CONTENT STRATEGYSMALL BUSINESS SECRETS FOR SUCCESS

Start with basic

questions

WHY AM I DOING THIS?

• To help my reputation?

• To directly sell something?

• To serve my existing customers better?

WHO IS YOUR AUDIENCE?

• Do they want to talk to me? • Do they need to talk to me?• What are their interests?• How do they use media?

Before you start planning

KNOW YOUR MEDIA

Text - persuasion• Details

• Specifics

• Links

Photos - attraction• Impressions

• Holistic view

Videos - emotion• Processes

• Feelings

KNOW YOUR CAPACITY

What kind of content do I know how to create?

How often can I create content?

If your photos look like this, maybe pick a different medium…

Plan the work

GET IDEASPlaces to look• Customer interactions

• Employee interactions (reward idea contributions)

• Successful strategies for others

• A news-reading habit• Social follows• RSS• Trade press

MANAGE THE IDEAS

Use a system that works for you & bank ideas before you start• Shared .doc

• Private Pinterest board

• Trello or similar

Leave space for inspiration/crises/trends

SCHEDULEWhen will content be created?• Routine systems work well

• Plan people, time for editing

• Business lifecycle matters

Who will create it?• System for employee ideas

• Who will re-purpose existing content?

Work the plan

GETTING IT DONE

Give yourself two weeks of slush – stuff you can publish any time – before you publish anything.

After the first month, check your process. • Content quantity

• Content quality

• Stress of production

LEARN AND IMPROVE• What did I want to accomplish?

• How can I tell if I did it?

• Did I?

• What can I learn from what I did to do better?

Whose content is it anyway?

QUICK TIPS

Routine will save your bacon

Don’t start what you can’t keep up. Corollary: if you can’t keep up, take down.

Reuse when reasonable.Blog post

Instagram the images over time

Tweet the quotes over time

Use social to bring back seasonally

Do annual follow-ups where it makes sense