Evaluating Your Content
Your content can be one of your company’s greatest assets if you give it careful thought and attention. Some companies have been slow to get on the bandwagon, but they were quickly convinced when their competitors developed engaging content that attracted their customers.
This organization’s research indicates that 78 percent of customers believe that companies that create custom content are interested in creating relationships with them. You engender goodwill by spending the time and money to create quality content.
Benefitting from a content plan
If your company has a digital marketing strategy, you may wonder if you need a content strategy as well. If you’re skeptical as to why you should create a content plan, take a look at some ways it can benefit you. When you have a cohesive content plan, you can.
If you now grasp the value of having a content plan, you probably want to know how to make your content superior to that of your competitors. First off, the name of the game is quality, not quantity.
Interviewing your stakeholders
Internal stakeholders play a very important role in your content plan. Their importance is often overlooked because listening to them takes time and effort. They are the keepers of important information and understand the history behind the content that’s been created
One-on-one interviews are preferable, but you can do group interviews if you have very large groups of stakeholders. Prepare interviewees by giving them the questions beforehand. You want them to be ready to give their perspective on the company’s content and procedures. Making the effort to speak to them will help you.
Conducting a content audit
Are you ready to conduct your content audit? It’s the step in the process that tells you exactly what content you have. If you work for a large enterprise, pockets of content may or may not have been documented. If you work in a small business, you may have a full audit or none at all.
The key to doing an effective content audit is deciding beforehand how comprehensive in scope you will get. You can determine the scope based on your specific goals, the volume of content, and the resources you have to accomplish the task.
Mapping your content ecosystem
Your content ecosystem shows how your content fits together. Your map can be as detailed as you like. You can document every site, social media account, and landing page you have, or you can list only the most important ones. It’s up to you. The goal is to create an easy way to see how and where your content is distributed
Focusing on Specialized Content
Before you leave the topic of content planning, you should know about several kinds of content that should be on your radar screen. These include pillar content, evergreen content, visual content, and viral content. Read on to see why you should keep them in mind when developing your content plan.
Creating pillar content
Do you know what pillar content is? You’re probably using it even if you don’t know the term. Pillar content is quality foundational content that you create to represent your brand. This content can be eBooks, tutorials, or other substantial content pieces that provide value
Last word
Evergreen is an important concept that you should consider when you’re creating content. Evergreen content is content that can be enjoyed without regard to when it was created. For example, a blog post about “how to be a productive entrepreneur” can be read any time of the year in any recent year. It’s timeless and can keep readers interested whenever they come upon it.
