The Importance of a Marketing Content Planner
Content planners are responsible to develop a vision of content creation publishing, distribution and publication. They are also responsible for tracking and assessing the effectiveness of strategies.
This kind of content informs viewers about the services and products provided by the company. It also helps the viewers solve issues and meet their requirements.
A marketing content planner is a spreadsheet or it can be a third-party application. The difference lies in the way you make use of it.
1. Determine Your Goals
Benjamin Franklin's famous phrase "If you don't prepare, you're planning for failure" is a true statement. To go from a strategic view to an efficient content marketing engine requires structure, workflow efficiencies and clear communication.
Identifying your goals is among the most important steps in this process. Start with the high-level business goals or use the SMART framework to make them more specific and actionable. It's also a good time to review your current goals for content to ensure they are still in alignment with your current strategy.
Understanding your goals will allow you to monitor the performance of each piece of content. This will allow you to identify what is working and what isn't working and allow you to make the necessary adjustments and improve the overall performance. This will ensure that you meet your overall objectives, and provide high-quality content to your customers.
2. Identify Your Audience
Knowing your audience can help you create content that's relevant, effective and engaging. The best method to accomplish this is to conduct research and identifying the characteristics of your ideal customer personas. This can be accomplished by using surveys, data analysis and other methods to collect information about your clients.
You can then apply the results of your research to determine the types of content that will be the most effective for you and your business. This could be everything from blog posts to social media posts, podcasts, and webinars. Once you've determined which formats are most effective you can begin drafting your content strategy.
A content planning tool can assist you in tracking your marketing goals and make sure that the most qualified people are working on the appropriate projects. It can also increase productivity by helping teams remain focused on what's important and avoid distractions. It's simple to start by downloading a no-cost Content Analysis Report from CopyPress today.
3. Find Your Ideal Platforms
When creating digital content, it's important to tailor it to the ideal platform. Instagram users are searching for visually appealing content, whereas TikTok users love short and fashionable videos. Conducting some market research will help you discover your target audience and their preferred platforms.
A successful marketing content planner will outline every step needed to turn your ideas into an actual asset. It will give you the framework you need to meet your goals and make sure that everyone on your team is on the same page.
A content planning tool like Monday and Kapost can help with this by allowing you create assignments, assign tasks and collaborate, as well as keep track of progress on one dashboard. Alternatively, there are more sophisticated tools like Wrike that provide drop-down menus and provide project timelines as well as tables of actionsable items and a message board. Both come with a free version and more comprehensive subscriptions for teams that need more advanced capabilities.
4. Find Your Content Types
No matter if you're an individual influencer or a large marketing team, a planner for content can help you organize your ideas and ensures everyone is on the same page. It's also a great method to manage content for longer time-based projects, such as annual or quarterly campaigns.
A well-designed content plan will help you identify the kinds of content that must be created and how they should be executed. This includes determining the format your content should be, such as blog posts, infographics podcasts, case studies, or social media press releases. It should also include a timeline for when these pieces must be produced and published.
It is also important to monitor metrics related to your goals for content marketing, such as traffic and engagement. This will enable you to analyze your results and make changes. Utilizing a tool such as Ahrefs can help you determine what's working and what's not. It also gives you insights into your competitors' performance.
5. Find Your Content's objectives
If you set clear objectives for your content this can help your team keep on track to meet their goals. If it's increasing traffic to SEO by rewriting blog posts or enhancing customer retention through organizing webinars, having clear goals will assist you in achieving your content marketing goals.
A professional content planner can assist you establish your goals by laying out a workflow that is organized and allowing collaboration. It can also include tools like image-generating software, text-to-image instructions or social management applications to simplify the process.
A content planner for marketing will aid you in identifying your key performance indicators (KPIs) as well as other crucial factors. This will let you evaluate the effectiveness of your content and make changes to improve your campaign. Some examples of quantifiable metrics include bounce rate web traffic, website traffic and social media shares and newsletter sign-ups. These metrics should be monitored at all stages of the content lifecycle including production and publication.
6. Identify Your Resources
A well-thought-out content strategy is useless when you don't have the resources to implement it. When planning, ensure that you have enough budget to accomplish the tasks you have outlined. This may include team or salary payments as well as production costs for web space and materials, and paid marketing tactics.
Once you have the budget in place, you can start assigning tasks to different people. For instance, you may want to assign keyword research and copywriting, editing and design to various members of your team. Alternately, you could employ a tool like Sprout to ease the process of scheduling content across different channels and platforms.
Sprout allows you to connect your social media accounts and schedule posts for Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn company pages and Google Business Profiles, all from one dashboard. Sprout's scheduling tools also include an image library to make it easier to manage the management of assets and cut down time during the creation process.
7. Find your Key Performance Indicators
If you're planning to spend lots of time creating content, it's crucial that your marketing efforts pay off. You can increase your success by analyzing and tracking the right key performance metrics.
For instance, a popular KPI for content marketers is the number of returning customers. This metric can be used to determine if your content converts customers and to pinpoint areas to improve your future campaigns.
Additionally, it's crucial to determine the type of content you want to create based on your goals and the audience. This could include blog articles, videos, infographics or posts on social media. Once you've identified different content formats and formats, you must develop a strategy for each that includes frequency and distribution. This will help you ensure that your content is noticed by the most relevant people at the appropriate times.
8. Find out the tracking methods you are using
A marketing content planner is an essential tool for any company looking to enhance their marketing strategies. It helps you keep the track of your goals, audience, and resources while allowing you to see how effective your strategy has been over time.
A social media content calendar can help you determine when your posts are due to go live, which will help ensure that your content is published consistently. You can also plan ahead for holidays and events that could impact your audience.
A keyword content plan is a fantastic way to optimize your SEO strategies. best content marketing tool SICK SEO will allow you to find the most relevant keywords for your content, which will boost your search engine ranking and visibility. It also helps to measure the effectiveness of your keyword content strategies over time.
9. Determine Your Measurements
Your marketing plan should allow you to identify which metrics are most important for each piece of content, regardless of whether you arrange your content by themes or keywords. This will allow you to determine the success of your content and continue to improve it. A cloud-based marketing planner, such as Optimizely CMP can also make it easier for team members to work together and produce reports that are useful for making future content decision-making.