But before we get ahead of ourselves, let's clear the air. Many think that a content publishing strategy is only a necessity when part of a marketing plan. But this is not the case. 

Those working in the publishing industry, like writers or content creators, could equally benefit from this tactic. Why? Because it helps you stay consistent in creating high quality copy, of course

Coschedule adds to this, explaining that a content publishing strategy includes creating a publishing workflow, which involves scheduling items. Your strategy should also give an indication of the frequency at which you should publish content in order to “maximise your content’s reach and engagement.”

Here, media update’s Taylor Goodman dives into four tips on how you can create a content publishing strategy that sticks. 

Let’s get into it: 

1. Define your content #goals 

At the root of creation is the need to know the ‘why’ behind your work. This is there so that you can be sure that what you produce will meet those specific goals. 

Possible goals that you could aim for regarding your content strategy include:
  • boosting brand awareness
  • generating leads
  • converting users into customers
  • enticing past customers, or
  • improving your brand’s rankings on search engines.
Once you have an idea of what you want to achieve with your work, you will be able to formulate a publishing strategy with those goals in mind. 

For example, if you are a writer or freelancer working for a brand, and your aim is to boost brand awareness, you would need to write pieces that are more geared towards storytelling

This type of content will assist you in conveying the company’s brand story, which will help users form a clearer understanding of its vision, mission and values. Knowing this, users could easily be converted into consumers as they will find the brand to be more relatable or authentic

Moreover, it is crucial that creators consider these goals when choosing channels to distribute their content through. To use the example of building brand awareness again, writing a series of whitepapers or creating how-to videos may be more effective in reaching those objectives. 

2. Know your audience inside out

In the same vein that you can’t create content without a purpose, you can't write if you have no idea who you’re writing for. 

For this reason, it's crucial that — when building out your strategy — you outline your target audience. 

For example, picture yourself as a lifestyle and beauty blogger. If you want to make it in that industry, you would need to write content that would resonate with people with such interests. Writing a piece on the latest gaming tech would be a total miss. 

Understanding your user base is more than knowing how many followers or subscribers you have. Rather, it is about appealing to your audience by creating meaningful content “when and where they need it”, according to GatherContent.

You can form a clearer idea of who your target consumers are by doing thorough audience research. This is done by selecting a sample group of your current following and gathering information from them — be it in a questionnaire or Q&A format. 

Conducting this audience analysis will help you uncover the users’: 
  • needs
  • motivations
  • interests
  • behaviours, and 
  • challenges.
Arming yourself with this knowledge can only benefit your content creation. It will help you to write pieces that your audience actually wants to read and attract potential consumers down the line.

3. Pick your niche

You may be wondering, ‘If I’m creating content that caters to my audience, shouldn’t it be quite general?’ Think again, dear creator! 

If you know what will be meaningful to your audience, you will be able to pick up on the niche interests that they have. And including this in your pieces will only work to your advantage. This is because people tend to gravitate towards content that takes a unique spin on something they’re searching for, yet still carries a distinctive brand voice. 

Moreover, writing more niche pieces will also help your work stand out in the vast sea of content online and help you establish yourself as a thought-leader in these lesser known industries. 

4. Measure your content 

If you want to see whether your content is meeting your goals and resonating with your audience or not, you need to measure its performance. 

You could measure your work’s performance by taking note of page views, bounce rate or the average time on page on Google Analytics. Looking into these metrics will give you insight into whether certain articles or blogs resulted in an increase in traffic on your site, or which pieces are the most popular with your audience. 

Additionally, you could make use of a social media auditing service. amaSocial offers the social cloud feature that visually represents the popular buzzwords surrounding your brand. It also looks at the amplification of keywords, hashtags or @handles, and depicts how many times they were mentioned within a specified time frame. 

Having access to these insights will help you tailor your content to what your audience wants to know and better engage with your followers. 

Which of these tips are you going to include in your content strategy? Let us know in the comments section below.

Want to stay up to date with the latest news? Subscribe to our newsletter.

Do you want to know more about creating great content? Then be sure to check out our article, How to become a stellar copywriter
*Image courtesy of Unsplash