Nestle produces more than 1,500 pieces of marketing content each day for more than 800 Facebook pages. By their own estimation, Nestle spends $127,500 per day on Facebook posts alone, according to an article on Inc.com.
Wow. That’s not simple. And it’s impossible for 99% of companies and organizations. That said, content marketing is an essential and invaluable tool for organizations of all sizes. So how can you reap the benefits of content marketing like Nestle at a fraction of the cost?
Simple—by following CDT of content marketing.
C –
Content Creation
Writing scares a lot of people. The daunting task of creating valuable content on a regular basis ultimately leads to frustration, which will eventually lead to strategy abandonment.
Creating content doesn’t have to be that complicated, though. When devising a content strategy, organizations should start with an editorial calendar. The editorial calendar will serve as your content strategy roadmap and should extend six months out.
As for the editorial calendar itself, don’t over-extend yourself. If you can only produce a single piece of content a month, then produce a single piece of quality content. The editorial calendar doesn’t need to be rigid, either. Write down a topic or general idea for that month and then when it comes time to write, see what’s happening in the world to ensure the content is timely and relevant.
Once you have an editorial calendar, create a production cycle that will dictate when you write and publish the piece. Stick to the production cycle and keep things simple.
D –
Distribution
There’s no sense in creating an editorial calendar, production cycle and actually spending the time and effort writing the piece if you have no method to distribute the content and engage people.
Fortunately, the internet has made content distribution a breeze with so many channels. Organizations can package their content into flashy, digital magazine formats (similar to the days of pdf newsletters), on social media and/or email newsletters. And, to maximize the content’s value, the content should be re-purposed and re-packaged for the respective channels.
When determining your preferred distribution channels and methods, think of where your target audience resides and what you want that target audience to do with your content. Do you want them to share with their networks? Do you want them to come to your website or engage on social media?
T –
Tracking
While there’s a huge technical component of creating and distributing content—design, layout, email platforms, etc.—content strategy is an art. Some content will resonate more than other content. Your audience will react differently depending on distribution timing, the tone of the piece and so many other factors that it’s impossible to list them all here.
So how can you determine what content your audience values and how to better focus your effort on that type of content? It’s in the numbers. Most people are aware of Google Analytics to tracking website visitors, time on site, location of visitors, etc. However, that data is but a sliver of the true scope of your content marketing efforts.
Facebook and other social media channels provide valuable metrics. Email platforms like Mailchimp provide insights into email opens, click-throughs and subscribers. There’s no shortage of tools available to measure your content strategy’s performance.
But with all the tools available to track campaign performance, it’s important to view that data from different sources in context. A dashboard that pulls all the data into a single, real-time view will keep content strategy tracking simple.
Very few organizations have the resources like Nestle to create and deploy a content strategy that can power strategic initiatives.
But by keeping things simple and following CDT, your organization can taste the sweet success of a well executed content strategy.
