Driven by Content Part 5: Giving Your Content Legs [VIDEO]

Once you understand how social media, SEO, brand and PR impact content marketing, it’s time to get started on your strategy, develop the content that will be shared and found by your target audiences, and solidify a leadership position in your industry.

In Part 5 of Driven by Content, Christy Barksdale, PR 20/20 content services manager, talks about planning your publishing strategy, giving your content legs on the web and the benefits of content curation.

Part 5 - Giving Your Content Legs & Content Curation

Getting Started

Developing a content marketing strategy includes taking the proper steps to manage the workload. It starts with the establishment of an editorial calendar that outlines the types of pieces you plan to create, and the relevant topic ideas.

Also, develop a publishing schedule that identifies which pieces will be created, when they will be posted, and who is assigned the responsibility for creating and managing the individual projects. These tools, whether tracked in an online project management center, wiki or shareable document, help give you the big picture of your strategy and stay on target with your efforts.

Giving Your Content Legs

In order for your content strategy to be successful, your content pieces must be found and consumed by the target audiences you intend to reach. Here are few ways to give your content legs on the web:

•  Ensure your content resonates with your audience by writing for your buyer personas. Write for their needs and pain points.
•  Optimize for search engines by incorporating important keywords to ensure searchers can find your content. Activate a pay-per-click (PPC) campaign if needed for short-term impact.
•  Share your content with target audiences on social networks. Include links to your blog and social profiles in your email signature.
•  Repurpose existing content in new mediums. Update old content with new information, and rework existing content for the vertical markets you serve.

The Role of Content Curation

Content curation is a newer concept in the content marketing space, and involves finding, grouping, organizing and sharing the best and most relevant information online.

With the overwhelming amount of content available on the Internet today, it is difficult for professionals to efficiently manage their daily reading on news and trends, as well as separate the useful, quality content from the flood of information on the web.  

Organizations can add value to their audiences, and build brand authority and thought leadership, by identifying and sharing the best resources in their industries. Now, organizations are not only a source of original content, but also the authority in selecting the best content from other industry resources. A blog can be a great place to compile and share the most relevant articles in your industry, from the sources you deem as authorities for your audiences.

Activate Your Content Marketing Strategy

It starts with understanding how content marketing fits into an integrated, inbound marketing campaign, followed by building your content marketing strategy and assembling your content creation team.

Once you start producing content, it doesn’t stop there. It’s a lifelong commitment to sharing and building relationships with audiences, listening and measuring, and adjusting your strategy as you go.

Through the combination of content and community, content marketing has helped put small businesses on the map and helped large businesses connect on a personal level with customers and employees like never before.

Content marketing allows infinite opportunities to create and connect, as well as repurpose information across different mediums, making it a valuable tool in your marketing mix. In the sea of content clutter, your messages have to be clear, and you must continue to deliver value and innovate to maintain the leadership position you are working to build.

The key is to stay hungry, support your brand and push yourself to continue sharing the stories that matter.

With a marketing plan driven by great content, and fueled by the passion for your organization and industry, you’re sure to build leads and loyalty for years to come. 

You can contact Christy direct at christy@pr2020.com, or connect with her on Twitter at @ChristyBarks.

Resources:

PR 20/20 Blog Posts: Giving Your Content Legs & Content Curation: Bringing Order to Information Overload

HiveFire Content Curation eBook Download: Taming the Flood in B2B Social Media

Navigating the Driven by Content Series

Part 1: PR 20/20 Assistant Vice President Christina Capadona-Schmitz covers “What is Content Marketing?” and why it matters to today’s organizations (3:44).

Part 2: PR 20/20 Inbound Marketing Manager Laurel Miltner discusses online publishing and the idea of content & community, the role of social media in content marketing (8:55).

Part 3: Keith Moehring, who leads PR 20/20's search engine optimization efforts, talks about websites, content management systems, online publishing tools and how SEO can impact content marketing (8:42).

Part 4: PR 20/20 President Paul Roetzer shares the importance of your brand in content marketing, how content marketing is connected to PR and who you should trust to tell your story through content (7:06).

Part 5: PR 20/20 Content Services Manager Christy Barksdale ties it together, in planning your publishing strategy, giving your content legs on the web and furthering your leadership position through content curation (5:43).

Christy Barksdale is content services manager and consultant for PR 20/20, a Cleveland-based inbound marketing agency and PR firm. She can be found on Twitter at @ChristyHaj.

Stay updated: Subscribe to the PR 20/20 blog, check us out on Facebook or follow the team on Twitter.