defining your digital content strategy

Defining your Digital Content

StrategyContent is king, but it isn’t everything.

@pearl_higgins

How do you make sense of

content?

@pearl_higgins

Content creation is not

a strategy.

@pearl_higgins

Content is not an island.

@pearl_higgins

content

@pearl_higgins

Contents:

THE

PROCESS

Keyword research

Competitive analysis

Content inventory

Analysis of need states

Content creation

Promotion

@pearl_higgins

Step 1- Keyword Research

@pearl_higgins

Keyword research starts at

home

@pearl_higgins

Free Tools for Keyword

Research– Webmaster Tools

• search traffic- top queries

– Google Analytics • acquisition- keywords

– Internal Site Search• if enabled

– Google Autocomplete• for variations on a keyword

– Uber Suggest• http://ubersuggest.org/, and others like it

– Google Ad Tool• suggested queries

@pearl_higgins

Paid Tools for Keyword

Research– SearchMetrics

– Spyfu

@pearl_higgins

Free and Essential Tool: Excel

@pearl_higgins

Collect your keyword data across as many

different platforms as possible. The more,

the merrier.

@pearl_higgins

Step 2: Competitive Analysis

@pearl_higgins

Who are your competitors?

@pearl_higgins

Not just industry BUT SERP too.

@pearl_higgins

Collect competitor analysis

SearchMetrics & SpyFu

@pearl_higgins

Eliminate branded terms

@pearl_higgins

Compile data & create a pivot table

@pearl_higgins

Check for overlap to see what

keywords are popular

@pearl_higgins

Dump back in to Ad tool for search

volume, then rank those that are

higher priority

@pearl_higgins

Once you have a sense of overlap

among your competitors, focus on

gaps in your campaigns.

@pearl_higgins

Weed through competitor keywords

for opportunities that make sense

for you

@pearl_higgins

Take all that new keyword data and

begin grouping and analyzing.

@pearl_higgins

Bucket keywords for user intent

Is the keyword:

– Transactional? Buy snack box subscription

– Navigational? Graze or nature box

– Informational? Healthy snack options

@pearl_higgins

This will yield a list of keywords

with search volume, type of search,

and existing content. This is the the

starting point for your content

strategy.

@pearl_higgins

Your content spreadsheet:

@pearl_higgins

Step 3: Content inventory

@pearl_higgins

Content inventory is all about

figuring out what you need, what

you have, and what your audience

is looking for.

@pearl_higgins

Crawl your site

@pearl_higgins

Bucket the types of content you

have on site

@pearl_higgins

Cross reference against keyword

data

@pearl_higgins

Make note of pages that support

the keywords you want to target

@pearl_higgins

Identify gaps & opportunities

Keyword: food gifts for the holidays

Only existing content:

@pearl_higgins

Step 4: Analysis of need states

@pearl_higgins

Need state:

A way of understand the topology

of the market, and the driving

needs that determine brand choice

in a particular market.

@pearl_higgins

Shopper/buyer need states

Awareness

Familiarity

Consideration

Purchase

Loyalty

@pearl_higgins

Different need states lend

themselves to different content

typesSnacks

Healthy Snack Options

Snack Delivery

Buy Snack Subscription

Snack of the month club

perks

@pearl_higgins

After identifying pages to be

improved or created, identify what

type of content you are creating to

meet the need state of the keyword

targeted on that page.

@pearl_higgins

Process:

What is the keyword intent/need state?

What kind of content would support that?

What does that look like?

*Food Gifts*

@pearl_higgins

For Example:

Familiarity- Healthy Snack Options:

– Articles on healthy sweet and savory snacks

– Video tutorials on preparing healthy snacks

– Food pyramid and nutritional serving illustrations

– Resources for how to meal plan, and incorporate snacks into a day to day menu plan

– Expert nutritionist interviews about snacks, food, and making time to exercise.

@pearl_higgins

Step 4: Content creation

@pearl_higgins

Now that you have all that data, try

to forget it at least a little bit, and

think about the user.

@pearl_higgins

What types of content are most

shared:

@pearl_higgins

Think beyond the blog post

– Tutorials: illustrated, video, step-by-step, etc.

– Interviews: with experts, customers, etc.

– Resources: lists of related industry vendors,

upcoming events, tools, etc.

– Guides: buying guides, care guides, gift

guides, etc.

– Interactive Pieces: quizzes, guides,

resources, contests, etc.

– Photo Series: behind the scenes, upcoming

work, employee spotlights, etc.

@pearl_higgins

Video tutorials

@pearl_higgins

Interviews

@pearl_higgins

Resources

@pearl_higgins

Guides

@pearl_higgins

Interactive pieces

@pearl_higgins

Photo series

@pearl_higgins

Think big within your budget

@pearl_higgins

Step 5: Promotion!

@pearl_higgins

Outreach is simple.

Remember your user?

Find them and reach out to them as a

person.

@pearl_higgins

How do you find them?

@pearl_higgins

Trackur

@pearl_higgins

BuzzStream:

@pearl_higgins

Topsy

@pearl_higgins

For the love of dog, please don’t automate

your outreach programs.

@pearl_higgins

Don’t discount the possibility of paid

promotion for boosting good content

@pearl_higgins

Takeaways:

– Give yourself a solid base for any strategy by

really doing your keyword research.

– The more competitive analysis you can do,

the easier finding the gaps in the market and

your own content will be.

– A need state analysis will be the framework

for how you build your content.

– Think beyond the blog post.

– Promote as an individual.

@pearl_higgins

Questions?