Everything you need to know about content
creation, all in one place.
What is Content
Creation?
Content creation is the foundation of all modern digital
marketing efforts. It’s defined as the process of conducting research,
generating strategic ideas, crafting those ideas into high-value collateral and
then promoting those pieces to a target audience. Digital content takes many
forms, including web pages, blogs, infographics, videos and social media posts.
Table of Contents
1. Content
Creation & Digital Marketing
4. The Content
Creation Process
5. What Does the
Ideal Content Creation Team Look Like?
6. How Do You
Know if Your Content is Working?
7. Learn More
About Content Creation
The main objective of content creation is to attract new and
returning customers. Inbound marketing strategies give away high-value digital
media for free. This content establishes your brand’s thought leadership while
providing readers with the information they need to make a purchasing decision.
Brands use different types of content at each stage of the
marketing funnel. At the top of the funnel, search engine optimized (SEO) blogs
organically attract new visitors. Mid-funnel landing pages keep readers
engaged, and highly detailed content like white papers and eBooks drive
conversions.
Why is Great Content So
Important?
Millions of pieces of content are published online every single
day. To stand out and make an impact on your customers (and potential
customers), your content needs to be of a high quality. That means it’s not
only written and designed well, but also that it’s developed with the needs of
your audience in mind. The difference between high-quality and poor-quality
content is stark — great content rises to the surface while poor content
disappears into the void of the internet.
The amount of effort you put into your brand’s content is
directly proportional to the value you get from it. High-quality content will
help you:
·
Stand out as an authoritative thought leader.
·
Grow your subscribers and email list.
·
Increase your website traffic.
·
Keep your customers engaged.
·
Generate revenue.
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2. Types of Content
Content comes in all shapes and sizes. It can be a piece of
writing, audio, video or an image. Some of the types of content you’ll find in
marketing include:
·
Written content: Blogs, SEO articles, white
papers, eBooks, emails, social media posts.
·
Imagery: Infographics, GIFs.
·
Audio: Podcasts, audiobooks.
·
Video: Animations, webinars, talking heads.
We’ll take a deeper look at some of the most common forms of
content marketing, but first let’s understand how SEO plays a role in content
creation.
Content Creation for SEO
When you create a piece of content, you’re always making it for
two main audiences: your customers and search algorithms. The latter is a
complex technology that retrieves information and matches patterns. Modern
search engines like Google are incredibly intricate. In the early days of Google’s history,
content creators could fill their websites with keywords to get their pages to
shoot to the top of search engine results pages (SERPs).
These days, it’s not so simple to rank highly — especially for
lucrative keywords that signal an intent to make a purchase. For example, a
keyword phrase like “pizza delivery near me” signals that the searcher is
trying to find a source of delicious pizza nearby. Google’s search algorithm
will take into account the user’s location as well as a variety of other
factors to determine which web pages to display first.
This process gets more complicated when you consider B2B sales,
where the searcher is likely making a decision based on more than just the
vicinity of the nearest vendor. In that case, you would need content tailored
for each stage of the buyer’s journey, beginning with their preliminary online
search. Top-of-funnel content such as blog posts and videos should be search
engine optimized so that users can easily find the information they are looking
for.
When creating content, ask yourself these questions to help you
focus on a specific search intent:
·
What information would be most valuable to my target audience?
·
What sets my brand apart from the competition?
·
What would convince my audience to make a purchase today?
·
How can I help my audience reach the next stage of the
decision-making process?
While modern search engines are sophisticated enough to
recognize the intention of your content, you can leverage other on-page tactics
to increase your rankings. When writing for the web, such as creating blogs and
product descriptions, consider how you structure your content with HTML. For
example, using title tags (H1, H2, H3, etc.) will help search algorithms to
identify topics and subtopics.
Content Creation for Social
Media
While social media posts have a much shorter lifespan than other
types of content, they are extremely valuable. In fact, more than half of
surveyed marketers believe social media can drive
customer engagement and lead to increased sales.
Plus, social media can augment your other content marketing
efforts. For example, you can create content that promotes your blog or teases
larger assets like eBooks. For B2C brands, social media platforms are often the
first place new customers learn about products, making it ideal for lending
social proof to marketing campaigns.
One of the most important points to remember when creating
social media content is that you have a very short amount of time to grab your
reader’s attention. Think about how long it takes to swipe up on your newsfeed
— that’s all the time you have to make an impression. Use relevant hashtags and
eye-catching visuals to engage viewers before they move on.
Website Content Creation
When developing content for your website, there’s a lot to think
about. You need to do your research to understand how your customers make
decisions and what kind of content appeals to them the most.
Together, all of your website content should work together
strategically to form a lead generation engine. That means creating a website
that is properly indexed to provide maximum exposure to search engines. In
addition, you’ll need high-quality content that provides upfront value to
buyers and decision-makers.
A website on its own will only get your brand so far, however.
You also need to promote your content through social media channels,
influencers and emails. Those activities, in addition to great SEO, will drive
new and returning customers to your site where your blogs and landing pages
will keep them moving down the sales funnel.
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Web content services involve a range of marketing tasks, like
content creation, promotion and optimization.
Content Formats
As we mentioned above, content is a broad term that can take
many forms. Plus, new forms of content arise alongside new technologies. For
example, the first blog appeared
in 1994, while the first social
media site launched in 1997. Apps like TikTok have shown
marketers that there is still room for innovation when creating content.
For promoting brands, some of the most effective content formats
include:
·
Infographics: Best for visualizing
processes or displaying statistics, infographics are valuable top-of-funnel
content that provide readers with quick, actionable insights.
·
Blogging: Blogs and articles often form
the heart of content marketing campaigns because they are bite-sized enough for
readers to consume in a single sitting while also providing the time and space
to dive deeply into a particular topic.
·
Podcasts: Audio formats like podcasts
enable brands to add a personal touch to their web presence. Plus, they’re
great for repurposing written content.
·
Videos: Animations, interviews and other video content is highly
engaging for both B2C and B2B customers.
·
Case studies: Providing third-party evidence
of your brand’s value, case studies offer decision-makers useful information.
·
Webinars: This type of visual content
provides your audience with detailed information on a single topic while giving
viewers the opportunity to ask questions and interact with you directly.
·
White papers: Another form of written content,
white papers typically involve more research than the average blog article.
Deep Dive
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3. Keyword Research
Performing keyword research is one of the best ways to truly
understand what type of content best appeals to your target audience. In fact,
keyword research is usually one of the first steps in creating content that
drives leads. Why? Because when you know which keywords your audience is
searching for, you can fine-tune your content to meet the most common search
intents.
At worst, keyword research will confirm what you already know
about your audience. At best, it can lead to insights that boost customer engagement
and increase conversions. Popular tools like the Google Ads Keyword Planner can
help you uncover useful phrases, topics and questions that your customers are
searching for online. These ideas will help you generate high-quality content
that appeals to your audience.
Protip: We’re not kidding around
here. If you’re not performing keyword research, you can’t really know what
your audience is looking for online. Don’t leave your brand’s success up to gut
instinct alone. Check out our guide below for a step-by-step, scientific
approach to keyword research.
Using Keyword Research to
Optimize Your Content
The internet may not exactly be alive, but it’s always evolving.
Search engine algorithms are updated constantly, altering which pages get
preferential treatment on SERPs. Monitoring and optimizing your content are a
little like working out at the gym. You can’t do 10 pull-ups today and stop. If
you want to get stronger, you have to keep up the work.
In short, website content optimization involves tweaking and
updating your pages to make it more appealing to your customers and search
algorithms. For example, say you have a blog post that is well-written, but not
performing as well as you’d like. Keyword gap research can show you which
topics are missing so you can add them in.
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4. The Content Creation
Process
While there’s no one standard way to create content, there are
some tried and tested methods that have proven to be successful. An optimized
creation process provides creators with room for creativity while still
adhering to the best practices mentioned above. Ultimately, an ideal content
creation process gets content moving in a timely manner, producing an end
product that gets results.
How to Optimize Your Content
Creation Process
Before we get into the step-by-step process of creating
excellent content, let’s take a high-level overview of the process. The first
step in developing and implementing a process that suits your brand’s needs is
to consider your goals. Formulate a list of business goals that your content
marketing strategy will support. Examples of common goals include:
·
Lead generation.
·
Increased conversions.
·
Improved brand reputation.
·
Increased brand awareness.
Keep this list close at hand, and make sure all of your content
creators understand it. At every stage of the creation process, you can look at
your list to confirm that you’re on the right track. If a piece of content or
particular process doesn’t serve your goals, it’s a sign that you may need to
revisit the drawing board. Check out our 10-step guide to optimizing the
content-creation process to learn more.
A Step-by-Step Workflow for
Creating Effective Content
Ultimately, your content creation workflow should align with
your unique business. Start with these steps and make them your own:
1.
Review your goals. Always use your business goals
to frame your content ideation process. Return to them frequently throughout
the process.
2.
Determine where your content will fit in the buyer’s
journey. Look at your buyer journey and think about where your content
should fit. Top-of-funnel content should seek to answer questions and
demonstrate your thought leadership. Bottom-of-funnel content will be more
detailed and more focused on facilitating a purchase decision.
3.
Generate topic ideas. Sometimes your first idea will
be the one — but that’s not always the case. Brainstorm a number of ideas and
consider the benefits and challenges of each. If possible, bounce your ideas
off your colleagues to get a fresh perspective.
4.
Perform research. With a basic idea of the content
you want to create, perform some initial research. This may include using SEO
tools to identify keyword gaps and commonly asked questions. Depending on your
topic, you may also need to conduct subject matter expert (SME) interviews.
5.
Choose a format and create the content. Will you write a blog,
create an infographic or record a podcast? Think about how your customers
prefer to consume content as well as how best to present your information.
You’ll likely need to conduct further research throughout the creation process.
6.
Publish and promote your content. Once you publish your
content, you can’t assume that your customers will find it. Use social media
channels and email to spread the word and attract new and returning customers
to your content.
7.
Review your content’s performance. Use analytics tools to
measure the success of your content. For blog articles and landing pages, it
could take up to 3 months before you start seeing real results, so be patient.
8.
Revise and optimize your content. If your content isn’t
performing up to your expectations, perform an analysis to determine what you
need to do to improve it. You might need to answer more questions, cover more
topics or use more relevant keywords.
Protip: If it feels like your well
of creativity is running dry, consider repurposing some of your older content.
For example, you can take an old series of blogs, update the content as needed,
and republish the content as an eBook. For more ideas, learn about the
importance of content repurposing and how to leverage your existing assets in
the future.
How to Set Up and Plan Your
Editorial Calendar
Consistency is key to any content marketing strategy. The rate
at which you publish content will depend on your brand and your audience’s
expectations. If you’re just getting started, it’s probably best to begin at a
low cadence that you can reasonably stick to — you can always ramp up. If you
start with a brisk cadence, such as publishing five blogs away, you could burn
out quickly.
Once you’ve established a pace, you’ll want to create an
editorial calendar. Your calendar will help you visualize your schedule so that
you can accurately plan each phase of your creation process. At a glance, your
calendar should provide you with essential information such as:
·
Content titles.
·
Content types.
·
Publish dates.
·
Statuses.
It’s a good idea to have a mix of evergreen and timely content
so that you’re not always struggling to keep up with the news cycle. You can
create evergreen content well in advance and publish it later, for example.
Staying a month ahead of your publishing dates will give you a cushion in case
you get behind.
When setting up your calendar, consider using your marketing
goals as a guide. For example, if you have three main goals, you might
alternate your publishing schedule to support each goal equally.
Check out our favorite content planner tools to make your
process more efficient.
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How to Come Up with New Content
Ideas
Brainstorming creative content ideas is not always an easy feat.
Sure, when you’re fired up about your project, you might find that ideas flow
faster than you can use them. But your business should run at the same speed
even when you’re feeling creatively drained.
For those times when you need to generate content ideas but
you’re just not feeling it, you need a methodology for topic ideation. But
beware — fatigue can lead to content creator apathy, a dangerous condition
where you produce low-effort content simply to fill your editorial calendar.
You want to avoid this at all costs, or your target audience could think that
your brand is slipping.
As always, keep your list of business goals close at
hand. Fresh content signals to search engines that your website is active
and useful, and new ideas will keep your readers interested. Use every tool and
channel available to discover new ways of generating ideas that push your brand
to the next level.
And when you’re really struggling to get going, listen to the
advice of other successful content creators. Sometimes you just need to step
away from your computer and take a walk. Performing an unrelated activity can
help your unconscious mind reset and approach the task from a new angle.
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Content Creation Tools and
Templates
Content creators are only as good as their ideas — and their
tools. With the right resources, you can perform better research and develop
high-quality content. In addition, content templates can speed up your creation
process, enabling you to spend more of your time innovating.
There are several categories of tools to consider:
·
Content research tools (Google trends, BuzzSumo, etc.)
·
SEO tools (MarketMuse, SEMrush, etc.)
·
Planning and management tools (AirTable, HubSpot,
etc.)
·
Analytics tools (Google Analytics,
Kissmetrics, etc.)
·
Social media tools (BuzzSumo, HootSuite, etc.)
·
Writing tools (Google Docs, Unicheck, etc.)
·
Image tools (Adobe Photoshop, Shutterstock,
etc.)
·
Design tools (Adobe Illustrator, Venngage,
etc.)
·
Video tools (Adobe Premiere, Magisto, etc.)
·
Email tools (Mailchimp, Pardot, etc.)
Do you need to have every type of tool listed above? Not
necessarily … but yes. And here’s why: Content creation is one of the most
important and valuable ways to grow your business; at the same time, content
creators face an incredibly competitive field.
You can certainly manage a content strategy without a planning
tool, but you’ll need to spend more time manually scheduling and posting your
content. In the same way, you don’t necessarily need top-tier design software,
but you’ll need top-notch design skills to make your visuals pop.
Even if you have a winning strategy, a competitor with better
tools could still beat you. They’ll be able to move faster and get better
results with less effort. Of course, digital tools can be costly — though there
are free options available. Analyze your content creation process and identify
your biggest barriers.
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5. What Does the Ideal
Content
Team Look Like?
Some brands have been built on the shoulders of one-person
powerhouses who can crank out content, strategize, analyze and influence. Most
brands, however, are built by teams. Running an effective content marketing
campaign requires lots of hard work and energy. And while content marketers
often wear many hats, it’s ideal to have a team that can evenly share the
burden of producing effective content again and again.
So
who do you need on your content team? Start with the major roles:
·
Strategists: Develop content strategies based
on business goals and market trends.
·
Writers/editors: Produce copy, conduct topic
research and generate ideas.
·
Graphic designers/illustrators: Design layouts,
create images and develop brand styles.
·
Social media managers: Create social content,
schedule posts and monitor results.
·
Videographers: Produce videos from custom and
stock footage and develop animations.
·
Project managers: Keep projects moving
forward by managing deadlines and identifying barriers to success.
·
Sales professionals: Ensure marketing efforts are
aligned with sales goals, perform lead scoring and develop buyer personas.
·
Influencers: Lend credibility to brands, connect with customers and
provide thought leadership.
Should You Outsource Your
Content Creation?
Creating your brand’s content on your own is a tall order. Small
businesses often lack the resources to hire in-house content creators. Even
enterprises can rely on outside help to fine-tune their approach to marketing.
But do you hire freelancers, or do you go with a content
marketing agency? First, it’s important to understand the benefits and
limitations of each option. Check out our comprehensive guide to content
outsourcing below to decide for yourself.
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6. How Do You Know
if Your Content is Working?
All of this talk about content creation is for nothing if you
don’t measure your success. You need to use analytics tools to measure the
effectiveness of each piece of content you put out into the world. This will
not only show you what you’re doing right but also uncover opportunities for
improvement. You can always revise and re-optimize until your content performs
as expected.
Keep in mind that not all metrics and KPIs are equally
important, however. We’ve created a detailed guide (below) that explains how to
measure your content marketing effectiveness. It’ll help you understand the
difference between vanity and value, plus give you all the KPIs you need to
properly analyze your content.
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