Thursday, March 6, 2014

How Content Marketing Calendars Counter Quality Control Concerns

How Content Marketing Calendars Counter Quality Control Concerns


Going guns ablaze into content marketing is a good way to shoot yourself in the foot. This is a common scenario for small businesses and startups who think, “Wow, if I get on Facebook I’ll increase my business by 100 percent!” But for better or worse, marketing online requires a comprehensive outlook on the industry, time, effort, and a tinge of creativity.


The best strategy we can recommend is to develop a brand-based content calendar. A calendar keeps you organized and, more importantly, reinforces the delivery of quality content rather than rushed, thoughtless pieces you throw up at the last minute.


Before diving into the “how-to” portion of this blog, let’s take a look at the “why” question.


Why Quality Drives Content Marketing


No one has to follow your Facebook page, read your blogs, or visit your website. It’s up to you to convince them otherwise by publishing high-quality, engaging content in various formats. The interesting thing about content marketing is how strategies overlap and can either help or hurt a business’ overall marketing campaign.


If Company XYZ pushes out terrible, misconstrued, and boring tweets, will any followers click a tweet link to a new blog? Likely not, even if it’s the best blog ever written. It boils down to how much a follower trusts your content and how consistently you publish newsfeed-worthy information.


The shotgun approach doesn’t work in content marketing. You can’t sling out a dozen tweets, Facebook posts, and write up a 500-word blog during a lunch break and expect these assets to help one another. It’s more damaging to reduce quality than it is to not market at all.


How Editorial Calendars Save the Day


Calendar-type tools are incredibly useful for content marketers, especially those who are just starting out and lack a formal social media manager or marketing department. These calendars can be as simple or complicated as you want them to be, though most include deadlines for making posts on different channels.


When should you tweet, make a Facebook post, or publish your blog? The timing is on you but there are two basic strategies you can use to maximize post times: 1) See how many likes/shares/follows you get at different times of the day, 2) Use analytical software built into these platforms to assess demographic readership based on a topic-by-topic basis. We’d recommend the first strategy. It’s simpler and easier to handle for smaller businesses.


Anyway, the main idea behind a calendar is that you don’t over-post or flood your followers’ newsfeeds. The more garbage a follower sees from a single source, the more likely they are to unfollow or ignore content. The trick is to balance your online asset postings to appear on different platforms at different times of the day.


As an example, let’s say you just finished a new blog. Publish your blog, wait a few hours, Facebook a link and summary, tweet it later on, and continue making the rounds on social media until all of your followers have a chance to see it. The concept is the same for press releases, product updates, and anything else you decide to share.


Another perk of having an editorial calendar is that you can keep track of what you’re posting and how often. Consider theming your weeks, for example, by choosing a topic and publishing insights on different platforms. As mentioned, these calendars do not have to be complicated, and there are plenty of online solutions (OneNote, Trello, etc.) for collaborating calendars.


Most importantly, an editorial calendar for content marketing allows you to plan ahead and ensure that you are A) Only publishing quality, and B) Not overwhelming your fans. Need some help? Visit www.grammarchic.net or give us a call at 803-831-7444


Source: B2C_Business



How Content Marketing Calendars Counter Quality Control Concerns

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