A2Z of Online Branding: DECIDING a Content Strategy (4/26)

April 9, 2018 DiaryOfAnInsaneWriter My thoughts, Technology 5 comments

Why do we need to have a content strategy for online branding?

Most new entrants into the world of Online Branding erroneously believe that a Content Strategy for Online Branding is not a big deal.

Guess what? CONTENT STRATEGY FOR ONLINE BRANDING is a VERY BIG DEAL!

The days of merely posting on social media are over and days of updating the website once in 6 months are over. It is essential for brands to have regular conversations going on social media and update the website regularly so that the customers are tuned in to the brand. The challenge of a content strategy is the cut the clutter and emerge as the winning brand in terms of customer engagement.

Now, let’s look at what are the platforms that a brand has available to them. Apart from Social Media platforms, there are several other online platforms that are available for a brand. Let’s take a look:

Paid Owned Earned Shared media Online Branding. — A snapshot of how you can leverage your PAID, OWNED, EARNED & SHARED media for Online Branding.

In the above image, you see many platforms that you own and thus have the complete liberty to create content for those platforms.

Today, fresh and innovative approaches to content is critical to drive traffic & influence buyer decision.

Once you understand your audience, choose your platform and decide a content strategy, it will become easier to reach your goal faster.

It is critical to understand what your audience wants to see, what will make them believe in your brand and what will drive them to make a purchase decision.

If you accidentally stumbled upon this post then NOW is a good time to go back and read the following posts so that you are in sync:

Why is a CONTENT STRATEGY important?

Defines the direction in which the brand should go
Helps to plan how to rise above competition
The INTENT of posting is more important than what you want to post
A good content strategy will help you produced better quality content that your audience not only likes but consumes and shares.
Remember that today, customers are socialising all the time – offline or online – they will speak about the produce before the plan to buy
When a customer stumbles upon your website or social media, their mind is looking for the answer to: “Should I bother? Will this help me?”. You have just EIGHT seconds before this customer bounces off to another brand. Ensure what he/she sees in those 8 seconds hooks them for longer.
If you brainstorm on a proper content strategy, you will find that many untold, important stories of your business will emerge. If placed before the audience in an interesting way, it could lead to engagement and buyer decision.
Content strategy allows you to identify and dissect each stage of your buyer’s journey and helps you to create content that focuses on the customer’s real need.
We advice brands to invest in a content strategy process so that you can get to where you want to go faster, with less stress and better outcomes.

Remember we spoke of B2C and B2B businesses in the previous post?

Now is a good time to revisit the post if you don’t remember. (Click here) . Research shows that content marketing efforts for both are similar however there are some differences.

Almost all B2C and B2B marketers use social media posts for content marketing purposes. They also ensure that their website is updated and SEO is up to the mark so that they get organic traffic.

B2C marketers: prefer visual content and usually use videos, illustrations/photos and infographics to reach their audience. They prefer FACEBOOK as a platform. However, with the rising popularity of Instagram, Pinterest and Quora, this will change soon.

B2B marketers: they think that doling out technical information will help better. SO they rely on case studies, research statistics and videos. They prefer LINKEDIN as a platform to interact with their audience.

This image will tell you more about this:

Content marketing trends compared 2017 — LinkedIn Platform rules for B2B and for B2C, Facebook is the leading platform.

FIRST ASK YOURSELF THESE 10 QUESTIONS:

INTENT: Why do you want to put out this information?
AUDIENCE: What type of people do you want to reach?
CONTENT FORM: Are you going to publish A post? An image? A poll? A video? A story? A creatively designed piece?
AUDIENCE PREFERENCE: Which type of content will your audience like to see?
MANPOWER: Who is going to create & manage the content?
PLATFORM TYPE: Which platform will the content be most effective?
CLOCKING SALES: When is the right time to begin a sales conversation with your audience?
IMPLEMENTATION PLAN: How are you going to implement the content strategy? Do you have a plan?
BUDGET: Do you have a budget for creating the content?
SUCCESS PARAMETERS: What are the parameters of success apart from sales?

Questions for Content Strategy — Before you create a CONTENT STRATEGY, ask yourself these important questions

Conclusion: We are now entering the toughest and most rewarding phase of Online Branding – EXECUTING A CONTENT STRATEGY. Stay with me and explore this world. If you get it right, there is no looking back for you and your brand. Success will be yours – surely.

Watch out for the next post where I take you through the process of EXECUTING A CONTENT STRATEGY. Stay tuned!

Penned by:
Mayura Amarkant

Disclaimer: This series is an original piece of writing. All copyrights remain with the author, any content re-purpose, copying or lifting is not allowed. The author is a National Award Winning Woman Business Leader in Digital Marketing and PR, she has written this series based out of her own personal experiences while handling large brands. Incase you need to discuss business, please email: mayura.amarkant@sarvashreshtha.com.

For the uninitiated, Sarvashreshtha Solutions is a communications company that specialises in Branded Content, Executive Communications, Digital Marketing & Training. We work with brands and top management and enhance their image online. Our top clients include: Mumbai Press Club, Lokmat Media Group, Xrbia Developers, Kohinoor Education Trust, DDB Mudra, PlastIndia Foundation among many others. If you have the vision, intent and budgets, we will be happy to associate with you. Do drop an email on the above ID or call: +91 9821117300/ 9769117300.