Katie Coen

You want your business to reach new heights or your page to get more views. A content strategist can help. They’ll make a plan for your public content, all in an effort to draw more people in. But it’s not as simple as it may seem. Content strategy is a complicated art that takes time and multiple steps.

What is Content Strategy?

Content strategy is a continuous process of planning content for a company. It’s not just deciding what to post. It’s when it gets posted, why you are sharing it, and then measuring what that post does for an organization. A content strategist plans, designs, creates, and publishes content based on the company’s goals and a users need. It’s all a balance between what the business wants their viewers to see and think and what the viewer wants or needs. They are tasked with planning a foundation for all content that will increase the number of views. They do research about the specific market and use that to make a strategic plan. Here are some of the other tasks:

Content strategy is sometimes confused with content marketing. They work together, but are not the same. The Search Engine Journal says content marketing is creating and publishing content that does is not targeted and does not sell a product. Content strategy is the foundation that those successful posts are based on.

Content Strategy Overtime

The web and social media may have not been around for too long, but content strategy was still used. Brands were still looking for ways to put their name out there and gain viewers, but it was done in a different way. Print advertising and marketing was more common, like newspaper and magazine ads in a certain publication that matches the targeted demographic.

The Internet

The rise of the internet drastically changed content strategy. Everything went digital. People stopped getting all their content from the radio or TV and were searching more online. But searchers wanted direct answers to their questions. They type their thoughts into Google and expect a resourceful result. Content strategists worked to get their webpage on the list of results.

Social Media

Then social media came along. It was different from internet searches because people passively view whatever they are given. Algorithms decide what a user sees when they log on. Content strategists work with knowledge of the algorithms and what they do for a user. Social media became the primary way for companies to share their content.

Video

As social media platforms like Youtube and TikTok became more and more popular, video became a large portion of content. Users like videos because they are more engaging and are easier to understand, but they also come with a price tag. Video equipment and production is far more expensive than the traditional print content used to spread awareness for a company decades ago.

The practice of content strategy has changed because how we access and consume content has changed. 

Shelley Crick, The Concept and Practice of Content Strategy Over Time

Over these many years, the idea has always been the same. To design and plan content that will resinate with someone. It’s just evolved with new technologies. And it’s still ever-changing. As new platforms gain popularity, new content is always needed.

The Process

Content strategy is more involved than it may seem. There is a distinct and long process used to ensure content is going to deliver a message to the right people. The Content Strategy Toolkit by Meghan Casey explains this process in detail and the importance of it all, including the budget, the buy-in, and the preparation.

The Budget

The budget decides what can and will be done in a content strategy plan. Everything costs money these days and the amount given to a certain project matters. Setting this budget helps everyone involved understand the size of the project. Then the budget breaks down what the money will be used for and is continuously used to keep track of where the cash is. The budget is a foundation that keeps a content strategist organized throughout the process.

The Buy-In

When making a content strategy, stakeholders in the company have a say in how it all plays out. A good strategist brings them along on the journey to show how everything is done. This makes them feel more included and shows them that you’ve taken time to learn about who they are and what they want. They want to see their time is being put to good use, and want to contribute to the process. These needs can be discussed in interviews or workshops where they can learn about the work behind each post or piece of content.

The Preparation

You can’t just jump in head first to a project. Preparation is key. Content strategists make a plan for the project that addresses many things including:

• Who is going to work on the project
• How much time will be dedicated to the project
• How long the project will last
• Expected outcomes
• Who needs to be involved in reviews
• Who has a final say in the content
• What the review process will look like
• Any special tools needed
• Ways of communicating

Preparation can also include planning meeting dates and making timelines with details about the project. A good base will allow for a smoother process once it gets started.

All of these aspects of content strategy make it successful. They work together to plan what goes into the content and who is involved. And the preparation work pays off.

Well run projects take a little bit more work.

Meghan Casey, The Content Strategy Toolkit Chapter 5

Without all the budget planning and initial tasks, a content campaign would be a mess. No one would have a clear idea of what they were doing and the purpose of the content could get lost. Just like any project working with a group, keeping everyone in the loop makes a better end product. In this case, the more coherency, the more people in the target audience will be reached.