Content creation is one of the most common digital marketing strategies to reach new users, so that companies get more contacts or potential customers and these can solve their doubts with educational material. But for this process to be enriching for both parties, it is essential that the brand plans its content marketing campaign from the first step (such as researching the competition) to the last (disseminating the content).
In this sense, defining a content creation framework is similar to establishing an editorial plan. However, the framework offers a more comprehensive planning by taking into account all elements related to content marketing: steps, tasks and tools. In contrast, the editorial plan focuses on the development of materials, without including dissemination as part of the content creation process.
So, if you think your company can benefit from this business strategy to achieve its long-term goals, read this article before you start blogging.
For planning to be useful, it needs to be comprehensive, so the process of designing a framework for content creation is divided into five key parts that feed into each other. Let's look at them one by one:
Conceptualising your strategy means establishing a clear thematic offering and original ideas that differentiate you from the competition. To do this, you can research your competitors' content for inspiration and opportunities, always keeping keywords in mind. In addition, it is essential to create content for each stage of the buyer's journey: attraction, interaction, conversion and delight. Remember that a new contact is not looking for the same content as a regular customer.
With your SMART goals in mind, you can determine what content to publish and when. To do this, think about the buyer's journey: if your goal is to get more leads, then focus on the attraction phase. Set a realistic timeline with your company's resources to create quality content that actually brings value to users. Don't get carried away by rushing or ambition.
This step consists of clarifying the workflow involved in the creation of content from the idea to its publication. In this way, you create a routine that you can adapt according to your experience to streamline and improve the process. This is where the documentation process, the initial outline or index, the draft, editing, layout or design, etc. come into play. In addition, you must take into account who will be responsible for each task (we will talk about this later).
Although this step is sometimes ignored, it is just as important as the rest. The revision of the content (whether it is a video, an article or an infographic) is essential to correct errors or improve some deficiencies. It also serves to keep all the content of the company unified (i.e. according to the established style guide) and to give a more professional and reliable view to the user. Who likes to find a spelling mistake? In this sense, it is preferable that the correction is done by a different person than the one who created the content. In this step, the content is also optimised for search engines through the SEO techniques that you have agreed to use.
Finally, as you publish content in whatever format or channel you publish it, it is very important to organise it. In this way, you create a library of all your material that you can refer to for future recycling. It also serves as a database that will help you avoid creating identical content. In this sense, the best way to store all publications is to create a unique naming system where, for example, the format, the stage of the buyer's journey it addresses, the campaign it belongs to and the year are indicated. Even so, you can establish your own method adapted to your needs.
Each step in planning the framework is linked to one or two inseparable tasks of content marketing. In turn, these should be performed by different, specialised workers, so your strategy will be carried out by a larger or smaller team, but always organised and never overworked. Let's look at the five tasks you should consider when building your team:
In order to advance in each step of the process and develop each task successfully, it is necessary for your company to handle some basic tools that we will discuss below:
If you've got this far, you'll have seen the importance of planning through a complete and comprehensive framework. The clearer you are about each stage of the process, the teams involved and how to carry out the tasks, the more effective the campaign will be. Users will find the content more engaging and your company will reap the many benefits of content creation. Are you going to miss out?