What Is A Content Plan And How Do You Create One?

Running multiple social media accounts can be a hassle.

You have to battle with algorithms, write good SEO, do loads of market research…it’s too much darn work!

When you can’t keep up with all of that, here’s what happens:

Long term, your online traffic can suffer without proper planning.

You have to consistently crank out content while still appealing to your audience every time!

It’s easy to run empty on ideas or forget to post something on a particular day.

But not today!

In this post, I’ll discuss content plans, why you should use a content plan, and I’ll include 5 tips for improving your content plan.

What Is A Content Plan?

Think about it as your strategized timetable for posting content.

ClearVoice defines a content plan as:

all the marketing assets and data-gathering functions needed to achieve the goals set forth in your content strategy. -ClearVoice.

Your content plan is the foundation for your content strategy. According to Hubspot, a content plan is:

the management of pretty much any tangible media that you create and own: written, visual, downloadable. -Hubspot.

It’s going to help you make the most of your time while making relevant, optimized, and engaging content for your platforms.

Must I Have A Content Plan?

If you want your business to thrive, sure!

Your content plan is going to help you prepare fresh ideas and topics, help you stay up to date on industry trends, and provide a reliable and timely source of web traffic. Here’s an example:

Let’s say you publish three blog posts on increasing engagement on your Instagram posts. Creating and embedding a link to a roadmap on using reliable hashtags in those posts, results in continuous lead generation on your page.

This is called evergreen content, content that stays useful forever. Using evergreen content for your brand creates awareness, attracts curious prospects, and establishes your authority on that topic.

How Can I Use A Content Plan?

There’s one thing you need before even thinking of a content plan:

Your business’s goals and needs.

Are you trying to generate more leads? Do you want to get more traffic? Is your content strategy up to date and targeted towards a particular audience?

Your goal will help define what your content plan can achieve. It will define:

• Why you are making a content plan
• Who you are creating content for and distributing to
• When you will create, refine, and distribute content
• How you will distribute, fund, and research on your content
• What channels, resources, and materials you will use to distribute and create content.

There are many factors to consider when creating (or tweaking) your content plan.

I’ll briefly discuss three of them with you.

?Your (Target) Audience:

Your target audience is either your prospects, existing customers, or both! To succeed in engaging them with your content, consider these few things:

• Their needs: What do they research for?
• Their buyer persona: This is a representation of your ideal customers based on real data and market research. It includes your customer’s goals, demographic traits, locations, interests, challenges, and more.
• Their budgets: How much money are they willing to spend on your product? How much do they earn? These questions can help you determine if they can afford your product.
• What platforms they are on: You should research where they spend their time most on. Is it Facebook, Snapchat, or Twitter? Knowing this, you can create the right content for the right platform.

By knowing your target audience inside out, you’re able to produce relevant content they can use (and create conversions with!)

?Your Unique Selling Point

Why are you different from your competitors? Ask these questions:

Do you offer more features in your product? Is it a new version of something already created?

Identifying your unique selling point, or the factor that differentiates you from your competitors keeps you from being an average Joe.

Your unique selling point should also be highlighted or included in your value statement. 

?The Channels And Content Types You’ll Use

What channels will you use to distribute your content? You can use your company’s blog or social media channels to reach your prospects and existing customers.

A blog is a great place to establish your authority on a topic, feature your products in posts, and publish online resources your target audience can use.

Social media is great for making shareable content, especially as most people spend two hours or MORE on social media!

Some content ideas you can use:

• Infographics
• Professionally taken pictures
• Product promotions
• Videos
• Podcasts
• Ebooks

5 Tips For Creating A Powerful Content Plan

1. What’s in it for THEM?????

When creating content, consider why it would be relevant to your target audience. What I’m saying is:

Give them a reason to engage with your content.

You can achieve this by offering a solution for a problem, provide a guide on using a product or a service, and most importantly, address their wants and needs.

2. Target the target customers??

Focus only on your buyer personas/target audience. Now you won’t waste time, resources, and effort selling to the wrong people!

3. Start Fresh??

Do a content audit. What content is working best for you? What can you repurpose into other forms of content?

You can turn one blog post into a series of Twitter/Facebook posts, infographics, Instagram posts, and more!

4. The Key? Try Your Keywords??

It’s dangerous if you don’t use keywords your customers are already using.

Using those keywords not only helps you find them faster, but they’ll also find you because your content has the keywords they’re looking for!

5. Set Up An Efficient Content Management System??

Don’t post ‘whenever you feel like.’ I’m guilty of that too. Don’t. Trust me, it harms your chances of becoming buddies with the algorithm.

Consistently posting content also helps build your audience — because they learn to anticipate your content, and will be excited to check it out!

Now You Can Get Started!

You can start exploring possible content types you’ll want to be making soon. Don’t forget that it’ll take time, effort, creativity, a good budget, and a few errors to develop a content plan that fits snugly into your business.

Focus on building the foundation of your marketing plan, managing your content, and constantly developing your strategy to maximize profits and conversions.

This post was reposted from my blog.