Two million blog posts released. 294 billion emails sent. 864,000 hours of video uploaded on Youtube. All these—and counting.
These interesting statistics show how much content, in different kinds and forms, across different platforms online are being produced in 24 hours. No wonder we have heard the words “Content is King” over and over in the past years!
While these numbers may amaze, they should also keep you on your toes as a content developer and producer. These numbers mean that the audience sees and digests a huge volume of content every day.
The challenge for you then is this: how can I offer content that is different, fresh, and appealing?
Yes, you need to be concerned about developing and producing content that will stand out and resonate with your audience despite the massive amount of content they get to see daily. You do not want your brand to be buried six feet under other businesses’ content, do you?
Here at Site Pro News, we understand the importance of not just of producing content, but managing content that will hit home with your audience.
Listed below are a few notes from our roster of expert content developers and managers to guide you in keeping your content interesting and new.
1. Familiarize yourself with your audience.
With any brand or business, its target market plays a huge role in its business model or marketing campaign because these models and campaigns enable the brand to connect with their audience. A good measure of success highly depends on whether your brand stands and will be patronized by consumers.
How do you achieve that? One tenet of marketing is get to know your audience. This applies as well to content management.
Hundreds of businesses compete for consumers’ attention. You want to ensure your content grabs your audience’s attention. You may have tons of content produced–numerous hours of video produced, hundreds of posts lined up, and albums of really good images. But how can you be sure that it is the most suitable content and format for your audience?
You can do a bit of reflection and ponder on these three things:
- Who is my target audience?
- Who is my current audience?
- Who else may find my content useful?
This way, you get to have an overview of the people you are connecting with (current audience), and the people you might connect with (target audience, and those who will find your content useful).
We highly recommend you profile your customers to identify their needs, wants, interests, and spending habits. Once you develop an understanding of the people you want to reach out to and connect with, you can determine the most suitable channels, formats, and content that will resonate with them.
Remember, your content depends on who you talk to. Once you know them, you won’t have to worry about your content delivering results.
2. Establish a clear messaging.
After you have figured out your target audience, what do you want to tell them?
The art of content management relies significantly on what your content should say. It’s not as simple as posting content randomly and haphazardly.
Brands and businesses must have an idea of their core message. Simply put, this is the most essential thought you want to tell your customers.
Do not forget about structure though. Put a framework around it. Configure it the way you want it conveyed. Do you want to begin with general ideas before going down to the specifics? How about teasing with information before going all out with your main message? It depends on your strategy, but more importantly, having a messaging framework guides you in content production, and can contribute to the identification of the most appropriate channels in information dissemination.
Here’s an example. Let’s say your brand is advocating zero waste through a range of eco-responsible products and services. Another thing to note is that this must be reflected in the content and visual that you will release to your audience.
Your core messaging–Refuse single use, for example–can be broken down to cover your brand’s vision and mission, and introduce products and services. Take note that each component must have one clear voice on your advocacy on zero waste.
Ready to play around with possible content? Click here for some techniques on generating ideas for content.
3. Diversify content format.
With the huge amount of content being produced, what you can do to be a bit different is be format-specific.
When people talk about content they usually think blog post or article. While this was the primary format for content development times are changing. The online lifestyle of consumers is changing and content has learned to adapt to microblogging and multimedia content development.
With Twitter and Instagram offering new platforms for content marketing, these social networking sites also brought to the fore new formats for content marketing. Content was made available in 140-280 characters and in numerous graphics. Do take note that video content is on the rise as the leading format for content. So that’s another option for you.
This would be an advantage if the demographics of your target audience is tech-savvy and familiar with these platforms. Customize your content to the channel they are most immersed in. For instance, Instagram ads need an excellent photo or graphics that will click with Instagram users and convert them into customers.
Just by leveraging the platforms your audience engages in increases the chance that your content will connect with them.
4. Utilize writing resources and tools.
To generate thousands of blog posts and millions of page views is not an easy feat. Delivering excellent content takes time.
If part of your content management strategy is a well-curated line-up of content scheduled to be released at effective time slots and days, you need to have a content reserve. From articles and quotes to image and video posts, the content must reflect the core message that you have previously identified.
Do not be overwhelmed with the idea that a content reserve requires a huge number of varied content in different formats. You do not need to produce all of them alone and by yourself. For one thing, you can do content curation or sharing or links or posts from thought leaders relevant to your niche. It is alright if all that content is not written by you.
Another strategy is to outsource and get help from reliable professional writing services. These are writing resources that you can leverage to fill up your content calendar without sacrificing the quality of content you put in your website.
Brief them about your brand, what it does, what it aims to achieve, what tone or voice you want to read or hear from the narratives. Make sure they understand the messaging framework you established.
Again, you don’t have to worry about doing all the content yourself. Just make sure you manage the messaging in all your content to reflect your main message, and you’re good to go!
We’ve provided you some starting points. It’s now up to you to play around with these techniques and execute well. Just keep in mind that the art of content management is anchored on a deep understanding of your audience and a well-established core messaging framework.
What’s your battle plan? Share your thoughts with us!
