HOW TO MANAGE CONTENT

​4 Tips to Stay on Top of Content Creation & Distribution

It's easy to get overwhelmed with so many content types, strategies, and tools at our fingertips. But if you're a small business owner, or if you lead the marketing/PR efforts for a mid-sized business, it's important to follow some basic guidelines. The tips below can help you stay organized. More importantly, they can help you create content that is purposeful and engaging. 
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Keep in mind, these recommendations are assuming that you know and understand your audience, your competitors, and your general market. Your audience would include your current clients/customers, as well as those you want to attract or inform. Some of your content could be fine for all of those groups. You also need content that is specific to the needs of each. 

​​1) Create a Content Calendar

Just like other goals you set for your business, your content needs to have clear milestones and deadlines. Taking time to plan out when and what to communicate can save you headaches and frustration down the line. A content calendar will provide a way to be accountable, and can make it easier to delegate tasks.

So what do you put on it? It depends on your business, your audience, and your business goals. Take a look at your main calendar and see what you have coming up that can be featured in social media, blog posts, trade publications, lists, etc. Consider staff hires, promotions, big projects, events, product/service releases, and industry news. Then set a day each week or a day each month to share the information. This can be high-level with just general topics, or it can be very specific, down to the actual post content you want to share.

Your main goals should be to develop consistency and ensure the information is relevant and useful for your audience. Attending an event with your colleagues? A team selfie is fun. But it's even better to share why you're at the event. What are you learning? What are you celebrating or honoring? How does it help you better serve your client base?

It’s also a good idea to designate time to re-assess and update your calendar at regular intervals. That could be weekly, monthly or quarterly, depending on your company’s unique needs. 
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While there are sophisticated tools for creating content calendars, a basic spreadsheet will suffice. You can also create one using Google Calendar, which is easy to edit and accessible to anyone you choose (learn how in this HubSpot post). 

2) Streamline Your Process

Preparation is key here. It’s worth investing time upfront to get things running smoothly. While automation can be a debatable approach, research your options. Automation doesn’t have to mean using a bot that provides irrelevant or impersonal replies to comments on your social media accounts. It doesn’t have to mean sending a series of borderline-spammy emails.
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Automation can mean uploading 4 or 5 blog posts at once and scheduling each so they publish throughout the month. Or it can mean scheduling your social media posts in advance, then replying to any comments or questions as they come up. It can also mean creating content-related reminders in your favorite app or desktop calendar. 

3) Stay in Touch

When you post or publish content on any outlet, it's important to respond to questions and comments in a timely manner. If you aren't notified sufficiently when someone leaves a comment, or if you want to use your time more wisely, create a reminder to check your accounts at intervals that make sense for your business and respond at those designated times. For social media, the engagement helps your post stay relevant and increases the chance that it's seen by more individuals. If someone comments on your business blog and you reply, it shows you are responsive (and that someone other than Google read it).
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Staying in touch also goes back to being consistent and having a plan with your content calendar. Send email updates regularly. Post to social media regularly. Publish blog posts regularly. For your business, that could be once a day, once a week, or once a month. The frequency depends on a variety of factors. When you create your content calendar, ensure that your goals are realistic and doable. Whichever fits for you, stick with it.

4) Commit to Learning

Since most of the content your business must create is likely digital, it’s important to be aware of trends and changes. Your industry may have specific sources that provide reliable insight on this topic but there is a wealth of general information available for free.

Here are a few links to a wide range of digital content articles, studies, and videos: 
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Content Marketing Institute Resources 
SEO Tips from Moz Whiteboard Friday
Nielsen Norman Group User Experience Research
11 Social Media Tips for Small Business - Hootsuite

Focusing on consistency, engagement, and relevance as explained above can improve your connection with your audience. It's a win-win strategy.

How you do currently handle content creation & distribution for your business?

A- Fly by the seat of my pants (and ultimately forget about most of it).
B- Let it happen organically (and accept the gaps that occur). 
C- Follow a schedule the best I'm able. 
D- Delegate it/outsource it. 

If you answered A or B, I can help you determine a better approach for your content needs. If you answered C, I can perform an audit for you to assess the effectiveness of your strategy, and recommend improvements to strengthen your efforts. Send me a message to schedule a free 30-minute consultation. I'd love to get your content on the right track.