By Jannice Tagoe (Founder, Jannice Digital / Executive Director, Jannice Humanitarian Initiatives)
Content comes in many different forms, such as blog posts, social media updates, videos, infographics, podcasts, and more. The key here, is to create content that is relevant, valuable, and interesting to your target audience.
What is a content strategy?
Any type of content that captures the attention of your target audience and motivates them to engage with your brand is considered compelling content. Compelling content is an important component of branding strategies because it helps to establish your brand’s identity, showcase your expertise, and build trust with your audience. The goal of content creation is to provide value to a target audience while also driving engagement, traffic, leads, and sales for a company or organization. Content creation involves several steps, including planning, research, creating, editing, publishing, and measuring.
It’s crucial, as you craft your next content strategy, to ask the following questions:
- What information do you want to publish or share?
- What is the reason for publishing or sharing said information?
- Who exactly is the information for?
- What content type will you use to publish, or share said information?
- On which platforms or channels will the content have the most impact or reach?
- When is the optimal time to engage in sales conversations?
- Who will create, manage, and track the content and its performance?
- What organizational changes must be made to carry out your content strategy?
Consider the following ideas if you want to develop compelling content for your branding strategies:
1. Know your audience: You have to understand your target audience’s needs, interests, and pain points, and create content that addresses those areas. This will help establish a connection with your audience and build trust.
2. Be informative: Provide valuable information that helps your audience learn something new or solve a problem they’re facing. This will position your brand as a thought leader and establish your expertise.
3. Be entertaining: Use storytelling, humor, or other creative techniques to make your content interesting and engaging. This will keep your audience hooked and increase the likelihood that they’ll share your content with others.
4. Be authentic: Be true to your brand’s values and personality in your content. This will help establish a genuine connection with your audience and build brand loyalty.
5. Be consistent: Create a content schedule and stick to it. Consistency helps to establish trust with your audience and keeps them engaged with your brand.
Keep in mind that content is king. The goal of content is not to direct customers to your business, but to provide them with the answers they seek through your business. A haphazard approach to content creation will only harm your company or brand and everything it stands for. A solid content strategy aids in the definition of the brand and the development of the business as it should be perceived by the outside world.
It is easier and faster to generate ideas, topics, and inspiration when you have a good content strategy. Because there is a clear understanding of what the target audience wants, this can also save you the trouble of experiencing bouts of writer’s block. By creating content that is relevant, informative, entertaining, authentic, and consistent, you can establish your brand’s identity, showcase your expertise, and build trust with your audience.
