Create a robust content strategy for your blog with these tips

"Content marketing is no longer a numbers game. It’s a game of relevance” - Jason Miller, Global Content Marketing Leader at LinkedIn.

The above statement rings true for pretty much every blog, business, brand and content portal out there, and without a strategy to ‘sell’ something, you will find there are no takers, no matter how phenomenal your offering is. A content strategy is indispensable if you wish to succeed.

The first step towards creating brilliant content is to know who you are writing for, and whether your content has the potential to add value to the lives of your readers. Moreover, you need to find other bloggers/portals out there, doing the same thing you are, and ask yourself, if you really have something different and/or better to offer than the ones who are already in business?

If yes, then we have established your relevance, and now need to get started on developing a content strategy that helps you grow and offer relevant and valuable content to your readers and viewers. Take a look at this content strategy tips, especially if you plan to start a blog.

Carve out a definite end game that you are trying to achieve, whether it happens to be a one-stop-guide for automobiles ,offering write-ups, pictures, videos and recommendations, or it could be developing a leading wedding planning portal with a complete set of tips and instructions, reporting wedding trends and fashion. Whatever your goal, you need to set your eyesight on it from the very beginning and only then you can move forward to actually develop the kind of content that fulfills these objectives.

Set up dedicated social media profiles for your blog/company/portal on all major social media platforms, since these are the gateways to reaching a wider audience. Social media platforms today are home to diverse sections of society, preference and interests.

Facebook being the most dominant social media platform today is one of the more obvious choices for your blog/company to exist on. Twitter too happens to be a prominent ecosystem for a specific target audience, and helps you connect with your readers and followers in real time. Its open nature makes it possible for anyone around the world to find your content based on hashtags. Instagram banks on visual appeal, and gives you the chance to entice your audience and redirect them to your website.

If you already have existing social media profiles for your blog/company and are simply looking forward to starting afresh with a new approach, carry out an analysis on where you, your blog/company stand currently, and jot down how well, or badly your current social media accounts are doing.

Now, let us move on towards determining who you are catering towards with your content. Let’s assume you are a technology and digitally inclined blogger who wishes to share his/her knowledge with like minded readers/viewers. First and foremost is to understand who your audience is, and what sort of content are they looking for, or may look for.

As a Tech blogger, your target audience may range from 16-40 years age, predominantly male users and belonging to urban areas. So that is a start. You WILL need to work further to determine your Target Audience and that will help you understand them better. This handy guide from Forbes will help you do the needful.

One of the most popular tech bloggers in India with more than 900,000 subscribers on his YouTube channel. He reviews the latest gadgets that are launched in the Indian market.

After you understand who your target audience is, the next step is to understand what your audience is looking for. Understand the questions they have, or might have, and work towards answering them. This helps you build trust with your audience, if and when your content helps them. Your blog or portal is the first place they will visit in future for similar queries, so logically that is the first step towards having readers come back to you.

Experiment with different formats such as videos, text posts and write ups, images, or live interactions to find what works best for your audience. Give them what they want, and devise a plan that lets you reap the benefits of it.

Video has shown a considerable growth in recent times and remains one of the most engaging forms of content dissemination on social media. YouTube has a thriving community of vloggers talking about diverse topics such as technology, movies, make up tutorials, interior décor tips and much more.

The next step involves understanding the dwelling of your audience, and presenting your content there, when they want, where they want. Audiences have specific time duration when they are most active, and posting at those times will net you phenomenal engagement.

The best time to post on Instagram happens to be around 5pm on Wednesdays for the highest amount of engagement and more than 90% of Instagram users are below the age of 35, making it an excellent platform to connect with the younger audiences.

Lets say your audience is mainly young people between the age group of 18-24, and they are known to be frequent users of social media platforms such as Instagram, Snapchat and some sparse use of Facebook from time to time.

Over 87% of the world's online audience between the age group of 18-29 is on Facebook.

And if you are looking for young people on LinkedIn or Twitter, you will end up wasting your time, efforts and resources.

Source : Statista.com

Snapchat is one of the most popular platforms among teens in the United States of America, although in India, both Snapchat and Instagram are equally popular.

Now, once you have fulfilled the criteria to deduce who wants it, where do they want it, when do they want, and what form do they want it in, the next question you need to ask is can you give them what they want?

If you are looking at producing video content, do you have the required equipment such as camera, mic, video editing software and the skills required to operate them. Perhaps a person who knows how to, or a team if you can afford one? It is a fundamental question and one that needs to be answered before you begin your journey.

Learn how to identify, analyze and utilize metrics from social media platforms to tweak your strategy. Facebook, Instagram and Twitter offer some brilliant in depth insights such as Reach, Engagement, Impressions, Page Views and many more. These insights help you know what works, and what does not, so you can do more of what works, and avoid the latter

Simple right?

We hope these tips will help you devise a great content strategy for your blog, and once you have factored in all of these instructions, you can begin generating fulfilling content for your readers.

Do not however assume that your strategy is ever perfect because gradually, you WILL have to make changes depending on circumstances, audience behavior and the things that you learn along the way.

Always have contingency plans for if and when things that you have planned, do not work the way you expected them to.

Well, good luck.