The importance of content strategy
Content is constantly being created 24/7 on all sorts of platforms. Whether it's social media posts, commercials, books, blogs, music or television shows, there is always something being thrown at audiences. However, how does the content get noticed? This is the importance of content strategy.
When I first heard the term "content strategy," I immediately thought it was a simple way to attract an audience. According to Meghan Casey, the author of "The Content Strategy Toolkit," this is not the case.
"Content strategy helps organizations provide the right content, to the right people, at the right times, for the right reasons."
-Meghan Casey, Content Strategy Toolkit, The (Voices That Matter) . Pearson Education. Kindle Edition.
According to Casey, content strategy is made up of four elements:
- Substance defines what content the organization should produce, how it should sound and why it's meaningful.
- Structure refers to how content is organized and displayed so users can find and use content they need.
- Workflow relates to how content flows through the organization from ideation to publication to on-going maintenance.
- Governance details how the organization makes decisions about content to ensure it's on strategy.
Essentially, content strategy is like the blueprint, or map, that directs content marketing. Without strategizing the creation and publication of content, it will not succeed.
Then vs Now
In 2008, content strategy was defined as, “...plans for the creation, publication, and governance of useful, usable content.” The first content strategy conference that was held at the time wove together three strands for content strategy: content, technology, and management (such as consumer relationships and change management).
However, a lot has changed in the past 15 years. Here are a few influences that changed the way content strategy is used:
- Social Media
- Internet
- ChatGPT and AI Assistance
- Streaming
With the rise of user-generated content, search optimization, user resources (such as ChatGPT) and streaming, content strategists had to adapt to the changes in the way users consume content. According to John Hall, Senior Contributor for Forbes, "In today’s digital age, the only constant marketers can prepare for is change. From the upcoming launch of Zuckerburg’s metaverse to Google’s July 2022 product review algorithm update, the internet and how people interact with it continue to evolve."
Since user interaction evolves, content strategists must allow their ideas to evolve too.
"As content strategy progresses, there will be a need for strategists who can incorporate new trends into their strategies: conversational design, Internet of Things, augmented reality, artificial intelligence models, and so on."
Over the past 15 years, content strategy has certainly evolved. Content strategists have figured out how to target users on various platforms such as TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, X, streaming services and more.
Budget, Buy-In and Preparation
So how exactly does a content strategist go about getting the job done? According to Casey, identifying problems and opportunities as well as convincing leaders and grabbing resources are the first steps that will kickstart a content strategy.
To identify the problems and opportunities, strategists should start by hypothesizing what's wrong with the content, choosing their methods and setting up the experiments.
Methods to choose from include:
- Content Audit: This finds out who is the audience, what's the intended purpose of the content, if there are broken links, if the pages are accessible, how long the content is and if it's easy to scan and understand.
- Analytics Review: Strategists can look at pageviews, user paths through content, common search terms, devices and browsers used, and traffic sources.
- User Testing
Once the methods are chosen and the problems are hypothesized, it's time to set up the experiments. this can be done through the audit, analytics and user testing.
After the foundation is complete and the strategist figured out how to make the organization's content better, it's time they make their business case.
The steps involved in making a professional proposal and case include calculating the risks, consider the non-monetary costs and setting the claim, grounds, warrant, backing, qualifier and rebuttal. These factors are crucial in proving how your improved content will help the organization.
By understanding how your content strategy will increase an audience, engagement, efficiency and sales, more people will be on board with creating and publishing the content, making it more successful!