Creating content is easy. Creating content that connects, drives engagement and reaps genuine rewards is a different story all together. Effective content is the result of a considered approach combined with skilful execution. At Reeton Media, we’ve broken it down to The 4 P’s: Planning, Production, Publishing and Promotion.
Let’s take a look.
Planning
By failing to plan, you’re planning to fail. Sure, Benjamin Franklin wasn’t referring to content creation when he uttered those now-famous words, but the sentiment applies. A content plan is critical if you want to see results. It will help establish clear goals and targets, ensure a consistent flow of content, determine the preferred type of content and content channels, and ensure everyone involved knows what they are responsible for. Planning should include creating a content production schedule, also known as an editorial calendar. This will dictate what to publish and when to publish it. Leave some wiggle room so you and your team can jump quickly on trends and news relevant to your target audience. Establishing a content production workflow is also important. Without one, your production schedule can go awry. PS: A content plan differs from a content strategy.
Production
It’s time to get your hands dirty. Content production is the creation of the visual and written assets that you want to share with your audience. It is the process of working through the aforementioned production schedule. You might be handling content production solo or with a small internal team. Or you might be engaging with specialist creatives such as writers, producers, photographers, videographers, audio engineers and the like. If you’re handballing the production side of the process, or any part of it, you should also handball a clear creative brief, outlining the purpose, deliverables and timeline of the task. Don’t forget to include a call to action.
Publishing
This one’s pretty simple. Publishing is the act of posting your completed content on the desired platform. When and where you want to publish should have been established in the planning phase, and publishing across multiple platforms is not just allowed, it’s advisable. See more below. You’ll likely need to tweak the format from channel to channel.
Promotion
You’ve hit publish. That’s great! But the work isn’t done. One of the biggest mistakes a brand can make is spending time, energy and money on creating fantastic content, but then not sharing, distributing or promoting it enough – or at all. This will lead to poor results. Instead, promote your new podcast through an eDM, share your new video on social media, pop your blog post on LinkedIn – everything should interconnect. And while organic promotion is preferred, paying to promote content can help you reach new customers. But be sure to target the right audience.
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