By Ashlee Wykoff
 Account Executive

Effective content generation gets results … but how do you get those results and return on your investment? It’s by planning, creating a strategy and implementing your goals – whether to educate, raise awareness or sell a product or service.

Of the many content creators out there, a large number only want to push out fluff without substance or any goals in mind. As search engine optimization (SEO) rules get tighter to focus on the quality of content and referrals, it is more important than ever to have a strategy and a strong WHY behind your content efforts.

SEO Basics

• Your website should be interesting and useful.
• Understand what your audience wants, and make sure to deliver.
• Encourage user trust.
• Show clear expertise and credibility.
• You should have enough content for the subject at hand.
• Ads should not be distracting.
• Links should be used wisely – sparingly and with purpose.

Source: SEO Starter Guide: The Basics | Google Search Central

Knowing your audience and presenting a strong reason for them to buy into your brand is key. How will your brand ultimately help your audience? It’s not enough to just amp up the quantity of emails and social posts. Stop and ask WHY am I sharing this information, WHO am I writing this for, and WHAT is the ultimate goal once they get this information?

Increasing the number of content pieces is not always the best approach for successful content generation programs. Producing quality, well-thought-out content that creates brand recognition using a variety of content tactics and channels is a smarter approach. Creating and maintaining a comprehensive content generation plan will help streamline time demands and costs, as well as create alignment between team members.

Content Goals

When planning out your content goals, it’s important to also create a timeline. Once that is determined, you can break your plan out into segments, with specific and measurable goals for each.

High-level goals to consider may include:

• Brand recognition with specific messaging in mind.
• To inform and educate, especially in technical areas.
• To stay ahead of the competition.
• To increase engagement in industry events and publications.
• To share thought leadership pieces through various forms of media and channels. (TIP: Focus on what you know and what you can confidently share with others!)
• To raise awareness around a product or service.
• To drive traffic to your website.
• To position your company as an industry leader.
• To positively present your company’s culture, safety and quality record.
• To enhance the reputation of your company.

An example of specific, measurable goals for a single campaign might include the following:

Campaign goals:

• 15% open rate for an email campaign
• 50 clicks on website
• 1,000 impressions on a social media post

Campaign details:

• Build a monthly email campaign for specific customers to raise awareness around your services, specifically renewable natural gas projects (if that’s your target).
• You can target ideal customers and prospects with four social media posts on that topic, spread throughout the month. These posts will include two videos and two static images. Additionally, you can add a blog post to your website on the same topic with one of those videos and add it to your social post and email blast.
• Once the content is complete, you’ll need to analyze the email campaign, i.e., who opened it, deleted it or how many clicks you got. You’ll also want to look at the social media and website analytics to see the engagement, clicks and impressions.

Serve Your Audience

You should make sure your content serves your audience, meaning it will help them in some capacity – whether it’s professionally or personally. For example, if your customers have been asking the same questions about a particular product and its specs, it might be a good idea to summarize the information in an infographic with short bullet points.

Another example might be when your technical service department notes that they’ve had several requests for help on changing a battery or seal in a product. This may also be a good content piece. The goal would be to help customers who are having this issue and show prospective customers that your product is easy to use. With this in mind, a short 2-minute how-to video may be exactly what your customers need.

If you are attending several great trade shows in the upcoming months, let your audience know where you’ll be by sending out a short and sweet eblast with a calendar of events and invite them to meet you there!

If you recently attended a renewable conference because you wanted to broaden your reach in this market, and you hear a debate on a specific issue, consider writing a pro and con article sharing both sides, and telling how your service mitigates concerns on both sides of this issue. The goal here is to show prospective customers in this market that you are thinking of their needs and are knowledgeable in this area. There would also be SEO potential with this content when entering a new market.

So, what are your major goals when deciding to implement a content campaign? What types of content pieces are you most interested in producing, and why? If you’re not sure where to begin, contact our team to get started!

If you’d like help to ramp up your content generation efforts, email us, connect with us on LinkedIn or give us a call at 281-448-3435.