Creating consistent, compelling content is no easy task. That’s because teams often get tripped up by some common roadblocks. To build a successful content program, teams need a smart content creation strategy, and it helps to have a web content management system (CMS) to keep everything on track.
What are some common content creation roadblocks?
From having a pipeline of story ideas to staying on message, here are some of the most common content challenges:
Coming up with topics
It can be a challenge to generate ideas week after week, month after month, especially if you cover a niche topic or have a narrow audience. But there are many examples of content creators who have been coming up with fresh ideas for years—and making it look effortless. But the truth is there is a lot of effort, planning and technology behind the scenes to keep those content machines running.
Staying on a regular schedule
When figuring out a content creation strategy, one of the key things to determine is how often you want to be publishing. Many times, companies start up a content program full speed ahead only to end up running out of steam a couple of months later. Building out an editorial calendar and content schedule that’s realistic can help you stay on track.
Generating quality content
Not every asset will be award-winning, but then again, each item you publish should provide value to the audience. Whether you aim to entertain them, inform them or provide a solution to a common problem, you should be focused on quality rather than just getting something up there.
Cultivating a unique brand voice
As the “too many cooks in the kitchen” adage says, if you have several people involved in your content creation, you can end up with a jumbled mess. Unless, of course, you’re all following a cohesive content creation strategy.
Why is developing a content creation strategy important?
While you can’t eradicate every content roadblock, with a well-defined content creation strategy and a robust CMS on your side, you can sidestep many of them.
Let’s start with a content creation strategy. A good one will help you:
Let’s start with a content creation strategy. A good one will help you:
Define your marketing goals
What do you want your content to achieve? Is it to build a mailing list, convert customers or drive ROI?
Identify your target audience
You may have multiple buyer personas, and each one should be delivered customized content that speaks to their needs.
Determine the tone and voice of your content
Brand voice is important, and you want it to be consistent across multiple channels.
Have a gameplan for how content gets created
Staying on schedule is more likely when everyone on the team understands their role.
Track your progress
You’ll need to decide the best ways to measure and assess how your content is performing, whether it’s time spent on your page, conversion rate or something else.
How can a content management system help improve your content creation strategy?
To maximize your content creation strategy, you need a way to manage it all. That’s when having a CMS comes in handy. Content management software can help streamline the entire content lifecycle.
Planning
CMS software usually offers a dashboard and editorial calendar feature so you can see a snapshot of projects, their status and what’s coming up. This can help you brainstorm new ideas.
Collaborating
Cloud web content management allows everyone involved in a content campaign to stay informed in real time. Workflows are visible so everyone is accountable and small tasks don’t fall through the cracks.
Assessing content performance
Seeing how your content performs can help you determine which topics work well and what you need to do more of.
Staying on brand
Posting your style sheet, brand guidelines and article templates in your CMS helps keep content creators on the same page.
Tracking progress
CMSs often have advanced analytics that let you run reports and look for trends that can inform your content creation strategy moving forward.
