Your Content Strategy is Broken--Here's How to Fix It
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ACH ACH PRSA Fort Worth October 8, 2014 Your Content Strategy is Broken. Here’s How to Fix It. PRSA Fort Worth
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In this presentation, Arik Hanson talks about why the current content strategy model is broken, and what you can do to right the ship.
Transcript of Your Content Strategy is Broken--Here's How to Fix It
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PRSA Fort WorthOctober 8, 2014
Your Content Strategy is Broken.
Here’s How to Fix It.
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Your content strategy is broken. Admit it.
TE CONNECTIVITY
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More noise than ever before
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The stats
• Only 38% of B2B marketers rate their content marketing as effective.
• Only 35% of B2B marketers have a documented content strategy.
• 54% of B2B marketers see producing engaging content as their biggest content marketing challenge.
Source: Content Marketing Institute/MarketingProfs
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And, you’re battling this…
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How did we get here?
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Look familiar?
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What do we do now?
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1: Conduct a comprehensive content audit
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• Take stock of current content—across social channelso What content already exists?o What content does the client/company
want?o What content do actual customers want?
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• What’s working? What’s not?• Review 3-4 competitors/brands you admire
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Look at the data
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BREAK: EXERCISE (10-15 minutes)
Do you ever shut down ideas with a “we can’t do that, it
will never get by legal”? Well, we’re now on the S.S.Communications and you’ve just thrown legal overboard! • Nothing is standing in your way now – what are the
five most important stories customers need to hear, or would find most helpful?
• What are the most important vehicles to get these stories out – OR – what new channels will you try now that no one is telling you no?
• Now come back to reality: find 3 ideas on your paper you COULD actually work with legal to share publicly.
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2: Identify resources
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• In-house• Agency• Independent• Robots?
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In-House: Pros
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• Less ramp-up time• Knows your brand better• Quick access to internal SMEs
• Not always best resource• Existing political barriers may provide
roadblocks
In-House: Cons
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Agency: Pros
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• Access to more “human resources”• Get much-needed outside perspective• All-in-one package
• More expensive• Longer dating cycle
Agency: Cons
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Independent: Pros
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• What you see is what you get• Big fish, small pond
• Just one person means…just one person• Lack of ongoing professional development
Independent: Cons
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Robots?
• Wordsmith• 2,000 simple articles per second• Not as “robotic” as you might think• Boon to personalized content (or reports)
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3: Create a content plan of attack
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First, ask yourself: What’s our mission?
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CREATE
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• Stories• Infographics• Visuals• E-books• Presentations• Lists• How-to guides
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Long-form content -> Micro-content
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Identify your “sources”
• Internal SMEs• Organizational “connectors”• Customers• Vendors/Partners• Front-line employees• Customer service• Executives (Note: Further down the list)• Existing stories
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What about content YOU can create?
• Round-up posts• Q&A from the sales team• How-to’s• Interviews (trade shows, events, etc.)• Book reviews• Lists (with stats to back them up)• Case studies• Summarizing comments
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You know who’s really good at this?
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BREAK: EXERCISE (10-15 minutes)
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We are surrounded by subject matter experts everyday,
though our keen PR minds aren’t always given the license to celebrate their smarts. Time to change that.• Select a client or business unit and identify one
really smart person you have met in that group.• Imagine you are charged with starting a brand blog
to position them as an industry thought-leader. • What are the first five blog posts you’d write for that
blog? Write headlines for those five posts.
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4: How are you going to distribute the content?
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DISTRIBUTE
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• Social• Email• Repurpose (LinkedIn publishing, Medium)
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Keep this in mind…
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You know who’s really good at this?
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5: Do you plan to amplify your content?
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AMPLIFY
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• Social advertising• Sponsored content• Syndication
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You know who’s really good at this?
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6: And finally, how do you measure?
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MEASURE
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• Google Analytics• Social signals• “Engaged time”/”Attention time”• Return readers• Visitor loyalty• Don’t forget: Email metrics
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Case study - Bike Walk Move
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• What was our approach?o First: Build an online home base with more
“consumer-focused” content (Bike Walk Move blog)
o Use Facebook as our primary distribution channel (also distribute via new Bike Walk Move e-newsletter)
o Amplify with targeted Facebook adso Measure and tweak approach along the
way
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WITH Facebook ad support.
WITHOUT Facebook ad support.
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Topic: Quicker to drive or bike in the city?
Topic: More cost-effective to drive or bike?
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By the numberso Blog traffic almost doubled year over yearo Grew page from 106 likes to 1,720 likes in 9
monthso Facebook top referral sourceo Facebook ads drove 33,960,248
impressionso CPC: $.61o Spent: $8,983o Bike/walk numbers spiked
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BREAK: EXERCISE (10-15 minutes)
Often times, you are asked to develop content to promote/support annual events that always come back around (trade shows, holiday sales, etc.) While challenging, it’s time for you to get outside your skill set.
Imagine an annual event with your client/company and describe how it would look if the story were told as:o A six-second Vineo A top 10 list on BuzzFeedo An infographic for your blogo A Hyperlapse video on Instagram
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Content Cornerstones
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Don’t: Mimic what other brands are doing.
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Instead: Stay true to your brand voice, values and mission.
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Don’t: Play off popular social memes.
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Instead: Create content your customers will find useful.
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Don’t: Promote meaningless holidays.
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Instead: Amplify your customers’ best content.
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Don’t: Try to become the next Oreo.
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Do: Become the next YOU!
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Don’t: Promote your products and services (too much)
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Do: Inspire your customers through powerful imagery
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Don’t: Talk about events only you care about.
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Do: Tell rich, meaningful stories about the people who make up your company.
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Don’t: Get too cute.
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Do: Be a resource (and build brand affinity and trust)
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Don’t: Try to be Seth Godin
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Do: Write 3-5 different headlines for each post
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One last thing:
…make sure metrics loop back to content teams.
