In an age where almost everyone not only has access to the internet and social media but spends a majority of their day scrolling through endless feeds full of ads, managing your content for a website or social media page has never been more important. When managing a business page, the first thing on my to-do list is to create a content strategy, plan, and calendar to give your team a tool that keeps them on track, sets the tone for the day or week, and engages with your clients and followers.

Creating your content strategy will be a group effort. You will need to answer questions like, “Why are we promoting this content?”, “What audience do we wish to reach with this content?”, “When will we publish certain ads and promotions?”, and so on. Some businesses like to plan their content for a year at a time and some opt to only plan for a week or two at a time. The amount of forward planning makes no difference, if you stick to your strategy and process.

Content planning lets you decide what language you want to use and what themes you feel fit the audience that your business is suited for. There is no guess work and no last-minute decisions, which keeps your marketing team running smoothly and effortlessly. To give you an idea of just how crucial content planning is to your business, here are some of the facts from a Content Marketing Institute (CMI) report in 2019:

– 88% of American businesses actively engage in content marketing.
– 68% of those businesses feel that their marketing efforts aren’t very effective.
– 32% of those businesses felt that their marketing did yield good returns.

Can you guess what the problem was? Only those 32% of the surveyed businesses had an implemented content plan and strategy in place – the businesses yielding good returns from their online marketing.

Overall, each business will have a completely different content strategy and plan in place based on their needs. I read this comparison and thought it was the perfect portrayal: the content strategy is like the rails for a train, and the plan is the moving train. Just like the rails for a train, following your strategy will get your plans where they need to be. These tools are invaluable when it comes to creating or maintaining your online presence and staying engaged with your audience. The MOST important thing we focus on is what you need to accomplish in order to achieve success for your business. After all, that is the only goal that matters.