How to Build a Digital Content Strategy

One of the keys to creating a quality website is making sure you are creating high-quality content on a regular basis. If you’re new to the world of content creation, you may be overwhelmed by the process and may have difficulty trying to pinpoint what sort of content to post, how to promote it, and how to keep it consistent. That’s why a digital content strategy is something you need to cultivate. Today, we’ll walk through how to make an effective content strategy and how to go about making one for your website. 

What is a Content Strategy?

A content strategy is a plan for how you will use your content to help achieve your business goals. Any successful content strategy attracts your target audience and keeps them engaged in the long run. Your strategy content includes more than the words on the page. It also includes the images and multimedia used.

digital content creation

Building a Digital Content Strategy

Know Your Content Goals 

One of the first things you’re going to want to do is write down clear goals for your website content. When you think about your goals, you’re going to want to be as specific as possible. Think about ways you would like to improve your content or even how to increase your reach. You want your goals to be quantifiable and scalable. You could make goals like increasing your website traffic, increasing your social media following or engagement strategy, increasing the number of conversions, etc. 

Whatever your goals are, you should always aim to be as realistic as possible and make sure that you have defined concrete ways to achieve them. You want to also give your goals a timeline that you are going to closely follow in order for you to stay focused on them. Separate your goals into baby steps so that you complete small tasks that will ultimately lead to the goal’s completion.

If you work alongside a team of other individuals, it’s important to check in with them as well and have a dialogue about what needs to get done when. Assign people on your team clearly defined roles and make sure that everyone’s on the same page about their jobs. Be mindful of people’s time and the efforts that they are making in accomplishing the team’s goals. Lastly, be sure to ask for feedback from your team in order to ensure that everything is running smoothly and that the team dynamic is one that is positive and upbuilding. If not, it could decrease work ethic and motivation. 

Research Your Audience

You are now going to want to conduct some research. You want to identify who your target audience is and become familiar with their buying habits. First, you’ll need to solidify the basic facts about them; in other words, their demographic information. These include their ages, incomes, location, etc. These basic facts will give you some basic knowledge about them and will be the starting point of your research. 

Next, you’re going to find out their specific needs and wants and be able to deliver them. Think about what they value, what’s important to them, and what will catch their attention. Do they react better to content that is straightforward, informative, and to the point? Or are they more inclined towards humor, storytelling, perhaps captivating visuals, or celebrity/influencer appearances? In other words, figure out what they find most intriguing and incorporate content that has these aspects. 

After you’ve figured this out, you’ll need to figure out how to tie these values and interests into your digital content strategy and decide which platforms or media outlets will best produce your content. Think about what platforms your target audience frequents the most. For example, if your goal is to create more social media content, it’s important to know what social media trends and sites are currently being used by your target audience. For example, Gen Z is really into TikTok. So if your target audience includes them, it would be a good idea to focus on creating content on that platform. 

strategy content

Plan a Budget

Now that you’ve gotten your goals in place and have researched your target audience, you can now decide your potential budget for your strategy content. Building a good digital content strategy does not necessarily require having the largest possible budget. You can create great content with very little money. It may just be a matter of getting creative and being precise. However, it is very likely that you need to carve out a budget if you are looking to do a grand marketing campaign or if you’ve hired various team members. Your budget needs to be a realistic representation of your financial situation as you do not want to spend money sporadically or without a purpose. 

Organize Your Resources 

The next step in the process of creating a digital content strategy is making sure that you have all the resources necessary to produce, edit, and execute your content to the best of your ability. For example, if you’re doing digital content creation for the first time, you might find making a content calendar very helpful. You can lay out the details of a content calendar yourself or find a template to glean off of. Content calendars are great because they allow you to organize and plan all of your content out precisely. You can write down what your vision is for your content, pinpoint what days your content will go live, write down what hashtags or tags you’ll use to increase your reach, and anything else you want to plan ahead for. 

You also need to think about how frequently you want to post and create content, what keywords you would like to use, and what content you will produce. Some types of content are infographics, YouTube videos, and blogs. You will also have to think about what guidelines you would like to create for your content, such as SEO practices you want to follow. Make sure you also include your overall goals in your content calendar to remind you of the bigger picture. If anything on the content calendar doesn’t align with those goals, perhaps it’s best to not include it. 

Another resource you might want to invest in are software that can help you develop or enhance your content. These can include tools such as Photoshop or Final Cut Pro or physical tools like cameras, tripods, or a computer. Although you by no means need to go out and purchase a copious amount of content creating and editing software or tools, it doesn’t hurt to see what is out there. Investing in content creation tools could help you bring your content to the next level. This is especially important to consider if you are looking to get more eyes on your content. However, do not forget about devices and tools that are free to use or that are already in your possession. You can create quality digital content just by using your phone camera and a couple of handy apps. 

what is a content strategy

Analyze Your Competition 

Another part of building a digital content strategy is looking into your competitors’ strategies. Through this, you might find inspiration and guidance on things to avoid. Look at those in your industry who are producing similar content to you and who have gotten successful results. Their manner of content creation may be useful to you if you find yourself becoming discouraged. Use their content as a guide to creating your own. 

Of course, you never want to flat-out copy a fellow competitor’s work. You wouldn’t want to be unoriginal or have the risk of plagiarism or copyright infringement. However, there is no harm in noting what aspects of their digital content creation are working for them. In fact, it is highly encouraged to learn from others in your field so you can stay ahead, keep up with the trends, and produce your best quality work. In fact, if you think there could be mutual benefit, you could reach out to a competitor for a collaboration. You could host an event that promotes both your products and or platforms and end up gaining exposure through their audience. This is a great strategy that can increase your engagement and enhance your digital content’s visibility.

digital content strategy

Think About SEO 

Lastly, you’re always going to want to make sure that you keep SEO strategies in mind. Brainstorm ways you could optimize your images and videos on your website. Doing so can help you increase your website traffic and increase your visibility. You can also conduct keyword research so that your website content can rank higher in search engine results. Make sure you have a solid social media presence and be sure to clearly link your socials on your website so that people can easily share your content across platforms. The more optimized your content is, the more people will find it, and the more conversions you’ll gain. 

FAQ: 

  • What is a content strategy?
  • How do I set content goals?
  • How do I create a budget for content creation?
  • Why should I analyze competitors’ content?
  • How do I organize my content resources?

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