10 steps to becoming the Wikipedia of your niche

1. There are 3 existing categories of content

Be mindful of the fact that there are 3 types of content your B2B company should invest in:

• Tell the story of your BRAND.
• Identify & nurture the TOPICS? that your audience is talking about
• Know & answer what your audience wants to LEARN ABOUT.

Telling your brand story (branded content) will not only help you build a strong brand identity but will also push new stories written by and around you into your market. On top of that, industry topics & educational content will make you pull out what questions are being asked about your market & answer them as the expert you are.

2.? Know the strengths and weaknesses of all content channels

The job of each content channel is to acquire & engage an audience. That being said, each channel will show its strengths and weaknesses in the process.

Consider that, when defining your content strategy, you should always map the content category to the channel it will perform best on

So instead of trying your luck & crossing fingers, it all goes as planned, help your company acquire & engage its audience by choosing beforehand what channel suits that specific content best.?

You can map out your content channels across this 2*2:

Very important as well: be aware of the fact that some content channels will do much better at engaging than at growing. Take podcasts, for instance, they do a great job engaging the audience & building up the brand’s influence & overall identity. But you should not rely on them to grow your business.

Your blog, on the other hand, is a strong channel for growth AND engagement & is one of the best ways to go about educational content.??

3. What content for which category????

First off, never stop talking to your audience. That’s the best way to do qualitative research for new content ideas or to adjust existing content.?We’ve mentioned 3 content categories. To get some fresh input on what to put out there according to each one of them, here’s what you should be analyzing:?

• To know what conversations are happening right now, take a close look at platforms such as Quora, BuzzSumo, or simply social media.?
• To choose good educational content your audience will be happy to learn from, find out what keywords related to your industry or niche are most being searched right now.
• To know what new stories are worth putting out there, analyze the results from your own previously issued branded content. That’s a good place to start

4. No expertise in content channels = no growth

The best way to go about content & its channels is to have onboard some experts in content marketing. Whether you have them in-house or outsource them, only they will know how to deal specifically with each channel and optimize the reach of your content in order to stimulate growth. They’ll be the only ones to know your podcast can be cut up into snippets for promotion or that your YouTube videos need an engaging opener to ensure a healthy watch time… Those are skills, and you need them on your team to have your content shine across all channels.

5. One topic should become a bundle of content?

And to do so, think cross-channels. Take one topic & cover it across social media, blog posts, YouTube, podcasts, etc.?HubSpot gives here an example of one of these topic clusters you can create. But bear in mind, they’re mostly addressing it here from the perspective of SEO? interlinking.

6. No promotion, no success

Have the odds in your favor & maximize your content reach through all channels by promoting it.?To be consistent in that process, put together a promotion playbook per channel and make sure you follow all steps every single time.?

7. How is your content monetized??

Putting out some new content doesn’t always get you, direct new customers. Then, how do you measure your content monetization??

Well, it’s actually quite similar to advertising. Think of the metrics as follows:

• Direct monetization: they read your blog post & buy your software.
• Influenced monetization: they consume your content as a way to interact with your business at the root of becoming a customer.
• Brand: your branded content helps raise awareness of your brand & can be measured via engagement metrics (views, listens, shares, etc.)

8. Cross-pollinate ideas

Do you know how your company is split into different teams? Though that is a necessary way to function on many levels as a business, it’s not the best way to go about content.?

As one person or team may be responsible for social media, another for YouTube content, yet another for podcasts, etc. we see way too often a great idea being released by one channel but not by the others.?

However, as I’ve said before, all ideas should become content bundles to be spread across all channels.?

9. You need a strategy, a calendar & an audit

After you’ve settled on your content strategy, you should definitely open your editorial calendar & start filling it. That’s how you get organized for publishing your content.?

Then, you should adjust your content strategy and adapt your editorial calendar to it based on the audit of your existing content. With that, you’ll be able to see whats works, what doesn’t, or what needs improving. In other words, what to eliminate, keep or update.

10. Final Tip: don’t overcomplicate things

Content marketing will for the sure benefit your business. So put in some time to build a strong content strategy but do not hesitate to delegate content creation to your dedicated team members or outsourced experts.?

For part 2 of this article, look out for next week’s #growwithkoen session. We’ll be seeing how building your own SEO dream team is key to executing your content strategy.?

Also, if this made you go Oh! more than once, my work is done!?

Don’t hesitate to share this with your network. They might find it useful as well!?

Cheers & happy growing!