This month we’ve made our way around the revolving door that is content marketing. If you haven’t had a chance to review Kristi’s take on email marketing, or our other posts on storytelling, trends in content marketing, or social media’s role in content marketing, then give those a rundown.
Among topics in the inescapable tide of content marketing is the importance of blogging. Blogging is the “meat and potatoes” of the internet right now and, if it’s not already, it should be an important tool in your marketing tool belt.
Blogging builds your audience (in our case, Signifers), brand image, and increases your visibility on the internet. It’s also a very easy and practical way to show off your expertise. But don’t take our word for it—talk to our friend SEO. “Who’s SEO?”, you may ask. Well it’s not a “who,” but rather, a “what.” SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization.
In layman’s terms, SEO is your visibility and popularity to followers, fans, and partners online. This is how you get to sit at the big kid’s table of websites and gain a following on the interwebs. Blogging plays a far more crucial role in you getting the attention you deserve than we sometimes like to believe.
Tech guru Larry Kim says, “If you’ve done any SEO at all, you’ve probably noticed that the stories that rank well tend to have high social share counts.”
Blog Consistently: Start with Objectives in Mind
Search engines like Google and Bing use algorithms that discover analytics about your website. The more recurring visits, frequency of clicks, length of visits, and perpetual content (like blogs and social media) that these algorithms discover, the more likely it is that your website will be placed in an optimal position on search engines (hear: the coveted front page). Therefore, blog consistently. And, of course, make sure the content is good!
Soooo then, how do you blog consistently? To do this well, it begins with organization. If you want to blog well, you must plan well.
You can’t assemble a car without the engine. You can’t construct a skyscraper without the frame. And you can’t create a phone without a silicon chip. Each of these objects has a core element—an piece that it can’t operate without. And each design is planned carefully around this centerpiece, knowing full well that the screen wouldn’t light up without the chip, the building tower go up without a frame, or the car fire up without an engine.
In the same way, you should create objectives and goals for your content. Start with a broad goal in mind and then move into the specifics required to accomplish it.
Objectives should be succinct, specific, and inform everything else. For example:
Increase monthly sales by 5% in 90 days through increased blogging content about products
Increase email sign-ups by 150 in 60 days through increased exposure on your blog
Objectives exist as the frame for the overall picture. By setting clear objectives, you have a directed vision of where you’re going. Otherwise, it might lead others to believe that there is no consistency, thought pattern, or organization in your company’s writing. However, objectives require specific content. Starting from your objectives, first assess content that you have currently and then generate new ideas or improvements.
Auditing Previous Blogs: A Plan for Improvement
Last week, our other intern, Megan, suggested conducting a simple audit of all of your social media platforms. Through this process you can use an easy analysis—like SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats)—and revamp the existing content on your website. You have to know where you’ve been to know where you’re going.
In the same way you can analyze and improve Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, you can evaluate the current content on your blog. Take an hour or so to study your websites analytics. (Google Analytics is a great, free tool!) See which content performed best, what is now off-brand and may now need to be removed, and what can be updated and reused. Also, take note of what content should’ve been included, but wasn’t, what’s new with your nonprofit or social enterprise that should be discussed. You can certainly do a more in-depth audit, but that’s probably the quickest way to evaluate your current and previous edits.
So, now, how do you generate new content?
Moving Past Writer’s Block: Here’s What to Blog About
In her guest post, Ask The Experts: Content Marketing 101, Jennifer Garrett addressed the issue of content oriented writer’s block. Yes, there’s a solution to the cry, “I don’t know what to blog about!”
Currently, the content that is the most valuable online is the content that tells a story and intersects with your audience. However, you also need to make them take an action as a result of reading your stellar content. This could be signing up for your email list, purchasing a product, registering for an event, or making a donation. Remember, it’s a mutually-beneficial relationship. So, start with your end goal and make a list of ideas that both aid that goal and serve your audience.
Here are just a few types of blog post examples:
Surveys
Feedback or answers to customer service questions
Holiday-oriented content
Transcript or summary of your podcast episodes
Product or service spotlight
Successes or updates
Year-end giving campaign
Tell people about what problem you solve and give examples
Confronting objections people may have to your work
Questions that prompt ideas or actions
Guest posts
Updates to old posts (revive if outdated and repost; from your audit)
Upcoming events
Partnership or sponsor highlights
Grants or awards won
Member or staff profiles
Insights into your culture
Your organization’s history
Mention influencers or celebrities that recommend you
Milestone celebrations
(Want 80 more idea? Click here.)
Also check out this previous post on 12 Questions That Inspire Content Creation.
After establishing each objective and writing a list of topics, create specific content to support it. For the example of “Increasing monthly sales by 5% in 90 days through increased blogging content about products,” you might create a month-long blogging series on popular products your company sells. So, if your social enterprises sells jewelry to fight human trafficking, talk about your cause and how the product will aid in that process. By talking about what you know, you will become an authority in that topic, and people will follow you and come back to your blog to read more about subjects that interest them.
Plot and Plan Ahead
Plotting out blog content six or 12 months in advance can seem like a tall order. However, there are a variety of tools to help aid and hone your marketing skills and consistency.
Google Sheets or Excel are easy to use, often recommended, and even utilized by a lot of pros. A simple Excel doc is even what we use here at Signify. It has simple headers for the date, topic, the action we want people to take as a result of reading, if a supplemental piece is being created for the post (like a checklist), relevant holidays to tie-in, and notes. And here’s an example that’s broken down by the team at Edgar.
By organizing your content, you’re creating a strategy for your organization. You’re telling yourself and your team what’s important to talk about right now, and in the future. It’s relevant and actionable. Creating a professional editorial calendar will also aid in this process.
I prefer to use Google Calendar or a computer’s calendar to amplify the benefits of an Excel sheet. Google Sheets are nice, but it’s additionally helpful to have your deadlines and purposed content stored in a calendar somewhere so you can see it visually and even add reminders. The combination of Google Sheets and Google Calendar can be a powerful planning tool. There are plenty of how-to’s on the internet for merging Google Sheets with Google Calendar. Take a look at this example. As always, the idea is to find a system that works for you, and that you can stick with.
Maintaining Frequency in Your Blog Posts
But what about frequency? We recommend blogging a minimum of once per month. But remember, this is a minimum, not ideal. But start something, and build on it. Create the consistency for yourself and your readers. This gives them an expectation of when they’ll see new content from you, and allows them to eagerly anticipate what you’ll be talking about next. A by-product of this is that you’ll start sticking to a schedule, when it might have previously been easy to let it slide. Plus, Google’s algorithm loves frequently updated content!
You may also be asking yourself when you should post? After researching the best times to post and surveying analytics on your website or blog, you might realize that Wednesday and Tuesday mornings are great times to post because your audience is online around that time. These analytics vary by audience, demographic, and region. Research your audience a little bit, look for the right times to post, and then maintain a consistent schedule.
This research can be done through your website analytics, social media analytics, and even reading experts online. But don’t get too hung up on the analytics portion if that seems overwhelming. (Totally get it!) We’d rather you get started than put off regular blogging for another month or two because you don’t feel like you have all the information.
While you may have some topics that need to post at certain times, like sales or giving campaigns, you’ll also have gaps on your calendar to fill in, or loads of ideas you aren’t sure what to do with. Don’t let those ideas past or go to waste! Be sure to capture them so you can fill in your calendar as needed. You definitely want to have a reservoir of topics to choose from so the supply doesn’t run dry.
Helpful Tools For the Planning Process
Here are a few tools to help you jot down those notes as well as plan your content:
Word doc - See, it doesn’t have to be fancy! You can just keep those “extra” ideas here for safekeeping.
Evernote (or Microsoft OneNote) - Not necessarily the best platforms for specific date planning, but can be helpful for simply jotting down ideas. Kristi uses Evernote, and loves it.
Asana.com - Good for planning specific deadlines and tasks, and delegating to specific employees or yourself. We use this here at Signify.
Monday.com - Stripped down planning software
Through consistency and effectiveness in your planning, you can ensure greater success for your blog and begin to implement a strong content marketing strategy. It will begin to feel more intentional to you, and that feeling will also translate to your readers. That blog doesn’t need to stay bare!
This practical approach of generating ongoing content can increase your company’s visibility, which is exactly what you’re looking for because that results in more sales or donations. And that’s why content marketing is so important.
Read the other posts in this series:
Michael Griffith Banks is a graduate of the University of Georgia with a degree in Public Relations and a minor in Spanish. He’s throughly involved with UGA’s Office of Admissions, having served as an Orientation Leader for the University.