Content Planning and Creation

Chances are when you browse the internet, and land on a website, you are looking at several hours of research, planning and analysis already done in order to not only capture your interest as a visitor but to keep it. But how exactly is this achieved and what are the steps to achieving the optimum results for you and your brand? First, you need to understand ‘content’ and what is considered good content as opposed to content that is not so good.? Simply put, content is “information made available by a website or any other electronic medium.” This means that the only limit on what could be considered content is the imagination of the content creators. Quite a freeing statement, when you think about it. Content, literally, can be anything a person wants it to be as there can be a market for anything under the sun. But why is content creation so important? Well, content creation is the foundation of all modern digital marketing efforts. It’s defined as the process of conducting research, generating ideas, crafting those ideas into high-value pieces and then promoting those pieces to a target audience. Digital content takes many forms, including web pages, blogs, infographics, videos and social media posts. A lot of work, right? It truly can be. However, as with everything, some coordinated organizing and planning around the content would make any aspiring content manager’s life easier. To avoid having your content lost in that pack, you have to create content that: stands out, is unique, has a distinct voice, and, most importantly, offers genuine value to readers. The more specific you are and the more you focus on your niche, the greater your chances of establishing yourself as an authority in your field, whether your readers are looking for information or entertainment.

So, just how important is content planning? If you want your brand’s website to rank highly on search engines rankings, especially Google, you will need quality content. Good content is also needed so that when people visit your brand’s website, they will want to convert or at least take their time to peruse. Visually unappealing content may turn off your potential customers so try to organise content that could not be deemed as sloppy. your business's approach to creating and distributing content for your target audience.

But what is the right content plan? The right content plan is one that seeks to understand what your audience wants and needs, and focuses on developing content that is useful, educational, relevant or otherwise valuable to them. This is in order to make sure that you, as the social media admin, attract the right users who potentially could convert into customers, educate them on the benefits of using your brand’s product/service, have them convert into customers and then retain those same users? as customers. A good content plan is needed to bring potential leads down the sales funnel and keep them coming back. Your customers also need to know they are being heard on social media, so ask them for feedback and suggestions and engage with them regularly. Reaching out to your customers and responding to their feedback enables you to gather valuable data, whilst also showing them that their opinion matters.

A content plan clarifies your messaging: If you don’t tell your story then your audience will infer what they want about your brand and form their own opinion. Having a documented content plan can help you to define exactly who you are and what you do, while keeping that message the same across every social media channel you use. This clear messaging not only helps you to get in front of the right audience, it also helps your employers by giving them something to refer to anytime they have doubts about the messaging for the brand you are working for. .

A content plan builds credibility: A content plan provides a way for you to get in front of more people. Once you have a plan in place, you avoid taking random approaches to your marketing and can begin establishing your brand as a leader.

A content plan also creates consistency: For content marketing to be effective it needs to happen consistently. By creating a plan to follow, you will know exactly what you have to do and when you have to do it, allowing you to maintain the consistency required to achieve the results you and your brand desires.

Set Your Goals

Start with an end business goal that helps to keep you focused. Without concentrating on your brand/business objectives, you could end up publishing content just for the sake of it.?

Determine Your Target Audience

Get to know your target audience. You want to know where they spend their time online, what they spend their money on, and how you can solve their problems. You want to develop content that attracts your target audience and leads them every step of the way to a purchase.

Work the SEO Angle and Do Keyword Research

After you've determined your target audience, research the keywords relevant to your audience. These will become the backbone of your content development. Then you can create content around these keywords that drives traffic and higher SEO rankings for your website and brand.

Choose Your Distribution Channels

Don't let the endless amount of distribution channels overwhelm your teams. Choose a small handful of channels for content distribution and focus on distribution to the right people through the right channels.

Create Content for the Entire Customer Journey

Attracting customers to your brand with top of the funnel content is beneficial. However, what happens after you’ve got them there? You need to provide content that doesn’t just peak their interest but potentially solves their problems. Case studies, testimonials, or videos should be available to show why they're a good fit to work for the potential customer/s.

Develop an Editorial Calendar

Once you've chosen your distribution channels, an editorial calendar should be created to iron out the details of where and when this content will be made available. An editorial calendar will help you keep track of all your content and ensure you're publishing consistently.

Mix It Up

Your content plan shouldn’t just be focused on selling, but it shouldn’t just be about solving problems for free either. People will buy into solutions to whatever their pain point is so you are trying to project confidence that your brand? can solve their problem. Your first step should be providing content that educates them, then showcases how your brand can help. A mixture of content types would definitely have the best effect.

Build Credibility on Your Topic

It is much more important, for your brand, to build a credible image instead of focusing on hype. Following these steps will help you create a content plan that provides real value to your audience and develops long-lasting trust for your brand.

Great content is created for a specific purpose, and this purpose needs to be clearly defined. Ask yourself if you are creating content to boost brand awareness, generate leads, convert users, attract past customers, improve search ranking results, or something else altogether. Once you have clearly defined your goals, you can determine if a content plan is actually the best way to achieve them.

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