Once you are done with your Content Audit, you are aware of the type of content that was most effective in leading you towards your objectives, the type of content that requires improvement and the type that was not contributing at all.
Read the first part , if you haven’t already.
In addition, you also have knowledge about the content gaps that you can work upon, like the keywords related to your niche that are not being targeted with your content, the questions your target audience is asking that you were not answering or the content that’s starting to rank well but could be improved.
Looking forward to the next factor to devise a rocking Content Marketing Strategy after analysing your content audit, the natural next step would be figuring out the best content distribution channels.
Identifying the best content channels
As you plan your content marketing strategy analysing your content audit, you’ll start getting a sense of the digital platforms where your audience is spending time, and where you already have a successful online presence. It’s better to focus on what’s already working and extend from there, rather than trying to sort everything at once.
But for being absolutely sure, it’s crucial to scrutinize the web analytics. When you’re in Google Analytics, go to Acquisition » Social » Overview to see the main social networks where your content is being shared.
Buzzsumo also helps you find similar data. Go to their Content Analysis tool and type your domain name into the onscreen search box. Press enter and you’ll see charts showing:
Shares by network
Shares by content type
Shares by content length
Top content in the past year
Refine your search terms for more detail.
It becomes convenient with such information, to decide which networks to target to get social media engagement and shares for your content.
Types of content to be used for optimum impact
Next, decide about the types of content you need to create. There are some content types that every content marketing strategy will include.
Major successful content marketing strategies rely on having a central core of content published on your own site (or home base) which can then be repurposed and shared on other sites too (outposts).
Thus blog posts are an essential part of your content marketing mix, and they still deliver strong results. Ideally, your blog posts will be actionable, valuable, and shareable, and may include a range of article types.
Video marketing can be included in your content marketing strategy, as it’s proven to engage your visitors keeping them on the website longer, improve lead generation, and reduce bounce off rate.
You can also include other types of visual content to improve engagement. Infographics and charts are some popular examples.
Types of content that you can consider for your marketing strategy:
Blog Posts
Ebooks
Case Studies
Templates
Infographics
Videos
Podcasts
Social Media
Identify and allocate resources
As you have decided upon the type/s of content you’re planning to create, who it’s for, and where you’re planning to share it, it’s essential you have everything you need to deliver on your content marketing strategy. For that purpose it is essential to know:
Who’s in charge of producing and maintaining content?
What human, physical or digital tools and resources do you need to create the content?
What will your publishing workflow look like, including content scheduling?
This first question is about allocating roles. You’ll need to think about who’s in overall charge, as well as who is responsible for delivering individual content items. This depends on the size of your company and content team, and on whether you’re doing everything in-house, or sourcing out content production.
Sometimes the CEO or chief marketing officer has overall final approval over content and content strategy.
Your content marketing manager will be in charge of delivering on your content marketing strategy on a day-to-day basis and will work with the content team.
Individuals will create content, according to their expertise.
Tools and resources
Your content producer might include:
In-house content creators
Specialists in video creation, podcasting, or graphic design
Freelancers
You’ll also need equipment for podcasting and creating professional videos, and you’ll need to arrange for hosting on sites like YouTube, Vimeo, Spreaker, and Blubrry etc.
Content Workflow
Next, work out what your content production process is going to be. For example, for a typical blog post, you might have to:
Create an outline and have it approved
Write the post
Create accompanying images
Send the post to the editor
Make any changes
Upload
Publish
There’s just one more thing to do before you get started on researching and creating pieces of content - creating a content calendar, so you know what’ll be published when. We'll explore it more in the next article.
Stay tuned for the last blog of the topic to know more about the Content Calender and its results. Use them in your business and emerge as a fast growing content marketer.
If you’ve been thinking for a long time to get started with content production activities for your business then consider partnering with The Rolling Circle, now!!!