To be successful, brands need a well-thought-out digital content strategy that aligns with their overall marketing goals and objectives. As content creators turn more and more to ChatGPT as their copywriting resource, they can’t just copy and paste whatever the AI spits out. They need to be marketing managers and editors, reviewing the text carefully to ensure it supports established goals.
That’s important because digital content is an essential component of any modern marketing strategy. It exists to connect with customers where they are in their buyers journey, build brand awareness, and ultimately drive revenue growth. Creating content for the sake of it is not enough, despite the temptations of near-instantaneous (and decent-quality) copy.
Keep your focus on these 9 content strategy “musts.”
1. Define your target audience.
The first step in creating a digital content strategy is to define your target audience. You need to know who your ideal customer is, what their needs and pain points are, and how your product or service can solve their problems. (Assume nothing — do your research!) This information will help you create content that resonates with your target audience and provides value to them.
2. Conduct a content audit.
Before you start creating new content, it is essential to conduct a content audit. This involves analyzing your existing content to determine what is working and what is not. This information will help you identify gaps in your content strategy and create new content that fills those gaps.
3. Set your goals.
Once you’ve identified your target audience and conducted a content audit, the next step is to set your goals. Your goals should align with your overall marketing objectives and be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART). Examples of goals could include increasing website traffic, generating more leads, or boosting social media engagement.
4. Plan out content creation.
Based on your target audience, content audit, and goals, it is time to develop a plan for content creation. This involves determining what types of content you will create, your content creation resources, where you’ll publish it, and how often you’ll publish it. Your content strategy should also include a plan for promoting your content to ensure that it reaches your target audience.
5. Create compelling content.
The success of your digital content strategy depends on the quality of your content. Your content should be informative, engaging, and provide value to your target audience. It should also be optimized for search engines to improve your search engine rankings and drive more organic traffic to your website.
6. Use different content formats.
People consume content in different ways, so it’s essential to use different content formats to appeal to a broader audience. This could include blog posts, videos, infographics, podcasts, and social media posts. Using a variety of content formats can also help keep your content fresh and engaging.
7. Optimize your content.
To maximize the impact of your content, it is essential to optimize it for search engines. This involves using relevant keywords, optimizing your headlines and meta descriptions, and ensuring that your content is easy to read and well-structured. Optimization also applies to any aspects of your content that keep people reading, viewing, listening — engaged from beginning to end.
8. Promote your content.
Creating great content is not enough. You also need to promote it to ensure that it reaches your target audience. This could involve sharing your content on social media, sending it to your email list, or using paid advertising to reach a broader audience.
9. Measure engagement, analyze your results.
To determine the success of your digital content strategy, you need to measure and analyze your results regularly. This involves tracking metrics such as website traffic, social media engagement, and lead generation. By analyzing your results, you can identify what is working and what is not and make adjustments to your strategy accordingly.
AI hasn’t appreciably changed the rules of content strategy (yet). But AI can’t do the critical thinking that shapes an effective content strategy. Yes, you have this framework and an exciting new tool for content creation. But you still need to be a human strategist, editor, and manager to ensure that every aspect of your content strategy works to advance your brand.
Content strategy help is here.
How well does your current content strategy track to this 9-step framework? If you need help improving what you’re doing — or starting from square one — please send a message to our Digital Marketing team or click the orange chat button below right.
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