Fix Your Broken-Record Content Strategy

Man, working on content and curating smartly can get so stale. It seems like you see and share the same things over and over again. And then there’s all the blogging to be done. Sometimes, I feel like a broken record about measurement and listening and customer relationships. But, it is all worth it because we get to have a conversation about these subjects, which are really some of my favorite. But, it still gets stale. So, recently, I have found myself really re-evaluating my content strategy and I’ve found four ways that helped me really light a fire under my blogging and curation. And guess what, they came back to measuring and listening – oh the irony!

Review the conversation about your category

The conversation changes all the time because the world is changing so fast. Last quarter’s insight may not even be a blip on the radar. If you are not listening to the conversation around your category, start today. It is far more illuminating than the branded conversation. Trust me on this: if you only listen to your brand, you are missing 94-98% of the conversation about your market. I do this listening once a quarter to see what’s new in my space that my customers care about. And then, I compare this to the content I am creating and sharing. This is how I can be nimble in what we write and share that matters to our audience. It helps me stay in tune with what matters most to people who may or may not buy my product.

Isolate your social users to see what’s converting

There are some tricks in Google Analytics that Morgan Lucas and Nichole Kelly showed me that allow me to isolate our social users to see what kind of content is converting our readers into people using our tools. This is a very cool little trick that can show you what your content is doing to drive leads. If you want to know more about it, hit up Morgan on Twitter. @MorganLLucas

Test something new

Every quarter, I commit to trying something new in content. Could be LinkedIn publisher, could be a Twitter chat. But I make a commitment to test something new each and every quarter. This test-and-learn mentality has driven so much learning. For example, solid participation in the right Twitter chat can drive so many new followers. It is mind blowing. We’ve increased twitter followers upwards of 10% in one Twitter chat with the right target audience. These new tests can infuse so much energy into your content strategy.

Make optimizing a priority

We all talk about optimizing our strategies, but how frequently do you stop and really take a look at what’s working and what’s not. If you’re anything like me, it isn’t very often. I really just keep plowing ahead most times, and it is wrong. So to me, optimizing is important, but it’s clearly not a priority. Because this is so clear to me now, I have set aside time on my calendar to review my content strategy each quarter. I actually block off a few days to look at data and find some new nuggets, but this will never happen if it isn’t on the books to happen. I encourage you to do the same.

It’s easy to get bored with all the content you are creating and curating. You get tired of the same messages and sometimes wonder if it’s worth it. I get there too. But I have some tactics in place to keep the fire lit under my content strategy so that it doesn’t get too stale and we can measure what’s making a difference. And that’s what’s cool, seeing what’s working and what isn’t.