Talk from the Top: Why the bigger picture matters in content strategy

by Jen Campbell




By Jen Campbell

We talk regularly about the importance of updating your audience via email and social content. When it comes to attracting new audiences, frequently updated content can really help to highlight your relevance and innovative thinking, and keep you above the fold on search engines in a way that standard web content cannot.

However, creating content for social, blogs and articles shouldn’t be done on a whim, or to fulfil a quota. It’s important to have a content strategy that aligns with both your brand and what your audience is looking for – and, most importantly, to stick to it! 

We regularly help our clients create these content strategies. As 2020 is still young, you may be reviewing your comms plan for the year ahead – so we wanted to share some of our top tips for creating and maintaining a comms plan that really makes an impact.

Balance what you want to say with what your audience wants to hear

When creating any content strategy it’s essential to maintain a well-rounded perspective. It can be easy to only talk about what you know or have to say as a brand, but this may not align with what your audience wants to hear. Start by listing Brand and Audience needs, so these are considered throughout the content planning and creation process.

Clarify your content pillars

Whether you’re creating content for an article, blog or social post, it’s important to have clear, established content pillars to follow, so that you have a good blend of content and stay true to your brand story. For most of our clients, we help develop 3-5 content pillars depending on the frequency of posting – these pillars come with clear guidance on what the topic is, the type of content that falls within in it, how often it should be spoken about, and the main action we want it to deliver.

Review and justify your post frequency

In my experience, the notion that more content isn’t necessarily best hasn’t yet caught on in Asia, and many businesses push out content weekly, daily – sometimes more than once a day! – with no clear reason as to why. Social media is very reliant on paid strategies, and audiences are becoming more and more savvy about which brands they chose to receive email comms from – so the frequency at which you publish new content is more important than ever.

Choose an appropriate delivery format

Format may be key to success. Nowadays, audiences are used to engaging with a great many different content formats, so this must be considered when putting together a content strategy. We often hear that video is king when it comes to engaging content, and I would say that this is true 80% of the time – but there are still times when other formats are as impactful, or where the channel for delivery is most important and isn’t suitable for video. Before setting budgets for the year, create a content strategy that is clear on the formats you will need, so that budget isn’t a hindrance later down the line.

Prepare to be flexible!  

Last but not least, a content strategy is just that – a strategy or framework for success. Sometimes, you may have to diverge from the plan to allow for changes in marketing plans and to react appropriately to events out of your control. As long as you begin the process aiming to stick to the strategy, but keeping a flexible mindset, these updates won’t cause mass panic or disrupt your business activities too seriously.