Content creation and the development process can seem overwhelming for small business owners of all kinds in almost any industry. Let's be real and honest when we collectively admit that content creation was not at the top of the reasons why any of us decided to start a small business. Most small business owners want to sell their wonderful products and offer their great services. That's what drove them to start a business - not to create content for social media. Like any other skill, creating content needs to be learned for successfully starting, operating, and growing a small business, with the right tools and shared knowledge. Every small business can learn to develop and distribute great content that drives their small business forward. It all seems hard, but we promise that it doesn't have to be. You just need to know the five-step process for effective content development. Many think that it's only big brands and marketing agencies who know this process, but the truth is it's easy to learn. Follow it, and you, too, as a business owner can use it! That is what this blog in our series Back To Basics: Socials is all about.
Content creation foundations. The reality is that content creation for your small business can be very rewarding and typically costs 62% less than traditional marketing, but generates three times as much consumer traffic, sales, and service leads. In this blog, we are going to discuss what content development is, share our step-by-step content development process, and show how you can implement it for your small business - all whilst making the process as hassle-free as possible. You'll find the topics we are going to cover broken down into the sections listed below. Welcome To Back To Basics: Content Creation Foundations.
What Is Content Development?
Five Steps For A Successful Content Development Process
What Is Content Development?
Content development is the process of conceiving, planning, producing, and distributing content to reach business goals. This term is synonymous with content marketing and includes the entire lifecycle of content - from its conceptualization to its impact on readers (a.k.a. potential customers).
A few benefits of investing in content development include:
Improved Efficiency - Carefully planning and executing a content strategy increases your chances of success. You can target your ideal audience and create content that connects with them, solves their problems, and meets their needs. Having a plan also keeps you consistent, which helps you maintain traction and build trust with your audience.
Progress Monitoring - A content development plan makes it easier to evaluate your progress and make adjustments as needed. You can monitor and track how well your content is performing - helping you meet and exceed your targets.
Effective Collaboration - With a content development process, everyone in the team is on the same page. This is more specific to small businesses that have team members. Dear reader, you may not be there yet, but one day you could be, and this is helpful. Your team will know what to do with each piece of content and what to expect from its performance. Again, this raises your overall chances of success.
Five Steps For A Successful Content Development Process
Whether you’re starting from scratch or auditing your current content development process, this 5-step content development strategy will help you make your planning and content successful.
1. Set Content Goals
Before you even think about topics or audiences, consider what you want your content to accomplish. At what stage in the content marketing funnel would you like to meet your potential customers?
For example, if you’d rather create content that raises product awareness for your audience, try blog posts, infographics and eBooks.
Want content that drives sales quickly? You might need to invest in creating some testimonials, customer success stories and reviews.
Other content like email newsletters, case studies, and podcasts can work for several funnel points depending on the subject angle.
As you set content goals, you’ll also need to decide how to measure content marketing success. Some commonly used metrics are:
Blog Traffic
Website Traffic
SEO Rankings
Social Shares
Engagement Rate Growth
Lead Generation
Increased Sales
Client Retention
Return Customer Growth
2. Conduct Audience Research
You’ll need basic information about your audience and customer to set content goals. However, once you have your goals, it’s time to take a closer look at your audience and their needs - and how both aspects intersect with those goals.
Your research should answer the following questions:
Who is my content made for?
What is my audience’s main pain point?
Where does my ideal audience live and work?
Which social media platforms do they prefer?
Who does my target audience follow on social media?
Which sites does my audience typically visit?
How would my ideal audience prefer to have their pain point solved?
There are a couple of ways to access this data. The easiest and most useful way for small businesses is just to ask your customers/audience. You are a small business and have a better and more intimate relationship with your customers/audience. You are seeing them at events. You are engaging with them on social media. Ask them, and they will happily tell you. Alternatively, you can offer customer satisfaction surveys or just really watch and listen. People are very responsive on social media. Ask and we promise you shall receive.
3. Sharpen Your Content Strategy
You know your goals and your audience. Now what?
Next, it’s time to dive into developing a solid content strategy. Content strategy is a major part of the content development process. It involves researching, planning, and executing content ideas.
Decide which types of content you’ll be sticking with:
Will you focus on social media posts or long-form content, or both?
If you’re creating long-form content, will you be publishing more helpful how-to posts or thought leadership articles?
Will search engine optimization (SEO) play a significant role in your content marketing?
Which channels will you use to distribute your finished content?
This would also be a great time to set up a content calendar, start creating content, and decide on a brand voice for your articles.
Finally, you’ll need to decide whether you’ll be using in-house resources, freelance writers, or an agency to make all this content you’ve dreamed about come to life.
4. Write
Now you’re ready to start writing. In this age of search engines, basic SEO best practices such as incorporating your keyword into your meta title, URL, and meta description make a massive difference to search engine result page (SERP) rankings. However, avoid getting too caught up in writing for search engine robots; instead, prioritize readability and sharing useful information.
Use storytelling and make your content actionable by using examples, illustrations, charts, and other elements.
Ensure that your audience learns from each piece of content, and that you’re not simply regurgitating competitor content.
5. Publish And Distribute
Whoa, we are not done yet!
Don’t be fooled: hitting ‘publish’ is far from the final step in the content development process.
After your content is published, utilize the content distribution channels you identified earlier (refer to step #3) to share it. Maximize the value of your content through repurposing. Transform podcasts into blog posts and blog posts into short form social media pieces, or better yet, make a short-form video version for Reels and TikTok. In short, repurposing content will get more eyes looking at the fruits of your labour.
When you publish and share content, make sure to monitor its performance. Content marketing is a 'trial and error' process and requires that you continuously tweak and refine your strategy over time. The best content, however, comes from weeks - or even months - of planning, research, and goal-setting!
So that's it. Content planning and creation made easy. Follow this five-step process and you will eventually become more efficient, become more aware of what your consumer and audience are looking for, and churn out content at a comfortable and consistent rate that works for you and your small business goals. Our next piece in our Back To Basics: Social Series is Social Do’s & Do Nots. They say that there are no rules on the internet. Maybe so, but there are definitely guidelines. We are going to cover the Social Do’s & Do Nots of social media. Psst..most of it is common sense but still we must talk about them. You can find it here: Back To Basics: Social Do’s & Do Not's.
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More In The ONSBC Back To Basics Series
Instagram Basics: A Guide To Using Instagram
Facebook Basics: A Guide To Using Facebook For Business
Hashtags & Captions
The Five “W’s” In Media
Ghosting On Your Posting
Content Creation Foundations
Social Do’s & Do Not’s
Free Apps To Help You Add Value To Your Social Media, Content & Marketing
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