Often when you hear me talk, watch my videos, or consume my other content, you will hear me talk about creating a strategy. Today let’s talk about what a strategy is, how it can help you, and how to make one.
What does “strategy” mean?
Strategy is defined by the Cambridge dictionary as “a long-range plan for achieving something or reaching a goal, or the skill of making such plans.”
In other words, a strategy is when you create a plan in order to meet a goal.
This is why I always say that the best marketing strategies come from business goals, not vanity metrics.
What is a content marketing strategy?
A content marketing strategy is the plan that is implemented which uses content to meet your business goals. This often includes a website, email marketing, and social media marketing as well as some advertising. Because business goals for a business will vary – and change over time – your content marketing strategy is not a one-size-fits-all solution. It must be tailored to your business.
What are the goals of content marketing?
The goals you or a company will set for content marketing will vary because they should come directly from your business goals. However, some marketing objectives are more common than others created to support these goals.
Grow brand authority and credibility
Growing your brand’s authority and credibility through awareness is one of the most common goals for a content marketing strategy. Awareness is often generated on social media, through word of mouth, published articles on other sites, and building out a consistent presence where you choose to establish yourself.
I, of course, have an opinion on where I think you should put your efforts (Instagram, maybe TikTok, and your website), but I also know there is no one-size-fits-all strategy, and forcing someone into a corner they’re uncomfortable with is a great way to guarantee failure.
Growing your presence online and increasing your digital authority and credibility largely determines how much people will trust you and whatever you are trying to sell – be that a tangible product like a book, an idea or message, or a service like construction or life coaching.
Bring in new revenue
The next most common goal I hear for social media marketing is bringing in money. “I want to sell more books.” “I want more people calling my company.”
Your content strategy can help bring in new people by giving them more opportunities to find you, like you, and learn about you. Typically this is a top goal supported by increasing brand awareness, nurturing your audience, and building trust.
Grow your mailing list and nurture that audience
Establishing a mailing list is a common objective – and for good reason! Your mailing list is your safety net to keep in contact with your warm audience regardless of what happens to Instagram as a company or your profile. It’s also a really effective way to stay top of mind and drive sales.
Keeping your customers around and increasing their loyalty
Most businesses are not going to sustain themselves by finding new customers every day, week, or month. That’s why it’s SO important to build customer loyalty and retain the customers you already have. Social media and content marketing can help you increase your customers’ loyalty and keep yourself in their thoughts so they will buy from you again.
Share social proof (build trust)
As we’ve touched on in this article, building trust with your audience is an essential part of making a sale. One of the best ways to do this is to show that you do what you say you will – and you do it well.
Sharing social proof is one great way to do this. Social proof can be screenshots of customers raving about your work in your DMs, testimonials or referrals given on LinkedIn, or anything else that shares customer experiences.
My personal favorite – but the most difficult to get people to agree to – is a video testimonial. Here is an example from one of my long-term clients.
Creating a plan to attract customers in the long-term
Content marketing strategies often focus on SEO – that’s search engine optimization. Focusing on this allows your business to establish credibility online and on search engines so you will rank higher when certain terms are searched that would direct a potential customer to your website.
Social media marketing has largely shifted to a SEO focus as many companies are making a pivot towards search.
Creating Content Strategies for Social Media
Creating a content strategy for social media can seem overwhelming. It starts off with simple reflection – where are you now with your business, and where do you want to be. After you take stock, you will need to set goals, do some research, create objectives, do some more research, develop strategies, – and you’ll never guess – do some more research, then start implementing tactics.
Research is the most overlooked part of all of this, and without it, you won’t succeed.
Replicating viral videos and “borrowing” others copy is not a content marketing strategy – and it will create a lot of work with short-sighted results. Plus, it’s just a bad look and it could mess up your reputation if you’re stealing and not attributing the ideas.
You need to create and use your own ideas.
Developing Content – How?
Developing content takes time. And if you’re learning how to do it, it is going to take a lot of trial and error. Unique ideas will flop. Videos will go virtually unseen. But it’s all in the name of progress!
And this will happen a lot less if you do your due diligence in research before you start.
To create content for your content strategy that actually works, you need to have done the research beforehand, developed a brand, and start consistently implementing and testing to see what works and what doesn’t.
Want to know more about creating a content strategy?
If you liked this blog, consider reading:
3 Social Media Strategies to Implement During Changing Times