If you’re struggling to get in your audience’s hands the content they need to be successful in their businesses, it might be your content strategy holding you up.
Having a plan of action when it comes to your content is essential. Your strategy tells you what to do, when to do it and why.
Honestly, it just makes the whole content thing so much easier because you don’t even have to think about what you need to create or where to post it—it’s all right there for you. The ideas, the places where you’ll promote it. Heck, if you’re doing it right, you’ll even have an outline ready to go so when you sit down to create, you’re already halfway done.
But plans are meant to change. They’re meant to shift and grow, just like anything else in business (or life, for that matter). Think about it: When was the last time you planned a vacation and every aspect of that vacation went exactly as you planned? Probably never. Does that mean you had a terrible vacation? Nope. You shifted and adjusted your plans based on what was going on at the time. Maybe you had some much-needed down time during the hustle and bustle. And maybe you decided that you could see some of the sights next time you visited.
That’s just how your content strategy should work. Make a plan, and let it flow. Here are some of my top tips to making sure your content strategy works for you—and allows your business the space it needs to grow.
[bctt tweet=”Make a plan, but let it flow and change when needed.” username=””]
Be Willing to Change and Adjust
Sometimes, things come up in our businesses. You have an unexpected project come up. A big question presents itself that you want to address in your blog. Your business makes a shift, making it necessary to rework your content calendar. You’ve been invited to speak at a virtual summit about a specific topic. If none of these opportunities are part of your content strategy, it’s time to make some changes so your strategy is aligned with what you’re doing in business.
If we become so married to our content strategies and content plans that we can’t shift in the best interests of our business and our audience, then what’s the point of it all? We’re here to serve others, not to serve our own interests. Be flexible enough that you can do that or you may find yourself without an audience at all.
Leave Space for Inspiration
I know a lot of creatives out there who want to be able to post content on the fly, when inspiration strikes. And because of this, they’re resistant to having a strategy in the first place (which usually means that they’re not really getting any quality content out the door at all). Others pack their content calendars so full that there’s literally not a space minute to create something new.
Having a strategy in place is a great way to have guaranteed content for your audience while still leaving space for adding in content when the mood strikes. Simply leave a few blanks in your calendar—and have some back-up content in your files just in case you’re not inspired to create something new. Because guess what? Consistency matters.
Keep Tabs on Your Metrics
Metrics can be confusing, but they can clearly show the difference between a content strategy that’s working for you and one that’s just plain work. While this list is in no way complete, here are just a few of the numbers you should be looking at, depending on your overall goals:
- Facebook Page Insights – Number of views, engagement, comparisons to similar pages, page growth
- Google Analytics – Where your traffic is coming from, how long visitors stay on your site, which pages they’re clicking on
- YouTube – Length of view sessions, engagement, subscribers
- Instagram – Growth of following, number of total impressions, top posts
- LinkedIn – Growth of connections, responses to your posts, article views
[bctt tweet=”Metrics can show the difference between a content strategy that’s working and one that’s just plain work.” username=””]
When you see a certain piece of content performing better than others, find out why and try to replicate that over the long-term. That, again, means being open to change and shifting your strategy a bit to include more of the highly engaging posts. But it’s worth it.
Always Look to the Future
Do you know what’s coming down the path for your business in the next month, three months, six months? If you have solid business goals and growth strategy, you’ll be able to plan your content in advance to really hit those goals and grow your business.
Think about the next big thing you want to accomplish in your business. You’re likely planning it months in advance—or I would hope! When you know you’re launching something six or eight months from now, you have the perfect opportunity to breadcrumb out tidbits of information to build awareness and need for your upcoming offering. Use your strategy to your advantage!
Developing and implementing a content strategy doesn’t have to be a challenge, but sometimes it’s a bit more than you bargained for. My video below can help you learn how to execute your strategy, so you can get started on the right foot.
