You are probably wondering how to do or where to start for start your content strategy. Through this article (or podcast episode), I help you ask yourself the right questions and find solutions that are right for you and your business.
And to achieve your goals, I reveal the 5 essential steps that will help you build the right content strategy :
1- Determine your way of communicating,
2 – Find the topics you want to discuss,
3 – Set the objectives of your content strategy,
4 – Define your own content ecosystem,
5 – Determine a publication rhythm.
These steps are essential to avoid communicating in the wind. And that’s what I’m going to explain to you in this article.
Why start a content strategy?
The content strategyis not an insurmountable mountain. And yet, I still come across too many entrepreneurs who are starting to publish:
- Without having a plan,
- Without really knowing what they want to say or who to talk to,
- Without knowing how to create relevant and coherent content.
We do not communicate about our activity for our simple pleasure.
On the other hand, I remain convinced that one can adore produce content that serves its purposes.
Having fun does not mean not do anything, nor post everything that crosses your mind. Your communication is there to serve your business. It helps you achieve your goals.
Your contents are tools that you have at your disposal to succeed. You cannot therefore publish without a minimum of reflection if you want to have results.
Finally, you can.
But, I don’t guarantee that your content creation will help you sell and find customers.
The content strategyto be coherent and relevant, must be considered in the long term.
This is not an exercise that you will only do once in your life as an entrepreneur. And that’s completely normal because your business is changing. You evolve. So your content strategy evolve with you.
➔ To read: what is a content strategy and what it contains.
Determine how you communicate
Find your natural way of communicating
To determine your way of communicatingit is important to find out what is your natural way of communicating with your community.
How do you proceed to convey information to a loved one?
- Are you giving him an audio message?
- Do you prefer to send a written message?
- Do you take the time to make a video to show directly what you want to say?
Take my example:
When I have to convey information, either I write a written message or I send an audio message. In my way of communicating with you, I communicate mainly in writing or by audio.
I’m not comfortable drawing, nor with videos. So I’m not going to base my content on these ways of communicating.
When you start to communicate, the objective remains to start a content strategy fluid and naturalwithout adding a mental load that takes you out of your comfort zone.
➔ To read: the key to selling naturally
Choose the right communication channels
By determining your natural way of communicating, you will be able to determine the communication channels with whom you feel in tune.
For example, if you hate writing, the blog is not the most suitable channel.
This step is essential to succeed in getting your message across more naturally and easily..
Make sure that your audience and your ideal client use the same communication channels as you.
If you decide to launch a YouTube channel when your audience never goes to this platform, it may be difficult to reach the right people!
Find the topics you want to address in your content strategy
What do you mean ?
What do you want to convey as a message?
What topics can you talk about for hours?
The idea behind this step to start your content strategy is to dig deep into these topics to draw up the most exhaustive list possible of what makes sense to you.
Then determine the topics your ideal client needs to know. It is the match of the two that will result in relevant content. So that it resonates for you and for him.
Communication is something we do together: you and your ideal client.
You don’t communicate just for yourself.
The subjects you choose will help you find your themes and your editorial lines. So be as specific as possible.
For example :
You want to talk about graphics, fine. You can go even further. Ask yourself what you want to share about the graphics, what you want to defend, what pisses you off, etc.
➔ To read : How to find content ideas?
Set the objectives of your communication strategy
This step for start your content strategy is to ask you why you want to create content : what will you use it for?
Your goals may change as you progress.
But right now, there, now, why do you want to communicate?
- Pour create a community around you ?
- To make yourself visible?
- To sell your products?
- To have a portfolio to share with potential clients?
There is no right or wrong goal. There are only goals that make sense to you.
Communication is personal. It is linked to your business, it is used to grow your business.
fix communication objectives determines how you will communicate.
Define your content ecosystem
Your content is a large machine with different communication channels who work together.
Pour start your content strategy, I advise you to choose one or two communication channels to avoid spreading yourself too thin. It’s best to focus your efforts on one channel to make sure it’s working before moving on elsewhere.
Then you will be able to think about your content ecosystem : know how your content fits together to turn your audience into customers.
How do we find you?
The first thing to ask yourself is:
- How do we find you?
- By what means do you ideal customers will discover that you exist?
- Through what types of content will you make yourself known?
- What topics do you tackle to reach the most new people?
For example :
If you’re on Instagram, are you going to do real ones instead so that we can discover you? Or collaborative publications? Or lives with guests? It’s up to you to choose how your target will be able to discover you.
How do we get to know you?
Once you have found how we discover you, we do the same with the rest of the steps to turn your audience into a customer.
How do we get to know you and trust you?
If you have several communication channelsyou can define which platform you will use to create a strong bond of trust with your target.
How do you become a customer?
The last step of a good content ecosystem is to define how your audience will take action with you.
By which canal de communication ? By what means? With what types of content? And with what subjects?
Take my example:
I have several communication channels. People discover me most often through my blog posts and natural referencing. Or thanks to my posts on Instagram. Or when I’m interviewed on other media. It’s my way of generate acquisitionto make sure that new people discover me.
For the trust part, these are my free content to download who play this role as a priority (there is also the podcast and my other content on social networks).
I convert mainly by talking to my audience through private messages on Instagram and LinkedIn. Without forgetting my newsletter which helps me to convert.
Determine your posting pace
How are you going to organize yourself be regular in your content strategy ?
You can already determine how much time you can dedicate to your content creation.
Depending on your availability, you will be able to set up and prioritize actions.
The idea is not to add a mental load to you with your content strategy. More than your content fits well into your schedule.
Before choosing the number of posts to publish per week, it is important to ask yourself how much time do you have for make content.
If you have 2 hours available, you will not make the same amount of content as if you had 4 hours, 6 hours or 8 hours. And with your available time frame, you can determine how much content you can create.
➔ Read: 4 habits to adopt to better organize your content strategy
Pour start your content strategy, it all starts with you. Come back to you, all the time. You are the essence of your business, your life, your communication.
And if you need help getting started, I invite you to sign up for my free challenge: 5 days to be authentic in its content.
