What does a content strategy look like?

Building your own content strategy is easier than you think.

You don't need a million tools, a gazillion apps, or to be a tech wizard to create a strategy that works for you.

You can create your strategy using Post-it notes and your phone camera; you can document it in a Google Doc spreadsheet, on a piece of paper, or you can use Evernote your phone notes app, Notion, anything that you can record your plans and your intentions for your content in order to measure.

The strategy itself is just a plan of what you post, where, and how often.

In order for you to actually create that, it needs to be a way that works for you (and if that means going offline with actual pens and paper, I am all for it).

However, documenting it in a format that can be shared has huge benefits for your business as you begin to grow; becoming organised in how you document your strategy means that you'll be able to share your plans with team members, even if you are not beginning to outsource yet.

You'll have an easily readable record of your strategy to be able to reflect, refine, and tweak, and you'll be able to record your data and experience as you go in a way that is easily readable and shareable for any future team members, outsourcers, VA’s, coaches etc.

I tend to work in a Google spreadsheet when I create content strategies for myself and for my clients.

You could work in Canva or Design Wizard; you could work in PowerPoint, Evernote, Airtable or Notion - essentially, whatever piece of software you find useful.

I love to use Google Sheets because Google Docs are easily sharable, easily transferable and easily filed.

My strategy starts with a deep dive into what my customers are actually asking, and what's being said in the marketplace.

This is then followed by what I call the “Personal Power Paradigm” (the element that makes clients stand apart) and this is something that I go into with my clients with any strategy work.

I then pull out some key talking points and define the message that is key to the brand.

Going through that journey yourself is so powerful as it helps realign you with your values, your message, your manifesto and what you stand for.

Then we look at what part of the strategy we are trying to create; is it a full content strategy from blog posts or videos through to social? Is it social only? We decide where we are posting and create an ideas bank of talking points and content that is relevant.

From there, I design how the content works together.

I use something called a Content Capsule often for my clients, which is a set of key blog posts that could be repurposed into webinars, individual content and social content and blog posts.

A key part of the strategy is also working out how you create content best and working in that way so that you can create content regularly, and you can also use the medium that you work best in to repurpose in a way that suits you and your productivity the best.

A massive part of any content strategy is setting the KPIs - key performance indicators - and to decide how you are measuring success of your content.

Decide what shows you that this work has been successful; is it more likes and engagement? Is it an increase in sign-ups to your list? Is it an increase in ‘X’ amount of sales?

Deciding how you will measure success is really important, as it gives you a benchmark with which to refine any efforts that you make. So, setting the KPIs gives us a way to assess the ROI on content, and including this as part of your development is really important.

Next, consider how the different platforms work together to get clear in your mind to which content is going where. Then, it's really helpful to literally mark out and plan a calendar, an example calendar, which demonstrates the mix of types of content you might be sharing on different platforms.

Again, I mark this out in Google Sheets and do an example calendar, which can be transferred to whichever piece of tech you currently use to schedule your content.

You can plan a month at a time, a quarter at a time, but I find it really useful just to mark out the types of content and when they're going to be shared and on what platform.

You can then work in a weekly cadence to schedule things ahead of time according to the way that you have planned it out.

For example, you might have videos being shared on a Monday on Twitter, followed by a Wednesday's curated post, followed by Thursday a re-share of a blog post, followed by Friday some kind of personal insight.

The way that you mix up your content strategy will depend on what your audience needs, how you like to create content, and where that sweet spot is.

A content strategy can be different for everybody.

You don't need to follow a blueprint, but it can be really helpful to follow a framework so that you can get the key pieces in place and create something that really works for your business.

PSST! Do you want to DIY your own content strategy, while I take you step by step through the process? Stay tuned for my DIY Content Strat Pack right here.

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How to create content that gets liked and shared