Content marketing is always changing.
It’s becoming more formalized, more targeted, and more efficient. It’s a part of most marketing operations. In fact, it’s getting to the point where there are some businesses aren’t even calling what they’re doing content marketing anymore. Instead, they’re calling it content operations, according to Marketeer.
Don’t let the next-generation name scare you, though. Content operations is just a tactical version of content marketing. It focuses more on efficiently generating results, while still maintaining the creativity and spark that fires up genuinely good, story-driven content.
To make that leap from the latter to the former, I’ve outlined here a few of the core concepts that might just let you supercharge your results.
1. Clearly Identify Your Objectives
What is your content supposed to do? Yep, ideally it’s supposed to earn you new customers, and/or to keep the ones you have loyal. That’s perfect as an overarching goal, but if that pie-in-the-sky generality is all you have, then you might not have as clear a path as you need for your content team.
When planning and creating content, you need to have a clear objective. Every aspect of it needs to serve a purpose—including what it should do, and for whom. It must tie into your overall company goals. Otherwise, you’ll find yourself with disconnected content that succeeds more by luck than by design.
2. Understand Your Acceptable Metrics
Take it from me: it’s not enough to create content and put it out into the world. That might achieve one-off victories, but the success doesn’t last.
Here’s the thing: once you’re clear on your goals (see above), you’ll want to identify clear KPIs to measure those goals. Add in target objectives (even if you’re not totally sure, set an objective…it helps!) and track the interactions.
You’ll be paying close attention to those particular KPIs, whether it’s your content’s page rank, the engagement rate, the average amount of time spent on that page, your subscriptions, and/or your conversions. Hopefully, you build on what’s working, scrapping what’s not, and seeing progress as you go. You need measurements of your content’s success and the necessary data to help ensure that your content is actually achieving your goals.
3. Audit The Content You’ve Already Got
An audit starts with going through existing content and ensuring you’re not re-writing similar pieces in the future. But it can be much more than that.
When you audit your content, consider creating a simple ranking system. Base this on what’s important (e.g., trustworthiness, connection with one or more target personas, factual accuracy), and rank your content quickly as you audit. This will give you a clear snapshot of the stuff that is working for, rather than against, your brand.
From there, you can make the necessary edits to bring it all up to speed with your current goals and values. Ultimately, be sure it’s doing what you need it to do. A good audit can assess all your content and serve as a tool for honing the good stuff, scrapping the bad stuff, and clarifying the way forward.
4. Use The Content That Best Works With Your Audience
There are dozens of different types of media to present your content. You just need to find what works for your audience.
Not sure of what your audience likes? Here’s where your measurement tools come in handy. Tools like Sprout Social are brilliant for providing demographic windows into who’s reading your content and on which channels.
If you find that blogging isn’t getting the results you need, you may need to switch to a podcast or make videos instead. Don’t get too attached to a single form of media. Staying flexible will benefit you in the long-run.
5. Always Use A Call To Action
No matter what kind of content you create, it’s important to tell your audience what you need them to do.
This call can be subtle (such as telling your audience they should get their hands on your product before it’s sold out) or direct (asking someone to share an article or video). The point is that it has to be there.
If you go through all the effort to create content that gets noticed, and that gets your audience’s attention, the most foolish thing you can do is to let them walk away without asking them for what you need. Be firm or ask gently—that part is up to you. But when people appreciate your content, they are likely to consider your requests or suggestions.
Speaking of which … I do invite you to get in touch to discuss how efficient content operations can help your business. Good luck!
