The death of filler PR content: five tips for your content strategy
Long live content, that’s what we say. But filler marketing or PR content – content that is created, posted or shared without strategy – is a thing of the past. It’s now about killer PR content.
New research shows that ‘content chaos’ is a huge worry for comms leaders in 2020. You can see where the worry stems from: the pressure for the PR and marketing machine to be always ‘on’, to make plans flexible enough to bring in breaking news, but concrete enough to stick to planned themes and topics. To keep up with content across the many, many channels that today’s marketing plan spans across, and then adding in reporting, measurement and analytics on top of this too. They say content is king, but content has quickly become the centre of the comms universe.
Content overload?
Can there ever be too much content? With content on social media channels, PR channels and traditional marketing channels, is there a risk of content overload? Many comms professionals will argue no, with so many people to reach and at all times of day, the more content, the merrier. But the challenge lies in making content really resonate, and sometimes, that means taking a step back and making content less filler and more killer.
What’s better: having a content strategy that is constantly filled, or having a content strategy that is targeted, with carefully crafted content to suit each medium and each audience?
We’d say the latter.
The current need for constant content has created a risk of content that doesn’t really mean much at all. And that is when content is created for content’s sake.
But how can comms professionals make sure they’re creating a killer content strategy? We’ve got five top tips to set you on the right path.
1. Take time to reflect
Before you begin creating your content strategy, there is nothing more valuable than taking the time to reflect on what’s worked, and what hasn’t worked, with your previous strategy. Which social media channel had the best results, and what do you want to measure this year? What are your goals, and what does success look like? Define these key areas first to make sure your killer content strategy is defined to meet your goals.
2. Listen to what’s around you
Leave enough room in your content strategy for reactive content; not just the fun stuff like Oreo’s famous Super Bowl blackout stunt of 2013, but also topical issues in the news such as political agendas, policies or economic movements. How can you add to the current conversations? Keep it relevant and timely – reacting to something that happened a week ago won’t do you any favours.
3. What’s the point?
Before thinking of topics or creating a piece of content, stop and think. What’s the point? What are you trying to achieve with the content? Who are you trying to reach? Answer these questions before you start creating the content to make sure it all falls into place.
4. Focus your channels
If you’re finding your content strategy spread too thinly across too many channels, that’s where the risk of filler content comes in. It’s common to leave one channel unattended and then fill the channel with content just to make sure something is on there – but that isn’t very targeted and sets a dangerous path of moving far away from killer content. If you’re working in a small team, focus your energies on the channels that are bringing the best results.
5. Give your content longevity
The PR content you’re creating should last longer than the defined period on your content strategy. Give it longer legs by repurposing it with new stats, the latest news or a new customer testimonial. Good quality content should be built to last so that it can be reintroduced within your content strategy.
Filler content is a thing of the past and killer content is here to stay. It shouldn’t be a daunting task, as creating and strategising killer content is not only more interesting, but it’s way more fun!
To find out how we can help you with your killer content strategy, get in touch!
