Whether you already have a content strategy in place or you just have content without a strategy, there's always room for improvement.
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When people think about content, they mostly think about production, but that's an incredibly narrow view. To be successful, content needs to be well thought through, produced with intention, supported, measured, and improved in an ongoing manner. To put it plainly, businesses need a content strategy, not just content.
At Imarc, we have a tried and true way to ensure content is successful and today, we'll share it with you.
1. Get on the same page
Goals matter. Imagine you're trying to get somewhere with a group of your friends or colleagues, but the problem is, you all think you're going somewhere different and each person has varied ways they'd like to see the group get there. That's exactly how content works without strategy. To get your team aligned, we suggest employing tools.
Content brief
It all starts with a content brief that solidifies the basic framework of your piece. Some things it covers are the author (especially if you're ghostwriting for someone), the goals and objectives for the piece, the topic itself, the timeline it will be produced on, the audience it's meant for, any needed assets that need to be produced, and of course, what key performance indicators will spell its success!
Content guide
After the content brief comes the more detailed content guide. This is where the real research begins. It dives into search engine optimization (SEO) keywords you'll employ, use cases and ideas, other trending topics that are related, and even character counts. This research will confirm your direction and dictate your title and blog structure more definitively.
Outline
And finally, we arrive at the outline! The outline is the culmination of direction and targeted research. It's where you build the bones of your piece with facts and quotes. This is the time to do the bulk of your information sourcing so that your proof is validated in advance of drafting.
It may seem like quite a process to undertake to get to the blog writing itself, but we promise that this method means that the actual approval will come much faster than if you wrote it on the fly and the results will be both measurable and on-brand.
At Imarc we execute work like this every month for our clients, so if you'd like to implement this proven process, but lack the internal resources, just let us know.
2. Boost your content
Pure SEO is wonderful, but it's not the only tool you can use to keep your content top of mind. To reach a larger audience, you'll want to take advantage of performance marketing. That method means that you can focus on your target keywords both organically and by using paid media.
"Content's organic reach isn't what it used to be. It's an uphill battle against, AI-generated clutter, declining organic reach on social media, and the ever changing search engine algorithms. We boost our content marketing efforts with paid channels, to help reach our audience with high-value content faster." –Derek Cummings, Senior Digital Strategist
3. Supplement your supply
When you're on a small team or you're a team of one, creating consistent content can be a struggle. Rushing your internal team to push out content that isn't optimized isn't the answer. Instead, consider using an agency partner to supplement the quality supply you are producing.
Agencies are fully capable of adding one or two pieces (articles, infographics, or other items) to improve the overall production levels of your existing flow, thereby improving your traffic levels.
4. Audit and improve your existing content
There are several actions every marketer should take to ensure content success. The first is to audit the metrics of their pieces on an ongoing basis. By doing so, you'll be able to identify holes in your strategy that you can fill with new content and find ways to improve what you already have.
Once your audit is complete, here are some options.
Upcycle high-performing content
Upcycling is the easiest way to produce aligned content fast. For example, if one of your blogs did well, take some key takeaways out and use them to craft an infographic. You could also make a series of key takeaways that could be promoted on social media. And then there's the possibility of generating a listicle or even a podcast episode. Honestly, upcycling possibilities are unlimited. Get creative and get results!
Did you see what we did above? We linked back to another related blog from June 2023. Why? Because the information is still relevant and still continues to fuel our pipeline. You can do the same thing to make the most out of your high-ranking content.
Make older pieces current
A great example of content that gets upcycled every year is social media guidelines for marketers. Here's one from Sprout Social that gets Googled constantly. Can you imagine the amount of traffic that generates? Yes, exactly, a lot! You can do that too with yearly guides and other content that needs to be kept fresh.
Cull pieces that aren't performing
“In writing, you must kill all your darlings.” –William Faulkner
Simply put, if content hasn't found an audience after a certain period, it's time to optimize it differently or put it out to pasture. Sometimes pieces flop and that's okay. You'll do better next time.
Optimize underperforming pieces
Not to be confused with dead-end pieces that weren't well-conceived and didn't create any impact, underperforming pieces are ones that you swore had potential but only generated minimal engagement.
This is your time to fix it up!
You can do this tactically by ensuring metas, H tags, and alt text are used correctly. Concept-wise you can complete optimizations by making sure it resonates with your target personas and by adding in stronger proof and sells. Finally, you can consider changing the format by adding in items like TL;DRs at the top for skimmers, audio recordings for those who may want to listen instead of read directly, or transcripts if you're trying to get a video to reach more people.
Bonus: The last round of suggestions serves both user experience and accessibility. Those are big wins.
5. Build a bubble up strategy
We rarely use the word "I" in an Imarc blog because our team-forward approach is part of our DNA, but I can't seem to find a way to address the term "bubble up strategy" without signaling that I brought the words to Imarc.
I honestly didn't realize it wasn't an industry term because, to me, it just makes sense. According to the Cambridge Dictionary, "bubble up" means "to rise to the surface or become obvious" and that's exactly what our team is always telling our clients to do with their evergreen content.
You can do this in surprising ways like:
Generating listicles leading back to blogs
Creating simple videos teasing past content
Writing a series of data-forward social posts designed to pique interest
Shouting out reasons why older content is still relevant in your email marketing (Think: This piece may be from 2022, but we still can't stop thinking about it...)
Bubble up strategies are comprehensive, long-term tools for generating engagement.
Creating a bubble up strategy takes time, but our team really enjoys making them. Let us know if you'd like a hand with yours.
Tip: We always recommend that you post a piece at least three times in different ways at varied intervals within the first month of its creation. This micro bubble up ensures more eyes see it initially.
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The best way to make content perform is to be strategic. If you'd like our support in one or all of the five ways we've outlined above, say hello.
