure that you're publishing fresh and relevant content at the right times. Not only will this help keep your website's traffic up, but it will also help improve your SEO ranking. It'll help you stay organized, but it also allows you to track your progress and ensure that all of your content is aligned with your marketing goals.
There are a few different ways to go about creating a content calendar. The first is to use Google Trends to identify seasonal and cyclical topics that you can capitalize on. You can also audit your website's own traffic data to see when your audience is most active. Additionally, you can look at your competitor's editorial calendars to get an idea of when they typically publish their new content.
Planning your content calendar is essential to a successful content marketing strategy. By planning ahead, you can ensure that you are publishing content that is relevant to your audience, while also achieving your organizational goals.
Once you have a good understanding of your target audience and the keywords you want to target, it's time to start planning your content calendar. Begin by drafting a brief for each piece of content that you want to publish. This brief should include the title of the piece, the author, the target audience segment, the content format, and the due date. You should also include any associated keyword queries with high search volumes so that you can target those keywords with your content.
Once you have all of your briefs drafted, it's time for editing. Give your drafts to your team members for editing and make sure all stakeholders are on board with the publication date. Once everything is edited and approved, it's time for design and development. Make sure all deadlines are met so that you can publish your content on time.
Your content calendar should include:
- Title
- Target Segment or Persona
- Format
- Author
- Target SEO Keyword(s)
- Keyword Volume
- Notes
- Publication Date
- Content Brief Deadline
- Draft Deadline
- Editing Deadline
- Design Deadline
Your content calendar doesn't have to be a complex document. In fact, you can keep it simple by using a spreadsheet or Google Docs.
The most important part is to plan ahead and map out your content ideas and topics. This will help ensure that you're not scrambling at the last minute to come up with something to write about.
It's also helpful to schedule time for promoting your content. This could include social media posts, email marketing campaigns, or paid advertising.
Finally, track the results of your content marketing efforts. Use tools such as Google Analytics or BuzzSumo to see how well your content is performing.
9. Publish and manage your content
When it comes to publishing and managing your content, there are a few important things to keep in mind.
First, make sure you have a plan for creating and publishing your content. Who's responsible for creating what, where it will be published, and when it will go live?
Second, make sure your content is high quality. This means writing well-written, informative articles that are relevant to your audience.
Finally, make sure you're regularly publishing content. If you don't publish regularly, you'll lose readers and credibility. Publish new content at least once a week to keep your audience engaged.
If you're working with other teams within your company, make sure you collaborate with them to ensure everyone is on the same page when it comes to publishing content. This will help prevent overlap and ensure that all of your content is high quality and aligned with your company's message.
10. Test your content and campaigns
Testing your content and campaigns is one of the best ways to ensure that you're getting the most out of your efforts. By split testing different elements, you can determine what works best for your audience and produce better results.
Here are a few tips for testing your content:
- Always test one variable at a time. If you change more than one element, you won't be able to determine which change made a difference in performance.
- Test different types of content. Not all content performs equally well across all channels or platforms. Try testing different pieces of content to see what works best.
- Use data to make decisions. Don't rely on your gut feeling when it comes to testing content - use data to make informed decisions about what works and what doesn't.
- Be patient. It takes time to test content properly - don't expect overnight results. Allow enough time for each test so that you can get accurate data.
- Keep track of what you've tested. It's helpful to keep track of which elements you've tested so that you can refer back to them later on. This will help you make decisions about future campaigns with more confidence.
It's important to always be testing and tweaking content to see what works best. Try different headlines, subject lines, and calls to action. Experiment with the distribution of your content, and see if there are any days of the week or times of day that perform better. And finally, always measure the results of your changes so you know what's working and what needs to be changed again.
11. Prioritize quality over quantity
When it comes to content strategy, quality is always more important than quantity. No matter how often you post, if your content isn’t valuable, your audience won’t stick around.
That’s why it’s so important to focus on creating exceptional content. This will not only help you rank better in search engines, but it will also help you attract more visitors and increase brand affinity.
So, how can you create high-quality content? Here are a few tips:
1. Plan ahead.
If you want your content to be high quality, you need to plan ahead. Don’t just write when you feel inspired – have a content calendar and plan out your topics ahead of time. This will help you ensure that all of your content is well-informed and relevant.
2. Research your topic thoroughly.
When you research your topic thoroughly, you can be sure that your content is accurate and up-to-date. This will help you build trust with your audience and establish yourself as an authority in your field.
3. Write for your audience.
When you write for your audience, you can be sure that your content is relevant and useful. Cater your writing to your target demographic, and make sure that all of your content is easy to read and understand.
4. Use original research and data.
If you can include original research or data in your content, it will stand out from the competition. This will show that you’re an authority on the topic and that you’ve put in the extra effort to produce high-quality content.
12. Build expertise, authority & trust (E-A-T)
One of the most important aspects of any content strategy is building expertise, authority and trust (E-A-T). This is especially important for enterprises looking to improve their SEO.
Google has long been focused on measuring E-A-T as a way to determine the quality of a website. In fact, many ranking factors within Google's algorithm are meant to measure it in some way.
There are a number of ways to build E-A-T for your brand. One of the most important is through content. By creating high-quality content that showcases your brand's natural expertise, you can improve your E-A-T and rank higher in search results.
Other ways to build E-A-T include developing a strong social media presence and earning positive reviews from customers. When it comes to SEO, nothing is more important than trust. By building E-A-T, you can make sure your website is seen as a credible source by Google and your customers.
Building trust is essential for any business, and it starts with creating content that demonstrates your brand's natural expertise. From a search perspective, there are several things you can do to improve your E-A-T, including:
1. Creating high-quality content.
Google wants to show its users the best possible results, so it rewards websites that publish high-quality content. This means publishing content that is genuinely helpful, informative and engaging.
2. Establishing yourself as an expert in your field.
One of the best ways to improve your E-A-T is to establish yourself as an authority in your field. You can do this by publishing thought leadership pieces, speaking at industry events, and participating in online forums and communities.
3. Building relationships with other experts.
Networking with other experts in your field is a great way to build trust and credibility. You can do this by collaborating on blog posts, attending webinars, and participating in social media chats.
13. Evoke an emotional response
When it comes to content strategy, evoking an emotional response is key. Why? Because emotions drive decisions.
Think about the last time you made a big purchase. chances are, you were feeling some kind of emotion when you pulled the trigger. Maybe you were really excited about the new TV set you were buying or maybe you were anxious about how you would afford the monthly payments. But either way, your emotions played a role in your decision-making process.
The same is true for content marketing. If you want to persuade your customers to take action, you need to evoke an emotional response. And there are lots of ways to do that.
You can create emotionally resonant headlines that capture your audience's attention. You can craft powerful stories that tug at people's heartstrings. Or you can use persuasive images and videos that stimulate the emotions of happiness, anger, sadness, or fear.
The bottom line is this: If you want your content to be effective, it needs to hit people on an emotional level. So focus on creating content that stirs up strong feelings and watch your conversions soar!
14. Plan a variety of content types
Content strategy is the process of planning and creating content to achieve specific business goals. A big part of a successful content strategy is planning a variety of content types. By planning a mix of content types, you can appeal to different demographics and reach more people.
Here are some of the most popular content types:
- Blog Posts: Blog posts are a great way to share your thoughts on a topic and engage with your audience. They can be informative or entertaining, and they can be used to drive traffic to your website or blog.
- Articles: Articles are similar to blog posts, but they tend to be longer and more in-depth. They can be used to educate your audience about a topic or promote your business.
- Whitepapers: Whitepapers are long, in-depth documents that focus on a specific topic. They’re often used to promote a product or service, or to educate potential customers about a topic.
- Ebooks: Ebooks are digital books that can be read on devices like smartphones, tablets, and laptops. They’re a great way to provide valuable information to your audience and promote your business at the same time.
- Guides: Guides are like ebooks, but they’re typically shorter and more focused. They can be used to help your audience learn about a specific topic or do something new.
- Case Studies: Case studies are in-depth looks at how someone used your product or service to achieve success. They’re a great way to show potential customers the value of your product or service.
- Interviews: Interviews are conversations with interesting people in your industry or field. They can be used to introduce new ideas and concepts to your audience, or to promote your business.
- Checklists: Checklists are helpful tools that can be used by your audience members in their everyday lives. They’re a great way to provide valuable information while also promoting your business.
- Templates: Templates are helpful tools that allow your audience members to create something specific using your templates. They’re a great way to provide valuable information while also promoting your business.
Keep in mind that your target audience may prefer certain types of content over others. Be sure to do your research and plan accordingly.
One way to come up with new ideas is to look at your competition. What are they creating that your audience seems to love? Can you do something similar or better?
You also want to make sure that you’re producing a variety of content types. This will help keep people engaged and coming back for more. Not everyone loves reading blog posts, for example. Some people would rather watch a video or look at an infographic. By providing multiple types of content, you can appeal to a wider audience.
15. Define your distribution and amplification strategy
When it comes to content distribution, there are a variety of ways to get your content in front of more people. Paid advertising is one option, but it's important to understand the return on investment (ROI) before you start spending money.
Another way to distribute your content is through blogger outreach. This involves reaching out to online publishers and other businesses and asking them to share your blog posts, graphics or videos.
Social media is another powerful way to amplify your content. You can share posts multiple times across several platforms, and even run paid ads. Just make sure you track the results so you can see the impact of your efforts.
If you want your content strategy to be successful, you need to think about amplification and distribution from the beginning. By using a variety of methods, you can reach a larger audience and see better results from your marketing efforts.
There are a few key things to keep in mind:
- Share your content across several social platforms.
- Execute blogger outreach to online publishers, and even other businesses to promote your blog posts, graphics or videos.
- Don't be afraid to run paid ads. Just make sure you understand the ROI before you go on a spending spree.
Conclusion
Content strategy is an important part of any marketing plan. By creating valuable content, you will be able to better engage with your audience and promote your business more effectively. When it comes to distribution and amplification, you need to think beyond just posting on social media. Be sure to use multiple platforms and strategies in order to reach a wider audience. With the right content strategy in place, your business will be well on its way to success.
FAQs
What is content strategy?
Content strategy is the high-level planning, execution, promotion, and on-going management of the content lifecycle to support key business initiatives. Essentially, it's your brand's game plan for driving traffic, leads, engagement, sales, and other business outcomes through content.
When executed well, content strategy is one of the most important components of your marketing strategy. But, it takes time and money to create great content. So whether you outsource blog posts or develop videos in-house, it's critical to have a budget in place to ensure that you're able to produce quality content on a consistent basis.
What are the main goals of content strategy?
There are many goals that can be achieved through content strategy, but some of the most common ones include:
- Increasing brand awareness.
- Driving traffic to your website or blog.
- Generating leads or subscribers.
- Building relationships with customers and potential customers.
- Enhancing SEO efforts.
Who is responsible for developing and executing a content strategy?
The short answer is: everyone.
But really, it depends on the organization and what's involved in the content strategy. Typically, there are three main players: the content strategist, the designer, and the writer. But that's not to say that other team members can't be involved as needed.
The content strategist is responsible for understanding the business goals and developing a plan to achieve them through content. The designer is responsible for creating visuals that support the content and help it achieve those goals. And the writer is responsible for creating the actual content.
But again, this can vary depending on the organization. There may be other team members who are involved in creating or approving content, or who are responsible for distributing it. The important thing is that everyone involved understands and agrees to the overarching strategy.
How do you develop a content strategy?
There's no one-size-fits-all answer to this question, as the approach you take to developing a content strategy will vary depending on your business and its goals. However, there are some key steps you can take to create a content strategy that works for you.
First, you'll need to determine what you want your content to achieve. What are your business goals? What are you trying to achieve with your content marketing? Once you have a clear idea of your goals, you can start developing a strategy to achieve them.
You'll also need to come up with a content plan. This should include a calendar of when all your content will be published, as well as who will be responsible for creating and publishing it.
Once you have a plan in place, you'll need to set some metrics to track how well your content is performing. What are you trying to achieve with your content? Are there specific goals you want to achieve, such as increasing website traffic or generating leads? Track the progress towards these goals and adjust your strategy accordingly.
Developing a content strategy can seem like a daunting task, but following these steps should help make it easier.
What are some common content strategy tools and methods?
Content strategy tools and methods can vary widely, but often include things like omni-channel publishing, marketing and planning, adaptive content, content governance, information architecture, and branding. While these are not exhaustive, they provide a snapshot of the types of activities that fall under the content strategy umbrella.
What is the difference between a content strategy and a content marketing strategy?
Content strategy is a higher-level business activity than content marketing. It is the roadmap that guides your content marketing. It's the decision making that underlies whom your content will impact, how your content will cut through all the noise, and the desired outcomes. In addition, it involves defining content success.
On the other hand, content marketing is the process of organizing, scheduling, creating, publishing, and promoting content pieces. Content marketing is the tactics that follow from the content strategy.
How can content strategy help achieve business goals?
Content strategy is a plan in which you use content (audio, visual, and/or written) to achieve your business goals. A successful content strategy will attract your target audience at every stage of the funnel and keep them engaged even after a purchase.
For example, if your business goal is to increase brand awareness, you might implement a content strategy that focuses on SEO to increase your website's visibility on the search engine results pages (SERPs) and drive traffic to your products or services.
What are some common challenges with content strategy?
One challenge is that the term "content strategy" can mean different things to different people. It can be difficult to get everyone on the same page about what the goals of the strategy should be. Additionally, content strategy can be challenging to implement and maintain. It often requires changes to how an organization works, and not everyone is always on board with those changes. Finally, it's important to remember that a successful content strategy requires ongoing effort - it's not a one-time project.
How can you tell if a content strategy is successful?
This is a difficult question to answer, as there are many factors that go into determining success. However, there are some key indicators that you can look for:
- Increased traffic and engagement: One of the main goals of any content strategy is to attract more visitors and keep them engaged. If your traffic and engagement levels are going up, then your strategy is likely working well.
- Increased leads and conversions: Good content should help you generate more leads and conversions from your website or blog. If this is happening, then your strategy is probably effective at reaching your target audience.
- Improved brand awareness: A successful content strategy will help increase awareness of your brand and its products or services. If you’re seeing an increase in positive sentiment around your brand, then your strategy is working well.
What are some common trends in content strategy?
- Increasing focus on audience engagement and interaction.
- Greater focus on content that is useful and relevant to users.
- More sophisticated use of data and analytics to guide content strategy decisions.
- Increased emphasis on creating a consistent brand voice and tone throughout all content.
- Continued growing importance of social media in content distribution.
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Joel Falconer
Hi, I'm Joel Falconer. I'm a data-driven content strategist and managing editor. I have 20 years of experience working on some of the world's most well-known technology and digital media brands. As an expert in search engine optimization, audience development, email marketing & content operations, I've helped to build and grow some of the largest online communities in the world for companies like Envato, The Next Web, SitePoint, DesignCrowd, and Lifehack. Now, I'm helping other businesses build their online communities and grow their audiences. If you're looking for help with your content strategy, get in touch. I'd love to chat.