How to Create a Content Strategy
Creating content on regular basis is one of the top stressors for the small business owners we work with and it is often why they reach out to us. With so many daily responsibilities, finding the time to write copy, curate images, and create all of the assets you need to share that content on all of your social channels often feels like a) a time suck, b) overwhelming or c) not worth the effort.
After working with clients in a range of industries, there is one thing that stands out as a fatal flaw—thinking that you don’t have to plan ahead and that you can just come up with content when you need to post. (Hence why it feels like a) a time suck, b) overwhelming or c) not worth the effort!) But rather than throwing your hands in the air and giving up on the possibility of consistently marketing your business via your blog or social media, you can decide (right now) to change how you approach things.
When it comes to creating content for your business, you should always have a game plan in mind. So here are my tips on how to go about building a content strategy for you business that is going to keep you on track and of sane mind.
Plan When You are Going to Post
Step one is to create a schedule for yourself. People get overwhelmed because they do things on the fly and put pressure on themselves to come up with something to post in that exact moment. Take the stress out of social media by planning ahead and giving yourself some structure. And whether you are mapping out what to share on your Instagram account for the week or planning out three months of blog posts, put things down on a calendar so you know when deadlines are coming your way.
To-do: Give it a try! Map out the next few days of social sharing and gather your images to see how planning ahead feels.
Create (Re) Purposeful Content
It’s not enough to post for posting sake; you have to create content that serves a purpose. Know what your goals are and build your content strategy around them. Be sure to create content that is native to each platform (i.e. visually driven on Instagram, 500+ words for blogs, etc.) and that shows off your work and expertise. And always be sure to do a little keyword research on the front end to make sure that your content is optimized.
The other time-saver is creating content that you can repurpose to work on all of your social channels. I usually build my content strategy around my blog calendar with the purpose of driving traffic back to the website, so I always make sure that I have the assets I need to share that content on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter, and Linkedin.
To-do: Create a master plan that you can execute on a monthly basis. Repurpose content when appropriate and be sure to create a library of images for future sharing when you can. (We love Sourced Co. styled stock photos for this!)
Evaluate So You Know What Works
It’s not the sexiest thing but taking the time to figure out what works and what doesn’t is an important piece of creating an effective content strategy. You don’t want to be spending time creating content or on strategies that aren’t getting you closer to your goals, so it’s time to run some numbers! Be sure to set measurable goals for each piece of content and monitor the results on a regular basis.
To-do: Use social media insights and Google analytics to see what parts of your strategy are working, what needs to be tweaked, and what needs to be scrapped.
Creating a content strategy is one of those things that can be a game changer for a small business owner. Ready to put together a marketing strategy for your business baby? Head over to the shop and pick up our DIY Marketing Strategy Template and get started!
