How do you build a content strategy?
We need a content strategy that guides all of our content creation efforts. What are the key elements to include and how do you recommend building and implementing it?
Audience → Promise → Pillars → Content → Distribution
This is your super simple framework for content strategy.
Start with your audience’s needs and wants. Not what you want to say. This is the foundation for anything you make.
Your brand promise is the overarching umbrella. It is what you do/offer to deliver on those needs and wants.
Your messaging pillars are the specific ways you fulfill that promise.
Your content is the proof. These are the facts and stories that show your pillars are true.
Distribute everywhere when your audience is most likely to care.
Build a calendar that actually works.
Start by thinking about a typical year for your audience. Break it into chunks that make sense for them, like months or quarters.
Then ask two questions:
What steps do they need to take this time of year and how do we help them? (Good for enrollment comms).
What universal experiences are happening around them? (Good for engagement in general).
Then use a grid to plot when you want to emphasize each messaging pillar. For example, I would talk about upskilling courses in January when everyone is making resolutions, and I would talk about grilling recipes in the summer when everyone wants to be outside. This will make everything you create feel like you know them.
Get ahead and get buy-in.
The only way a shared content calendar works is if people build it together.
Ashley and I always recommend quarterly brainstorms.
Every quarter, bring together the people who communicate with your audience from across the organization.
Use that time to:
Align on the themes for the upcoming quarter
Capture story and content ideas for each theme
Document potential publish dates into a shared calendar
Assign owners and workflows
Now you have a cross-unit coordinated content calendar!!! It’s magic 🪄
Distribution is where your brand lives.
This is probably the most important advice for today’s landscape: One piece of content should live many lives.
A podcast interview can become a magazine article, Instagram clips, LinkedIn slides, quotes in emails, and video on YouTube and your site.
The more places your content appears, the more likely your brand shows up when people stop visiting your owned channels in favour of searching with AI.
A reminder: Try content sprints.
If you struggle to gather stories, try curating and creating them in batches.
I learned from Marina Cooper (😘) during our joint PRSA presentation that Johns Hopkins has a yearly “Story Hackathon” and all campus communicators dedicate a full day to gathering stories. How fun is that?!
In a previous email, I promised you I would do this with my concert band socials, and it has made for some
pretty
amazing
posts.
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