By : Oluwadamilare

What is Content?

With respect to the internet, content is any information available for retrieval by the user, these include web pages, documents, images, music, audio files, drivers and software downloads.

What is Strategy?

Strategy is defined as a laid down plan of action or technique intended to accomplish a specific goal.

What is Content Strategy?

Content Strategy is the planning, development and management of written or other forms of media. Content Strategy ensures that the piece of content has a purpose, it aligns with your clients’ needs or goals, and it exists to provide value to your users.

Before developing a Content Strategy, you must know the business goals, requirements or needs. Ask the following questions because the answers will help to create a very sound Content Strategy:

1. How does the content meet the business and user needs?

The business objectives need to be understood. If the objective is not known, Content Strategy cannot be done.

2. Who are targeted audiences?

Find out who your audience is and what they need or want.

3. What goals and metrics are you pursuing?

Define the goals you want to accomplish.

4. Where will the content be published (and why)?

Where does the audience visit and why? This will help you know where to post your contents.

5. What action (or reaction) do I want from my audience?
6. What time is the best time to publish the content?

Time matters to people. Some people will prefer to check certain contents either early in the morning or late in the evening when they want to retire to bed and some prefer going through contents during the weekends. You must know the right timing so as to know the best time to post your content.

Content Strategy will help you decide the following:

1. What subjects (topic circles) guide the brainstorming session?

Content Strategy will help you streamline your thoughts towards the topic(s) you want to write on.

2. What topics from the session make it onto the editorial calendar?

From the step above, with a large pool of topics, you can choose the ones that will make it to onto the content calendar.

3. What’s the best voice, style, and formatting to use to meet an audience?

Content Strategy will help you know the pattern, voice and format to be used in writing your content.

4. What are you doing to create a more valuable and comprehensive piece of content than what your competitors provide?

Here, you will have gone through your competitors’ contents and identify better ways to curate your own. You can go through your previous content too and know how to do better.

5. Where and when content is posted or cross-posted?

Content Strategy will help you know where and what time you should post as where as knowing where to cross post.

6. How do you monitor the metrics for every content?

Types of Content Strategy Models

Models can be applied to content strategy from other fields to create content marketing strategy. Some of the popular ones are:

1. The Pillar and Spoke Model:

This is also known as topic clusters, it’s a well-known way of organizing content around one main topic that also helps with SEO.

2. Frameworks from UX:

Content strategy can map onto user experience (UX) frameworks which maps content onto technical, editorial, and web development viewpoints.

3. Canvas Model:

In canvassing, processes are mapped in a way that defines their value proposition, key activities, channels, customer segments, and other features.

4. Agile content strategy:

Content strategy using the agile framework can enhance responsiveness and support change management initiatives in situations like pivoting or re-branding.

The subject of content strategy is very wide and it is best that you try to know more about content so that you can deliver relevant content that meet specific goals.