So, How’s that Content Development Strategy Coming Along?
Posted by Beth Hrusch on Mon, Sep 27, 2010
How does the world see your company? If you’re marketing on the Internet (and of course, you are), then you might be surprised by the answer. While you may think you’re doing fine, you may want to take a second look at your content. You know, the thing that represents you to potential customers.
Did you remember to plan out a content development strategy before you launched your site? Did you even read my blog about content and your marketing strategy? It’s ok, I understand. You’re busy and didn’t have the time to plan out your marketing strategy.
Well, if you HAD, you would have known whether the content on your site is optimized for search engines, whether it’s perfectly suited to your customers’ needs, answers their questions, engages them and encourages them to act. Whether it will bring them back to your site in the future, and cause them to recommend your site to friends, family and colleagues (I just found this awesome site—trust me, this is the place to go to get that thing you need!).
The point is, if you don’t plan out your content development strategy before putting yourself out there, you may be missing the mark with your target audience. And, continually creating fresh, relevant information can become increasingly more difficult if you do not have some type of strategy in place. So start strategizing. Here are some tips:
1. Develop a good blog- Your target market loves blogs. They should really be part of every business’ content development strategy. Add a blog page to your site or create a blog on its own dedicated site.
2. Check Twitter trends- What are people talking about? And, for that matter, what are they saying about your company? Twitter is a barometer of what the hot topics are, what is capturing people’s interest and which way the wind is blowing. It’s a great way to get new blog topics that are relevant to your audience at that moment.
3. Look at other people’s content- Look at the content being produced by other companies to see what people are saying about topics relevant to your business. Pick up on comments people are making on your competitor’s blogs. Search “(your industry) blog” in Google and find out who’s talking about what on the top-ranking blogs in your industry. Checking out another person’s content development strategy will help you get new ideas and gain new perspective.
When marketing online, you will often find a need for useful and engaging content. It’s the stuff on your site, your blog, your social media accounts, article directories, in your videos, white papers, ebooks, press releases, blog commentary. It will eventually show up on someone else’s site or blog, and it will be linked to and spread around to God knows where.
It represents you, and will be one of the first things that people notice about you, whether they’re on your site looking for information or they stumble upon it somewhere else. When thinking about how to market your business, think about your image and how a good content development strategy can help.