I happened to get into a long chat on Twitter about blogging the other day. The long and short of it is that I was trying to help someone see that a blog had to tie into a business’ aims. It couldn’t be an afterthought nor could it ramble from one irrelevant topic to another no matter how popular those topics were.
I would like to think I was successful. By the end of the chat, the other person was saying “so it kind of comes full circle” and the like. I personally wanted to cheer when I saw that tweet; I do think everything comes full circle when it comes to content marketing. The different pieces are meant to work together and to result in increased leads and customers.
The problem is that while businesses may believe in that idea, they may not think to revisit and recalibrate the strategy they implemented five years ago. It’s a dangerous place to be. A strategy has to be revisited on a recurring basis. Measurement has to be done so that people in the business know whether the strategy is succeeding. They have to recognize that as the business evolves so must the content marketing and strategy.
My own content strategy reflects that. I still have a long way to go when it comes to best measuring my efforts, but I can tell what things are working and what aren’t. I can identify places that need to be revised. In terms of evolution, though, the content strategy has always been a work in progress and always will be. I accept that thought gratefully; I am not stuck with an outdated or nonfunctioning or unfulfilling strategy. I can change it as I see where failures occur. I can add elements as my business grows or changes.
An example of my evolving content strategy? The comics are one. They used to be random drawings I’d post on a now-extinct Facebook page once per month. When my business metamorphosed into Write Right, I began to change how the art worked. No longer did I draw random characters; I had the Write Right character, and she needed to be highlighted. I also quit using Facebook as the primary outlet for the comics. The comics were a fundamental component of the Write Right brand; thus, they needed to find their home on the site and be shared on social channels.
I continue to work with that strategy and to add or delete elements as they make sense. I believe it’s the only way to stay relevant and to produce quality content. That belief is mirrored in my claim that a business’ content marketing success lies in recalibrating its strategy every so often. What do you say?
Image: Tim Caynes (CC BY NC 2.0)
great post, Erin. are you able to see your own content strategy clearly? or do you need to get outside help? entirely curious.
itsjessicann Only if I step back from it. If I get caught up in the day to day, I’m capable of flitting. I know I could make my strategy more about articles like this one, but I’m a bit like Geoff L. – I need those posts that feed the more creative side of myself. Sometimes they do well; sometimes they don’t.
I can’t really afford outside help right now, but I think it could be beneficial when I have the means to work with someone. I’m always telling people that even editors need editors. I would say the same applies to content strategists. 🙂
After three years of blogging I’m finally starting to try to think in terms of strategy. I have a long ways to go, but setting up a landing page for my books was a good start. I want to have anchor pages that will highlight different aspects of my business (writing and publishing books). The more I dig into it, the easier it becomes.
With anything, I try to figure out what the next tiny step to take and then after some procrastination, I take it. Overtime I’m confident that my site will evolve into something that fits my strategy.
ExtremelyAvg Yes, I came from a more backwards approach, too. That’s okay, though, as long as we’re willing to mature as people who work and produce online. I think, too, that as writers strategy isn’t necessarily hard. We do it all the time when we think about organizing a work or about themes. It isn’t a one-to-one translation, but it’s a way to think of it.
Tiny steps lead to very big things. 🙂