Getting Ready for 2024: A Step-By-Step Guide to Creating a Solid Content Strategy
The new year is just around the corner, which means it’s time to start thinking about your content strategy for 2024!
There’s a lot of buzz about the importance of having a solid “content strategy,” but if you’re like many business owners or marketing managers, you may not know where to start or what to include.
Don’t worry; we’ve got you covered. In this guide, we’ll walk you through everything you’ll want to include in your content strategy. We’ll also share industry tips on how to boost your existing content and create more engaging content to make your 2024 content strategy and execution one your competitors will be jealous of.
So, let’s get started!
Step 1: Set Realistic Goals and Milestones
Setting goals and milestones is the first – and most important – step in creating a solid content strategy. What do you want to achieve with your content in 2024, and why? And by when?
Do you want to increase brand awareness?
Drive traffic to your website?
Generate more leads?
Boost sales?
All of the above?
Once you define your goals, you can then begin developing a solid content strategy to help you achieve them.
Tip #1: Be honest about how much time and resources you have available to create and promote your content. It’s okay to start small and work towards more challenging goals.
Tip #2: Your goals should be specific and measurable to know exactly what you’re working towards. Don’t just say, “I want to increase brand awareness.” Instead, say, “I want to increase website traffic by 10% in the next six months.”
Step 2: Audit Your Existing Content
Before you start creating any new content, it’s important to review your existing content. Existing content includes everything from your website to your blogs, social media, emails, and anywhere else you publish content about your brand online.
Auditing existing content will help you identify areas where improvements need to be made or where existing content can be repurposed. Here are some things to look out for when auditing your content:
Outdated or inaccurate information
Spelling and grammar errors
Inconsistent brand voice and messaging
Poorly written or confusing copy
Tip #3: Don’t underestimate the value of updating old content. You may find something that can be turned into something quite incredible.
Step 3: Update and Add Fresh Content
Now that you know what your goals are and what improvements you need to make to your existing content, it’s time to start building your strategy.
A solid strategy will include a mix of the following:
Making updates to your existing content
Repurposing existing content to use in different ways
Creating new content where it makes sense to help you achieve your current goals
4 Areas to Focus on When Revamping Your Content for 2024
1. Website Copy
A good place to start is with your website, since it should be the home base of your brand. Dive deep into every page of your website, checking for missing, outdated, or incorrect information, off-brand messaging, broken links, and opportunities to improve overall readability and flow of the content.
Remove or update any messaging that no longer accurately represents your brand, and identify areas where content can be added to clarify your messaging.
Google and other search engines love fresh, updated content on your website. If you don’t remember the last time you added new content to your website, you’ll want to start right now! Consider whether any new pages need to be added to your website.
For example, you may need to add pages to show new products or services or additional information about your organization or its people. And, if you’re running advertising or email campaigns that point to landing pages, it’s important to ensure they are well-optimized and up-to-date.
Tip #4: Some simple ways to create fresh website content regularly include writing blog posts, simple update posts, or going back through old blog posts and website pages and making updates and improvements.
2. Blog Content
Don’t have a blog? Now is a great time to start. Your blog is a great way to attract new visitors to your website, share your expertise, and build strong relationships with your ideal audience.
For some, the idea of maintaining a blog may seem overwhelming, but it doesn’t have to be. You can start by writing blogs monthly or by writing a few blogs and then adding new ones every month or every quarter.
If you already have a blog, it’s important to review your existing blog posts and check that they are all accurate, up-to-date, and relevant. Replace old photos with new ones, rework titles to sound more engaging, add newer statistics, and add new external links.
Audit Existing Blogs
Auditing the performance of existing blog posts can help you determine what’s resonating with your audience, as well as help you come up with new topics and ideas. Utilize tools like Google Analytics to see which blogs are getting the most visitors and engagement vs. those that are falling flat.
Brainstorm New Blog Topics
Whether you’re just starting your blog or looking to amp up your library, here are some tips, tools to leverage, and questions to ask when brainstorming blog topics:
Provide Solutions: What challenges does your target audience face? What do they struggle with? How can you help them?
Educate: Think about your knowledge and experience. What can you teach your audience? What tips or advice can you share?
Answer FAQs: What questions do you frequently get asked? The answers can make the best blog posts.
Share News + Updates: What might your audience not know about you, your brand, or what you offer? Tell them about your latest offering or how you got started in your industry.
Tip #5: Use keyword research tools like Answer The Public or simple Google searches to identify what related topics your audience is searching for.
3. Social Media Content
Are you regularly updating your social media accounts with fresh content and information? If not, you need to make consistency a social media goal for 2024. It’s important to be present on social media so your page is inviting and engaging. Make sure your bio, profile picture, and any critical information, such as your contact info, location, website, etc., are all up-to-date.
Audit Existing Social Content
Before creating new social media content, it’s crucial to audit your existing content. What worked or is working? What didn’t work? How can you improve upon posts that didn’t land? Reviewing old posts and their performance metrics will help you better understand what to include (and not include) in your 2024 content strategy.
Brainstorm Social Media Topics
The social media game is best won by planning ahead. Before posting any social media content, you’ll want to do as much research and planning as possible. Start by narrowing down content themes and topics that interest your audience and align with your brand values. These should be the pillars of your social content strategy.
Find out what your audience wants to know about and what they like to talk about. Remember, social media content should encourage conversation! Think beyond informational posts (although those are great, too!), and make sure you include thought-provoking questions, polls, humorous content, and, of course, videos. Don’t forget to list holidays and other relevant days for your industry. These will make good filler content for your social media calendar!
Tip #6: Look at what your competitors are doing, but also, don’t be afraid to use social media to get feedback from your audience! Your audience may be very different from others in your industry, so it’s important to find out what they want to see more or less of.
4. Emails
Email marketing is a great way to stay connected with your audience and promote your products or services. You can use email to send communications for a variety of reasons, such as welcome emails, nurture emails (to keep your brand top of mind), blog updates, newsletters, and promotional email blasts.
For example, you may want to set up welcome emails to visitors who request additional information on your website or reach out via a contact form. And following that welcome email, you may want to set up an automated email journey for a period of time to keep showing up in their inbox, making your brand top of mind.
When creating email content, use subject lines that invoke curiosity and strong (and clear) call-to-actions to encourage your audience to do whatever it is you want them to do. It’s also a good idea to test different email formats, designs, subject lines, call-to-actions, and topics to see what works best for your audience.
For best results, determine what frequency of email marketing you can feasibly commit to and create a strategy around that. If once per month is all you can fit in, don’t try to send weekly emails. Consistency is key!
Tip #7: Generally speaking, email copy should be on the shorter side (compared to blog copy and website landing pages, for example). Don’t try to fit everything into one email! Email’s job is to keep your brand top of mind or to entice and lead the reader to the next destination – to make a purchase, to browse your website, to listen to your podcast, etc.
Step 4: Include a Variety of Content Formats
You’ll need more than words to make your content strategy stand out. In addition to the words on your website and in your blogs, emails, and social media posts, you’ll want to incorporate other content formats to reach and engage with your audience.
Videos / Podcasts
Videos are a highly effective way to connect with your audience. A recent survey indicates that “51% of people are more likely to share videos with friends and family over any other content type.”
You can create videos about your services, demonstrate how to use your products, or even interview other like-minded individuals in your field. Then, promote your videos and podcasts on your website, in your email and blogs, and on your social media channels to maximize reach.
Podcasts are another great way to share your expertise and connect with listeners on a deeper level. Plus, if you’re not someone who enjoys being on camera, podcasting is a great way to get in front of your audience without having to be on video!
Tip #8: In most cases, you’ll want to host your video content on external sites like YouTube or Vimeo and embed them on your site to avoid any storage or bandwidth limitations your website hosting service might have.
Webinars
Webinars are a great way to teach your audience something new and generate business leads. You can offer free webinars on various topics, such as how to use your product or service, solve a common problem in your industry, or achieve a specific goal. Or, you can charge a nominal fee for your webinar to filter out those looking to get something for nothing.
Tip #9: Be sure to promote your webinar well in advance (via email, social, and word of mouth) and offer a valuable, exclusive offer to attendees.
Print/Digital Publications
If you are an expert in your field, consider writing advertorials or editorial pieces for related industry publications. This is a great way to share your knowledge and expertise with more people and position yourself as an industry leader. Although the presence of print media has undoubtedly declined in recent years, it is still a good way to get your brand in front of your audience, especially if the print publication has a digital subscription offering as well.
Tip #10: Some publications will even publish your expert article for “free” if it matches their editorial calendar and you get in touch with the right person well enough in advance of publication!
Authentic Images
It’s essential to collect on-brand and professional images to use throughout your content. Creating a library of images to use in various places will help your content shine. Sometimes, finding the right image to go with your content is the hardest part!
Professional images look great on social media, in emails, and especially on your website. If you can, hire a brand photographer to help you create photos you can use on your website, on social media, in emails, and anywhere you’re marketing your brand!
Tip #11: Avoid stock images wherever possible. If you must use stock images, try to ensure they match your brand image. Otherwise, they may create a disjointed brand experience.
Step 5: Create a Content Marketing Calendar
Once you’ve audited your content and made any necessary updates, it’s time to create a content marketing calendar. This should include details about any website copy, blogs, email blasts, social media themes, and topics you want to focus on for the year. You'll want to include specific deadlines for drafting, review, approval, and publication.
There are many different ways to format a content marketing calendar. Which one you use really depends on your team’s preferences, technical abilities, and budget. There are many free and low-cost tools available to help you create and organize your content marketing calendar.
However, you can start with something as simple as a spreadsheet, and move to a more complex tool when it feels like it’s necessary. Sometimes, simple is better at the start.
At Magnolia Content, we create custom content marketing calendars for clients based on their preferences, team size, budget, and goals.
Tip #12: Be sure to clarify the parties responsible and the process to follow for getting content created and published in a timely manner.
Are You Ready For 2024?
Need help with putting together a content strategy or writing copy that converts? Magnolia Content can help. We offer various services to help businesses create and manage high-quality content, starting with a solid content marketing strategy. Let’s take your content marketing to the next level. Book a consultation with Magnolia Content today.
