We are sure you have heard it: having a content strategy is crucial for your social media and online presence to succeed. While every social media expert and marketer will tell you this, there is always that lingering question: What exactly is a content strategy?
The easiest way to explain a content strategy and how it differs from a content plan and a content calendar is to break it down into four key components: the Why, What, How, and Then of Content. The idea here is to clearly understand the purpose, structure, execution, and evaluation of a content strategy.
WHY—The Foundation of Your Content Strategy
As Simon Sinek said in his TEDx Talk back in 2009, it all starts with a WHY.
Why are we creating content in the first place?
Asking yourself “why” is how you define the overarching purpose of your content and align it with your business objectives. Are you trying to build brand awareness, drive traffic, generate leads, educate your audience, or foster community engagement? Once you have defined your purpose, you can set measurable goals, such as increasing website visits by 20%, growing your email list by 1,000 subscribers, or boosting social media engagement by 30%.
Without a clear “Why,” your content lacks direction and risks becoming disjointed or irrelevant to your audience.
WHAT—The Themes and Topics in Your Strategy
Have you seen The Substance? They say it is a great movie 👀 Anyway, that is not the substance we need to focus on right now—we need to focus on the substance of your content: What kind of content will we create to achieve our goals?
The “What” defines the substance of your content. This involves identifying the themes, topics, and formats that resonate with your target audience and align with your brand.
- Start by choosing broad categories that reflect your brand’s expertise and values (e.g., sustainability, innovation, customer success stories).
- Narrow those broad categories into specific ideas or angles within those themes (e.g., “5 Ways to Reduce Your Carbon Footprint” under sustainability).
- Now, choose how to present that information to your audience. Will it be a blog post, video, infographic, podcast, or social media post?
The “What” ensures your content is relevant, valuable, and consistent with your brand’s voice and messaging.
HOW—Executing and Distributing Your Content
Now that we know why we are creating content and what kind of content we are creating, we can move on to the most practical aspect: creating and delivering content. How are you going to produce, publish, and promote our content? And YES, the Content Plan and Content Calendar come into play here.
Your Content Plan is the part of your content strategy that outlines the specifics of content creation, including who is responsible for what, the deadlines, and the resources needed; on the other hand, your Content Calendar is nothing but the execution map: when and where will your content be published (e.g., blog posts every Monday, Instagram posts three times a week).
Being clear on how your content will be created and distributed ensures efficiency. It also helps you reach your audience through the right channels at the right time.
THEN—What Happens Afterwards?
We already know what we are doing, why we are doing it, and how we will do it. What comes next?
No real strategy or plan can achieve success without us evaluating the results. What happens after we publish our content? How do we know if it’s working?
Since you already know your goals and have defined which ones you will measure, you should take some time to track and analyze your key performance indicators (KPIs) that reflect those goals, such as engagement rates, click-through rates, conversions, and ROI, using tools like Google Analytics, social media insights, or email marketing reports.
Once you have seen your metrics and based on your performance, you can refine your content strategy if needed: sometimes, tweaking your messaging might do the trick; other times, you might need to experiment with new formats or reallocate resources to high-performing channels. This will ensure your content strategy stays up-to-date, dynamic, and adaptable, evolving with your audience’s needs and preferences.
While the Content Plan and Content Calendar are essential tools for execution, they are only effective when guided by a well-defined strategy.
A successful content strategy is an ongoing creation, evaluation, and adaptation process. By making sure it is aligned with your goals—even when your goals change and evolve—understanding your audience and continuously optimizing your approach, you can drive meaningful results and strengthen your brand’s online presence.
Do you still have questions? Reach out! We are here to help you and your content strategy shine!
