5 Characteristics Of A Watertight Content Strategy

Hark – 2017 has announced itself, pushing companies onto pastures new as their marketing plans step up a gear. While we’ve already written about the potential in your annual content plan, every year is different; SEO and online experiences are evolving so fast that it’s never worth remaining static for long.

And yet, while the aims of your marketing and expectations of your audience may evolve, there are certain characteristics that should hold fast in your content strategy. Here are five signs that you’ve landed on a watertight approach:

1. Finalise a pool of subjects or approaches

Merely rolling out the same blog style, time and again, is going to sterilise the creative side of your brand. Isolate two or three article structures to play around with over the next 12 months: for example, spotlights on a job well done, or industry-led features that collate what’s going on in the world at large.

2. Leave room for spontaneity

Although blog content writing can be scheduled, don’t make it an immovable force – there still has to be scope for pertinent articles you can’t anticipate. If a topical news item comes up, from any reputable source, then jump on it while it’s fresh. Shift due posts around so they go live later in the week, replacing an imminent piece with your thoughts on what’s happened, and what it means to your demographic.

3. Measure your impact

Often, it takes a couple of strategic attempts before you land the perfect blogging blueprint. At some point in the year, define a fixed period for checking how your articles are performing compared to 2016, or the opening months of 2017. Google Analytics has plenty in the bag for business blogging to be assessed and qualified. Otherwise, you’re shooting in the dark, as good as the writing may be.

4. Know who’s accountable

Does everyone involved in your marketing team have an assigned role? Is it someone’s duty to update social media accounts, and another’s to carry out proofreading and editing? The authors of your content must be held to account if they make a mistake or do an amazing job. Since CMS software, at first glance, can reduce authorship to one person for everything, give your team dedicated profiles, so you can trace back what they’ve done.

5. Experiment with guest blogs

Far from wasting your resources, a guest blog series can broaden your influence, striking a partnership that brings a whole new audience to the table. Write a handful of blogs for someone you consider to be a peer – maybe not a brand that does exactly what you do, but something with crossover potential, relating their products or services to yours. They’ll respond in kind, and the ROI can be astounding. However, always stipulate a link back to your site; you don’t want that well-crafted piece to be too frivolous with engagement opportunities.

And that’s only a snippet of what we can share!  If any of this sounds a bit daunting, why not let us take care of it for you? Making You Content is a copywriting agency with the experience and insight to bring your content approach to another level. Contact us to discuss copywriting, editing, proofreading and web content services for 2017.