When a business loses focus on its content, a content strategy is needed. Erin Kissane, author of The Elements of Content Strategy, believes there is only one guiding principle of good content: “It should be appropriate for your business, for your users, and for its context.”
Collecting, Creating and Distributing B2B Content That Matters
The call for focused, edited, or filtered information is important from one end of the buying cycle to the other. We need to create meaning.
How is Content Like a Campfire?
A campfire fills a need whether for outdoor cooking, light, or warmth. A campfire is isolated and controlled, drawing people towards it even when they are lost. A mood and expectation surround it. This small, functional and aesthetic space attracts people. A call to action is also present. To keep it going, a campfire needs to be tended.
So does content.
When I prepare content for a website I answer questions posed by the four Ps: Purpose, Process, Problem, and Practice. People are making decisions everyday on what to engage with. Remember the campfire. It shows immediate relevance. Its value is recognizable. So should your content be.
Purpose
Quality content resolves a need, want, or force. Website visitors start the conversation, usually with a question. Know them well enough to answer their questions. Help them counteract any opposing forces.
Process
Understand where in the product purchase cycle your prospects are and provide them with obvious pathways to finding what they need. Show them you are different. Demonstrate your expertise.
Problem
Address problems. Offer solutions. Help visitors complete their task. Discover trails that lead to success. Product descriptions, instructions, and training are problem busters throughout the buying cycle.
Practice
Explain your product or service well enough for the buyer to make a decision. What is getting in the way? Be clear and concise. Speak directly to your target market. Simplify.
You are not fighting forest fires. You are adding kindling to your campfire. Site visitors will become a part of your circle. Let competitors put their fires out; you feed yours. Keep your site well tended with content that is fresh, relevant, and recognizable.
Quality content is like a campfire because it serves a purpose, solves a problem, attracts attention, and creates a space for conversations.
Notes From CONFAB, The Content Strategy Conference
CONFAB was a first of its kind conference held in Minneapolis this week. Planners brought together leaders in the field of content strategy to discuss best practices, dispel myths, and bring thoughtful solutions to business needs for quality content. Here are my highlight notes from the first morning of the two day conference.
What is Content Strategy and Why is it Important?
Definitions, Needs, & Roles
Content is defined as everything that can be uploaded to an online site.
Content needs to be planned prior to launch dates, during, and beyond. Inconsistent content through channels is a problem. Multi-platform content development is critical. Get rid of the silos. Content needs to be nimble. Content is a business asset.
Establish a visual rhythm that is recognizable across channels.
A content strategist articulates, investigates, integrates, appreciates, and ideates. They set procedures for content creation, delivery, and governance. They ask: “How can we make content grow by applying urgency and purpose?”
SEO cannot solve the content problem. Even Google has abandoned the word “search” in favor of “knowledge”.
Content Curation
Content curators are finders who filter information. Information created up to the year 2003 totaled 5 exabytes. That amount is now being created every two days. “I can’t keep up” was expressed by 46% of survey respondents. Sleeping less was a solution for 34% of information consumers.
Humans are replacing algorithms. Ideas are replacing data. “What are people thinking?” is the question to ask; not “How do I manipulate search engines?”
Choose your endorsements, “Likes,” retweets, links, and posts carefully. That is curating the web.
Listening is more powerful than speaking. Gather, organize, and filter good stuff. Monitor for positive re-enforcement and use it as social proof.
In a noisy world, customers embrace clarity.
Questions That Support Quality Content
Where does our data live and why?
What can people do with our content?
What can they do with what they create from our content?
What is our framework for building content?
What’s working? What is not working?
What kind of place does the content create?
How is the content connected?
What forces does content resolve?
How do you keep control of your own content?
Interactions
Reactive and fragmented response is poor content delivery.
Deliver the right information at the right time to the right audience.
Recommend. Share. Be social.
Serve up content.
Business Needs
Move content from a cost center to a profit center by meeting business objectives.
Marketing focuses on new leads, not base. What does your base need and want? How satisfied are they? Existing customers may be more valuable than new customers.
Teach everyone what good content looks like.
* Thank you Kristina Halvorson, Steve Rosenbaum, Erin Kissane and Valeria Maltoni for sharing your thoughts at CONFAB.
How to Measure Social Media ROI using Benchmarks
Can you measure the results of your social media strategies? Marketers know that social media is a strategy within a larger communications plan. They look at both the quantity and quality of results based on a defined goal and time period. Still, the number one question asked by marketers according to a 2011 Social Media Marketing Industry Report by Michael Stelzner at Social Media Examiner is this: How do I measure the effect of social media marketing on my business?
The report findings were culled from a survey of 3,300 marketers. It revealed a surprising result: More B2B companies have been using social media longer (52.6% reported 1 year or more) than B2C. Time matters. Those using social media for a year or longer reported improved search engine rankings.
Set these four benchmarks and you are on your way to measuring results that matter.
1. Know Where You Stand Now
Before beginning a social media campaign, find current rankings on all sorts of online content. Get familiar with PostRank. It is one of the largest aggregators of social engagement data in the industry. Enter a feed URL and get statistics on the most popular posts based on engagement points. The site ranks RSS feed items, blog posts, articles, and news stories. This is quality and quantity data that can be used to measure throughout your timeline.
Use Google’s Feedburner and Analytics tools to help analyze your company’s blog traffic, subscriber count, keywords, and trends. Find even more useful statistics at Xinu. These tools are all easily accessible to measure where you are now with your Internet presence. Check them according to your timeline. What do you find? Interpret those results for your business.
2. Measure by quantity
These might include the number of fans, followers, subscribers and friends. Other quantities you might look at are twitter lists, groups on linkedin. Having this data will show you what sites to focus on. It also gives an idea on what topics are popular with your audience. The question is not only how many friends, followers and fans you have, but where did they come from? Present this data in a given period of time.
3. Measure by engagement
What level of engagement you measure depends on your business goals. How much activity is in your forum? Do you have stats on click-through rate to your product pages? How many subscribers to your RSS feeds? Do your fans, followers and friends make comments on blog posts and other social networking accounts? Are they sharing your content via the Facebook Like button or twitter retweets? Do they respond to surveys? Do they stay longer than people who came to you from other sources?
4. Bottom Line Results
By measuring your online presence, relationships, and increased sales you create a trail of data that leads to how each of these areas were enhanced by a social media strategy. Reaching a key audience and establishing meaningful dialogue may or may not increase sales over time. It is always good to know what is working and what is not. Use benchmarks to help you reach your business goals.