A Recipe for a Delicious Digital Content Strategy
By Rachel Moehle, Marketing & Communications Manager at Gleaners Food Bank of Indiana
The world of digital marketing is large and complex. Gone are the days when your digital efforts could consist of a website and a few emails. Between the pace at which we need to turn out content and the ever-changing landscape of social media platforms – Is Facebook still relevant? Do you need to be on TikTok? What even is BeReal? — it's easy to feel overwhelmed.
As the marketing and communications manager at Gleaners Food Bank of Indiana — the state’s largest hunger-relief organization and a leading member of the Feeding America network — I am fortunate to be able to use my skillset as a marketer to marry two of my great passions: food and helping my community.
Much like in cooking, you can have a great base of ingredients as a marketer but not have much to show for it without a strategy in place. So, rather than resorting to another night of cheese and crackers for dinner (or making that #ThrowbackThursday post just to cover your bases), you can use a simple blend of research, listening and a little bit of planning ahead to set yourself up for success.
Step 1: Prep your ingredients
· Objective: The first step to figuring out a winning strategy is to know why you’re doing it. Without goals, you have no way to measure your success and ROI – and that includes your time. Define what problems your content is trying to solve and then set some key performance indicators (KPI’s) that you want to benchmark against those.
· Audience: You probably have a few ideas of your target audience, but the best strategy isn’t formed on guess work. Chances are you have great insights through tools you already utilize like your email marketing platform, Google Analytics and Meta’s audience dashboard. Leverage the rich data these collect such as the days/times users are engaging with your content, your audience’s interests, their age, how they’ve found your platform, etc. and work it into a user persona for each platform.
· Platform: Take stock of the different platforms your organization has, how they are actually used and what medium performs best. Not all are created the same. While it’s tempting to rush to a hot, new app like TikTok – keep in mind who its own target demographic is, and whether that actually aligns with your goals you’ve set above. In fact, adults age 18-34 are using an average of eight platforms every month -- so if you decide a platform isn’t for you, you’re not likely to miss someone totally. Be careful not to spread yourself too thin. Instead, focus on networks where your core audience is already active and go from there.
Step 2: Mix it all together.
You’ve defined your goals, determined your audience’s behaviors and compared it against your preferred networks. Now, it’s time to put it into motion by sourcing and creating your content.
While it’s important to stay fresh and topical, that doesn’t mean you have to start from scratch every time. Consider the content that you already have and how it can be repurposed and optimized by platform. A long-form blog post, for example, might make a great three-part email welcome series or can be converted into an infographic for Facebook.
And, if you’re not already leveraging user generated content (UGC) – tagged photos, videos, reviews and comments – be sure to work this your content strategy. Not only are you saving time and creative energy, but 55% of users trust UGC over other forms of marketing -- just be sure to give credit where it’s due!
Step 3: Set it but don’t forget it.
By this point, you likely have tons of ideas flying and you’re ready to activate! One of the easiest ways to plan your new strategy is to create a content calendar. Being able to visualize your content by day/week/month helps give you a birds-eye view of your content so that you can fill any gaps. You’re also more likely to develop a consistent pattern for sharing your content – which factors into a lot of platforms’ decisions to post certain content. The more consistent you are, the better your content is likely to perform.
Finally, using the goals and KPI’s you set in step one, it’s time for our taste test: schedule your content, monitor its performance and adjust accordingly.
As digital marketers, it’s important that we remain agile and that our content provides value to its intended audience. One strategy won’t work forever, so be sure to track and audit regularly. Be prepared for things to change and don’t be afraid to pivot your content when necessary.
While building an effective content strategy may seem intimidating at first, it doesn’t have to be! With the tools and ingredients above, you have everything you need to whip up a delectable content strategy.