It is no secret that content planning can be a difficult feat, especially if you haven’t done it before.
Every business wanting to market themselves professionally and effectively should be wanting to create high-quality content that engages their audience and meets their business goals too.
Without a proper strategy, or plan, this can be a difficult thing to do, so how do you go about putting a plan in place?
And what should it include?
In this article we are going to take a look at what exactly a content plan is, and how you can use it to influence your content and align it with your marketing goals in 2024.
Read on to find out more…
What is a content plan?
A content plan is formulated by sitting down and creating a roadmap, if you like, of your business or brand’s content ideas and distribution channels. It should include things like how often you are sharing it, the topics of each piece of content, when they are being published, what platforms they are being shared on, goals for each piece, target audience and formats too.
The idea is that you can plan and therefore formulate some sort of content marketing strategy for your content so that it has maximum positive impact for your business and performs well on the channels that it is published on.
How does a content plan differ from a content strategy?
Confused by all these content terms? I don’t blame you, it can feel that way, but there is a clear difference between a content plan and a content strategy, and it is important to understand them before you get to work on your 2024 content plan.
A content plan is something that maps out the details of your content creation process- it basically acts as a little map that includes things like the type of content you are producing, when you are publishing it, and what channels it is going on.
A content strategy, on the other hand, is a broader framework that includes things like the design of your content, the goals you have for it, analytics, and target audience.
Basically, a strategy is a much broader look at your content, where a plan focuses on the specifics to fulfill the strategy. Both are important and it is these strategic things that you need to think about before you can put a plan in place.
What are some things to think about when developing a content plan?
This might sound like you are planning for your plan, and that’s because you pretty much are. But thinking about these questions before you put together your plan will make sure that you have clear goals that you want to meet, and that you are targeting your content, and the plan accordingly.
Question One: Who is the target audience?
You cannot create content that benefits your business if you don’t know who you are addressing when you publish it. You want to be thinking about who your target audience are, how old they are, who is most likely to engage with your brand and offerings and what they are interested in when they consume content. It is also important to think about their pain points and how you, and your content, resolves these for them. If you have an idea of what social media platforms these people tend to use, and what kind of content they engage with the best, that is even better and something else to think about.
Question Two: What are your goals?
Before you begin to develop your content plan, think about what your goals are for it. Are you trying to increase your brand awareness? Drive more traffic and sales? Engage with customers? Whatever it is, make sure it is clear and that you align your content plan with it.
Question Three: What type of content will you use?
There are lots of different types of content options out there, and if you have already thought about who your target audience is, you may have an idea of what type of content they engage best with. The best content plans contain a variety of types of content formats, as these best keep audiences engaged when you share them, and encourage interaction too. Popular content types include blog posts, social media marketing, videos and email marketing.
Question Four: What platform(s) will you share your content on?
As we have mentioned above, different audiences engage with different types of content on different platforms, so choosing one accordingly is important. Think about how compatible the platform is for the type of content you want to share, and how much of your target audience you will appeal to when you share it on there. Of course, sharing on multi-channels is going to give you higher exposure because it is being shared across multiple platforms, so have a think about these before you put your content plan into place.
Creating the Content Plan
Now that you have addressed the key questions above about your content plan, it is time to start putting together the plan. Here is a little step by step guide on how to do this:
- Step one: set your goals, ensuring that they are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-bound (SMART). Without a clear goal, your content plan will not be as effective as you want it to be.
- Step two: brainstorm ideas and topics for your content, taking into account the things mentioned above, like target audience (important!), and the social media channels that you will be sharing it on. Think about what you are going to post and what format the content will be taking when you post it.
- Step three: come up with a schedule for when you will post and on which channels. This is important to keep your content fresh, consistent and targeting the right people. Again, make sure that your posting schedule is attainable, otherwise the plan will fall apart before it has been properly implemented. If you want to, you can create a content calendar as well to keep on top of when you are posting and what content you are posting on any specific day.
- Step four: think about how you are going to promote each piece of content, again ensuring that this aligns with your content and business goals.
Top Tips for Creating an Effective Content Plan
If you follow the tips above, you will have a fairly good blueprint for putting your content plan together, but there is a certain tactic to making sure that it is effective. Here are just a few important tips to bear in mind when putting together your 2024 content plan to ensure that it is effective and in keeping with your business goals:
Make Sure Your Content Is Quality
When you are putting together your content plan and deciding how it will all come together, it is important to prioritise quality over quantity so that you can not only stick to the plan without becoming overwhelmed and missing deadlines, but also to make sure that your content is valuable to your target audience too.
Read also: Content Writing Tips for Beginners
Brand Message Is Important
Content that is all over the place in terms of brand messaging is content that does not do well and is not engaged with well either. When putting together your content plan and thinking about what content you are creating/the design of it, make sure that it is consistent. This could be things like keeping with brand colours or fonts, or wording things like tone of voice and thematic consistency. All of these things establish reputation and also recognition among your audience, which in turn builds trust and this is something you want your content to do for you as a business owner.
Remember Visuals
These days, visuals are incredibly important for creating engaging and interactive content that catches the eye of audiences and maximises the likelihood of them returning to it. It also improves the chances of your content being absorbed, as broken up and visually appealing content is better digested by audiences than big blocks of text, especially on social media and websites.
Things like photos, videos, external links or even little infographics are great to break up text, add a pop of interest and help with the processing of content too. These are all things that you should think about when creating your content plan so that the content you are pushing out is effective and maximises audience interaction.
Conclusion
Content planning is a very important task to carry out to ensure that your content is engaging, effective and aligned with your business goals, especially in 2024 where content is everywhere. By thinking about your target audience, branding message, posting platforms and then applying these things to your content, making them high-quality and visually appealing, you are setting up your content for success. Content calendars are also a great way to keep a schedule of your content postings, keeping it consistent and promoting interaction and engagement from your audience.
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