We live, work and play in the world of content…but I’m getting ahead of things. What is content? It seems everyone has their own definition, but the simple truth is that content is defined as any media that the brand self-publishes: visa vie blog posts, articles, videos, podcasts, user-generated and social media posts. Content is everywhere and everything.
Brands use content as a tool to promote, evolve, sell, praise, promote, market and yell at audiences about what they are doing at any specific time. Why is it important? Truth is it isn’t important unless your brand makes it a priority. Successful brands publish targeted and relevant content with very specific results in mind. How? Content Strategy.
Content Strategy is the foundation of any good content creation plan. Think about it like this… if you were going to build a house, wouldn’t it be more efficient and effective if you had a blueprint to work off? That’s your content strategy. It’s your foundational document linked back to very specific business goals for your brand. With a Content Strategy in place, you and your team can now start creating.
How do you measure said content? KPI’s. Key Performance Indicators support the success or failure of each piece of content your brand creates. These can be simple metrics like web traffic or a complicated grouping of various metrics that matter to your brand. Either way, KPIs allow content creators to measure and optimize their content. But that’s another story for another time. Happy strategizing.
Key Takeaways
- Content can promote, evolve, sell, praise, promote and market you brand without the need for a full campaign.
- Content creation shouldn’t happen until there is a content strategy anchored to a set of mutually agreed upon business goals.
- Content can also be a great way to test new ideas and messaging without a huge investment.
- To see real, immediate impact on your brand and business, you must have a content strategy. If you don’t have one, you’re getting lucky. And luck inevitably runs out.
