Express Writers

#ContentWritingChat Recap: Content Marketing Strategy

by | Nov 17, 2017 | ContentWritingChat

#ContentWritingChat Recap: Content Marketing Strategy

Did you catch our latest #ContentWritingChat? We had our monthly community chat, which is when we skip having a guest host and allow our audience to choose the chat topic. We ran a poll the week before and the winning topic was Content Marketing Strategy!

If you could use some help putting together an effective content marketing strategy for your brand, you’re in the right place. We’ve compiled some of the tweets from this week’s chat into a handy dandy recap!

#ContentWritingChat Recap: Content Marketing Strategy

In Tuesday’s community chat, there were some amazing tips shared by our participants. You’ll learn the basics of a great content marketing strategy, tools and resources to help, and how to measure your success. Keep reading to check out all the advice!

Q1: Why is it important to have a content marketing strategy for your brand?

To kick off the chat, we asked everyone to share why they feel it’s important to have a content marketing strategy in place. If you need a little convincing that it’s worth the investment, you’ll want to read through these tweets!

As Julia said, a content marketing strategy is everything to the success of your content. When you have a strategy in place, you have a much better chance at succeeding in your work.

If you don’t have a strategy in place, how you can expect to make progress and reach your goals? Iain knows that having a strategy is a must.

When you have a strategy for your content marketing efforts, it provides the guidance you need to keep moving in the right direction.

A strategy helps define the purpose of your brand. Plus, it helps you break down all the steps required to help you reach your goals.

As Sarah said, you need a strategy for any kind of marketing you’re doing. This tells you what you’er aiming for so you can stay on the right path.

Having a strategy gives you measurable actions, cohesive messaging, and ensures you aren’t scrambling to throw something together at the last minute.

You can product much better content when you have everything planned out in advance. Plus, it’ll keep your entire team on the same page, which is very important.

Maureen said your content marketing strategy is the driving force behind the channels that do the outreach.

Q2: What are the essential elements of every successful content marketing strategy?

To get started with a strategy of your very own, you need to know where to begin. These are some essential elements you’ll want to have in place:

A great strategy all goes back to knowing who your audience is and understanding them.

Sarah feels good research, resources, and tracking are essential. She also pointed out that you need to know who your audience is and how to reach them. Don’t forget to set deadlines, meet them, and monitor your efforts.

Julia shared a helpful graphic of the four keys she teaches in her course!

Knowing who your audience is, what kind of content you’re going to share, and what your goals are make up just a few of the essentials of a great strategy.

Andrew also agrees that knowing your target audience is a must. He also mentioned that it’s important to know the desired outcome you hope to achieve, platforms you’re using, and more.

Mallorie said you need a defined objective and an understanding of your target audience. You also need to be able to adapt and make changes along the way if needed.

Cheval knows it’s important to listen to your audience to see what they’re chatting about. This is a great way to get to know them better.

Measurable goals, your target audience, tactics to reach the right people, and metrics to track progress are all essential.

Iain recommends setting SMART goals with your content marketing strategy.

Q3: What kind of goals might a brand set for their content marketing efforts? Which ones do you focus on?

Every brand is going to have different goals for their content marketing strategy. However, if you’re just getting started, you might wonder what kind of goals they often set out to reach. Here are some great tips from the chat:

As Sarah pointed out, the goals you set will depend on your business objectives. Either way, you need to make sure you’re tracking your progress.

Conversions are definitely a major goal you’ll want to track with your efforts. Jason also recommends tracking things like click-through rate, leads and sales, and how much reach you’re getting.

Proving valuable, relevant, and consistent content is always key. It’s the best way to build relationships and establish trust, as the Source Media team knows.

You may want to track web traffic, community growth, and how many leads/sales you’re getting.

Maureen also knows that your goals are going to be different from what everyone else is doing. However, if you’re new, she said you may want to track awareness by viewing traffic to your site and how long they’re spending on your page. If you’re moving people through your funnel, conversions are key.

Lexie said different types of content are going to have different goals. She said you may want to track website traffic, sales, or social shares.

Web traffic, leads, and community growth are all common metrics to track within your business. As Rebecca said, you want to make sure you see how your audience responds to your content. Make adjustments as needed.

Tony knows goals are going to differ for everyone. Whether you want to see shares, clicks, sales, or something else… You need to focus on what’s right for you.

Q4: Describe your process for building your own strategy. How do you get started?

Ready to craft your strategy? We asked everyone in the chat to share the initial steps in their strategy-building process! Here are some of the answers we received:

Cristy’s advice is to brainstorm. She’ll use paper or a whiteboard to jot down ideas, which she then moves into a spreadsheet. Another tool she’s used in the past is Asana.

Sarah said to start with your goal and work backwards from there. You need to figure out how you’re going to achieve that end result, which will help you plan your strategy.

Clearly defined goals are essential to Jason. As he pointed out, you won’t be able to hit your target if you don’t know what you’re aiming for. Set goals first before working out the details.

Julia knows that a content marketing strategy will look different for every brand. It needs to be targeted to their audience in order to see the best results. Know your topic and then figure out what your audience wants to know and how you can help.

Maureen shared some great advice that’ll help anyone that works with clients. You want to know that the company understands their audience and their marketing before moving forward.

Knowing the brand voice, conducting audits, doing customers research, and more! These are all essential steps to consider.

Know who the target audience is and where they want to go. This will help you create the content that resonates the most.

Debi also agrees that knowing who the target audience is plays a major role.

Q5: What’s something you intend to cut from your content marketing strategy for next year? What will you keep?

Sometimes we notice things that just aren’t working within our strategy, which means it’s time to cut ties. While other times, we see what’s been successful so we can create more of that. Here are some things people will be cutting and keeping in their strategy in the new year:

The team at ThinkSEM is going to focus on being more flexible with their calendar and still plans to join plenty of Twitter chats.

Lexie said Netvantage will continue to focus on high-quality, long-tail keyword content.

One of the things Rebecca will be doing is shifting to even more video content, which continues to be essential for content marketers.

As Debi said, if it’s not working for you then you need to cut it out. If it is working, make sure you embrace it moving forward.

Q6: How do you know if your strategy is effective? Which metrics do you track?

Once you’ve implemented your strategy, you need to know if it’s actually effective. To do this, there are key metrics you’ll need to track. Here’s what you need to know:

As Lexie said, it all depends on the goal of your content. This can differ based on what you’re trying to accomplish, so keep that in mind.

Debi frequently looks at Google Analytics to see how any content marketing efforts are performing.

Julia knows it’s all the conversions! You want to ensure your efforts are actually helping you grow and make a profit within your business.

You might want to track link clicks from other site and search engines, as well as any search terms you’re ranking for. This can help you see how your content is performing.

Cheval focuses on how his blog has grown in terms of readership.

Sometimes you just get that feeling that things are working out! You might notice more phone calls or emails coming in for potential customers, which is always a great thing.

Remember that it all goes back to your unique goals. Once you know what those goals are, you’ll know which metrics are important to track.

Q7: Do you use any tools to help you manage your content marketing efforts? If so, what are they?

With all the tools that are available today, there are plenty that can help with content marketing. Check out these recommendations from Tuesday’s chat:

Debi’s go-to tool is Google Analytics.

Evernote is great for storing ideas and planning content, while Trello is handy for outlining larger projects.

Sarah’s essential tools include WordPress, Teamwork, Google Sheets, good old fashioned pen and paper, and brain power.

Google Drive is a must these days!

Lexie loves using Google Drive, WordPress, and Yoast.

Feedspot, Buffer, and Hootsuite are Carla’s favorite tools.

Cheval also relies on Hootsuite for social media scheduling.

TweetDeck, Hashtagify, Canva, and Pablo by Buffer are all great tools to look into.

Q8: Which resources help you strengthen your content marketing skills?

If you want to learn more about mastering content marketing, take a look at these suggestions:

Lexie know Twitter chats are where it’s at! They’re great for making connections and learning new things.

We have another Twitter chat fan! If you aren’t already joining chats, you should make it part of your content marketing strategy ASAP.

Twitter chats and trainings (online and in-person) are essential for Rebecca.

Julia has a list of blogs she reads daily, including: Content Marketing Institute, Smart Blogger, Copyblgoger, and Copy Hackers.

Twitter chats, podcasts, blogs, email lists, and social media are all great ways to learn new skills.

And here’s a great reminder from Cristy: always be learning and strive to improve.

Want to join the Twitter chat fun? #ContentWritingChat takes place every Tuesday at 10 AM Central! Follow @ExpWriters and @writingchat to stay updated!

#Contentwritingchat

Tags: content marketing | content marketing strategy