Content Creation

As a startup, you do not have the results of which content generates interest. As a startup, each content development exercise is a test to gauge response.

Organize a series of topics and consistently develop content for the varying areas. Closely monitor results/engagement for each piece of content. When you start to see a response from a certain area, focus more attention on that topic and reduce the amount of attention given to topics not generating a response.

Decide on the messaging that is important to delivery to your prospects. Put yourself in the shoes of your customer. What are they looking for? What questions are they asking you frequently? What part of your business do you excel at that competitors fail at? Where would you like to grow your business?

Once you determine who you want to reach and what content is important to that market, you can start to generate ideas for creating content to appeal to that market.

Lack of consistency. Formulate a strategy for content development and stick to it. Don’t pull the plug after writing 2 blog posts.

Plan, implement, analyze, refine.

Social Media Plan – Who do you want to reach? What industries, interests, topics are those individuals following on social media? What hashtags are they using? What questions are they asking?

Social Media Implementation strategy – Vary your posting times, hashtags, images to see when you receive the best response/engagement.

Analyze – Take the time to analyze the results each of your posts receives. When are your posts being engaged with. Who is liking your posts? What are their interests?

Refine – Based on the analyzed results, refine your strategy to be more active to your market. If certain photos are generating more engagement than others, refine your photo usage.

Content is king especially when you want to raise brand awareness and increase traffic that will lead to sales. Tap into your audience’s interests by creating new, relevant, and engaging content.
To make good content, you need to know your target market. Who are you writing the content for? You just don’t write about something without considering if it will spark your readers’ interest at first glance.
Peek into your competitors’ content to gain more insight about their high-performing posts. Check which content of theirs is getting the most attention. With Google Analytics, you may also track traffic reports. Looking at surveys can likewise help.
Research and stay updated with the rapidly changing times. Set-up Google alerts to help you stay on track of the most popular news, internet trends, and videos related to your industry. Jot down your ideas and brainstorm with your team as often as possible.
Make sure the tone of your content is appropriate for your target audience. The quality must be high. Use SEO elements to improve search engine ranking.

Always create unique and actionable content. Make sure to use strong headlines. An effective content is one that is able to provide answers. It is accurate and cites all sources of information. It has to be thought-provoking and engaging. Add videos and images for better illustration if need be. Brief and straight to the point content is always preferred than lengthy and wordy ones. Update your website, blog and/or social feed regularly and consistently.

Identify your goals and know how to measure them – The primary goals of content marketing are to develop brand awareness, drive website traffic, generate sales leads, convert leads into customers, and improve customer retention and drive upsells. How do you know if what you are doing to meet these goals are effective? By using tools for content marketing analytics and metrics for website traffic stats, blog hits, number of downloads, and social media engagement.

Netwave has created a definitive Guide to Content Marketing.

Brainstorm – Generate ideas for your content by identifying the most popular keywords and key phrases related to your subject. Consider the questions your target market might ask about your business. Gather your team to brainstorm. This practice will help you come up with numerous topics for your content.

Your content type – What do you want to create? There are various content formats and among them are case studies, how-tos, surveys, eBooks, vlogs, cartoons, newsletters, among many other types. Your choice of content type will depend on how it can be extremely relevant and useful to your target audience.

Editorial calendar – Consistency is key and your content must be updated on a regular basis. Keeping an editorial calendar will help make sure your audience always has something new and unique to learn about your business and niche.

There are various tools to help you create great content every time. An example is Google Docs, which allows you to collaborate and edit with your editor or team in real-time. There are many other similar applications available online. Some can help you keep track of your schedules and deadlines while others can monitor your time spent on tasks. Grammar and spell-checking tools are also available to save you time in proofreading your work.

This will depend on the industry your business or brand is in, your target market, and many other various factors. Some will find web seminars more effective while others will prefer videos and social media content. Generally, consumer-type markets would engage more in social media and videos while B2B lead generation may effectively utilize direct textual content.

Most B2B clients evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of a brand or business based on its website content. To produce relevant and engaging content, you should thoroughly know your target audience. Who are they and what do they want? Your client data should be the foundation of your content strategy.

Your content should engage and address the concerns of your target audience. They should be the core of your storytelling. Remember that your website is the face of your brand online and there is no better way than to let your clients know their needs are the sole focus of your business. Highlight your vision and goals as well as solutions that provide personal and business value to your clients.

An important part of your digital strategy, digital content creation involves every piece of content designed to drive traffic to your website, prospects to your brand, multiply organic reach, generate leads, and increase conversions. Digital content includes electronic newsletters, videos, blog posts, case studies, white papers, audios, and images, among many others.

As with any other digital content, writing effective blog posts means knowing who your audience is. Your tone of voice should be something your audience will warm to and engage in. Identify the most valuable information your audience is looking for. Research for topics related to your niche and offer content that is both truthful and helpful. Build an audience by posting regularly. Earn their trust by providing content that can be a source of help, guidance, and inspiration in a timely and consistent manner.

Set goals for your blog. What do you want to achieve? Is it brand awareness? More fan engagement? Build more trust and loyalty? Generate leads? Increase conversions?

Know the interests and needs of your target audience. What do they want to read about? What do they need from your brand? Why do they need what you have to offer?

Create a calendar for your editorial schedule. Outline your content mix – these can include how-to guides, product reviews, infographics, podcasts, videos, interviews, opinion articles, and interactive content.

Research and generate ideas for your blog posts. Jot down keywords. Brainstorm for engaging topics that will offer value to your audience. Get inspiration from your competitors and other bloggers within your niche. Use tools that will help you keep track of the latest and relevant topics in your niche.

A blogger typically writes content based on topics and/or keywords. The goal is to connect with the target audience and establish the blog as an authority in a specific niche.

A content writer produces a much broader range of content, from landing pages to video scripts, banner ads, to conventional advertising copy.

There is not a set rule with how often you should post on your blog. What matters is to post high-quality, unique, and valuable content that will attract your readers to engage, share and keep them coming back for more. Keep your blog fresh and interesting by posting regularly and consistently.

Know your audience and their needs. What are they looking for? What solutions do they need? Keep up with the latest trends and happenings in your niche. Follow similar blogs and be active in forums and Q&A sites. Use social media extensively. Organize and schedule relevant topics in an editorial calendar. You can also outsource your content marketing to a reputable agency that will help and guide you with your efforts.

An editorial calendar is a strategy of planning out which content needs to be composed and when to ensure all topics are being addressed. The editorial calendar helps keep business owners organized .

Choose a reputable agency by checking references and samples of work. Their work portfolio will give you an idea if they can meet your unique content creation requirements. Brainstorm with them and be clear with your goals and vision. Make sure the agency you will hire can provide further value to your brand and target market.

As a business owner, there are a lot of tasks you are responsible for. Creating engaging content on a regular basis is easy to push off for other daily tasks. By outsourcing content creation, you are asking for a writer to assist with getting the ball rolling. It is a lot easier to edit copy than to curate from scratch. By outsourcing content creation, you will save time and maintain consistent development.

Seasonal content can be a valuable tool in your content marketing. It creates the impression that you have a dynamic brand image and care about the present environment of your target audience. Seasonal content offer instant context and can gain extensive publicity. If you have online promotions, it is easier to offer them to your already welcoming audience.

Seasonal content creation only becomes disadvantageous when it becomes a forced attempt to fit into a given season to gain visitor traction. Do not lose the authenticity of your content by trying hard to ride on the season’s bandwagon. Time is also of the essence. Wrong timing for publishing your seasonal content will be an absolute drawback.

Quality content for content marketing is effective content that accomplishes its purpose because it is new, timely, significant, engaging, and valuable to its target audience.

There is no shortage of social media content creation tools online. Note-taking and productivity apps, drag-and-drop image creation tools, infographic-creation tools, and survey apps are among the tools you can utilize for producing content for social media.