Keep in mind your target audience
Before really deep
diving into the discussion on content creation, I will deviate to mention the preliminary
step that a good marketer must take, ie with the greatest possible specificity,
defining the audience for whom the content is targeted, After all, as already
suggested, your content must meet content-related needs of that target audience
to motivate the response you desire from that audience.
1. I start by qualifying customers
based on whether they have the problem for which my product is a solution. Whenever possible, I
like to segment based on customer problems (thereby leaving other attributes like
demographics as secondary). Afterall, if I had a brick-and-mortar clothing
store, I would physically segment the floor plan based on the problem of needing clothes for particular types of contexts … versus the city or eye color of customers.
2. Other audience definition considerations come from your target customer profile (TCP), aka customer avatar. As illustrated below, the TCP should include surveyable psychographics, especially those related to their content consumption; like goals (related to solving their problem), personal motivation factors like their preferred social media for information about solution options (for their problem) or entertainment, favorite influencers and buying personality regarding the sales methods to which they best respond.
3. However, although they may seem extraneous, some other personal variables like family life, hobbies and so on are sometimes useful in
understanding props with which they will resonate. For instance, if your product is an
alarm system or computer program and ostensibly unrelated to the fact customers have
children. Your messaging could consider the safety of loved ones or offer child-appropriate
software that teaches children to use a computer. Maybe there could be child
proofing and so on.
4. Finally, each avatar can potentially advance through some or all of the buying process, a set of points at which customers progressively advance how much they know, like and trust brand enough to buy. You will therefore need to produce content to meet consumer content-related needs at every stage within an avatar's buying process. See below the focus of your content for each stage. Read the FULL ARTICAL on the buying process.
Buying Process Stages (your content objectives)
- To discuss the consumer PROBLEM
- to give INFORMATION
- to COMPARE competitively
- to facilitate PURCHASE (of a solution for a known problem)
- to encourage positive post-sale EVALUATION.
Step-by-step guide: Content planning | top
Content Pillars are a Must for Content Management #pillars
A key aspect of this process (of social media management) is content management.
Content management refers to strategically planning, sourcing, creating, scheduling and delivering digital content. Since content planning can be overwhelming and lead to time wasting, the best approach is to create ‘content pillars’, aka content buckets or content categories that can add customer value and, in turn, motivate your target market appropriately. Content pillars establish a customized and streamlined system for planning content to better achieve content-related business goals (like your current mission statement). In short, pillars prevent you from publishing content that is random and irrelevant.
To date, the best online discussion on content pillars has been presented in Fastnet Agency's (Sarah's) YouTube video named 'The best strategy for your brand' (for Instagram). (Other types of good strategic pillars include MDALatam Cursos Marketing Digital (which has 5 similar tactical pillars) in Spanish. See below).
At 1:30 minutes, Fastnet Agency suggests 9 pillars that exist within 3 broader pillars. The 3 broad pillars define the current strategic mission of your business. They can therefore change. However, the 9 subordinate pillars are standard groupings into which any business online publications (on different content themes and formats) can be categorized. These 9 subordinates are therefore tactical and can be re-arranged according to the current strategy they serve. In short, there are 9 standard tactical pillars that fit into current strategic pillars, usually 3.
While I will eventually explain how to customize these pillars for the best strategic outcomes, I have begun with an illustrative model that may not necessarily apply perfectly to your brand. This illustrative model features 9 standard tactical pillars within 3 generic strategic pillars (that will likely apply to a more established brand). In other words, customize pillars according to your brand. Example(s).
- if your brand only sells videos of random food recipes, you are likely to need pillars created on their desired emotion-inducing qualities like those used by BuzzFeed (see 'virality pillars' below). As also discussed otherwise, lifestyle branding applies to varying extents for different brands. Consequently and using extreme lifestyle branding cases like Red Bull and Patagonia as examples, the more your brand resembles those 'extreme' brands, the more heavily weighted your distribution of pillars related to the unique characteristic.
- If your brand has the potential to create real tribalism (Apple-style), be guided by the principles of tribalism and brand affinity to create your strategic pillars within which Fastnet's 9 generic tactical pillars may exist, at least in part. My 3-part 'know, like and trust' series touched on tribalism in the 'like' installment of the series. There, you can find strategic pillars whose objectives are specific to tribalism. Furthermore, the tactical pillars within those strategic pillars include only some of the most relevant among the 9 tactical pillars proposed here. Others have been adapted to tribalism. Needless to say, the order, weight of important and scheduling will need to be customized also.
On a sidenote, consider content pillars that essentially help you to categorize old posts for easy searchability later. This is the value of IG highlights (that essentially work like navigation options on websites) or hashtags. (See how to use highlights strategically and keep their order).
Sell (content pillar)
- Solution
- Authority
- Results
Brand (content
pillar)
- Authority
- Results
- Life Style
- Transparency
- Beliefs
- Values
Grow (content
pillar)
- Beliefs *
- Values *
- Ask / Participate
- Traction
* Overlapping
subordinate pillars
The name of each strategic pillar suggests the objective that its content should meet to deliver value to the audience. NB. This list is only an illustration, a very good one. I am therefore using it in this article for illustration purposes. However, customize it with your own renamed pillars once you are clear about your strategic goals.
Despite there being 3 broad pillars, notice that there are overlapping zones. In such cases, subordinate pillars (*) within these overlapping zones must meet the objectives of both broader categories. In contrast with purist pillars like the Sell via Solution pillar that belongs only to the Sell broad pillar, the Sell & Brand Promotion via ‘Results’ pillar sells more subtly than its ‘Solutions’ counterpart. This is because the ‘Results’ pillar must meet 2 sets of objectives. The target audience (to whom you want to 'Sell' and promote the 'Brand' via content on 'Results') is not yet ready to buy (at least that particular product). Your aim will be to gain trust with content illustrating the 'Results' of your product along with only a soft 'Sell' approach. To do otherwise with pricing information or other hard sell content will be jarring to this audience.
For instance, In the Sell & Brand
Awareness via ‘Results’ (content pillar); the target audience already
acknowledges a pain point or problem X like headache that can be solved with
your product, pain killer Y. However, they do not know you very well and
therefore cannot yet trust your claims of resolving their problem. Just pushing
for a sale will be a sure turn off. Having said this, they have your attention
and may be moved closer to the buying decision. Trust in a product can be
developed in several ways that include positive testimonials, especially if
there are several to portray reliability / consistently good product
performance. Before and after images, graphs, description of transformation
are ideal. A soft sell CTA may offer free evaluations of their problem
(just enough to help you with customer qualification for a product or a
segment.
When subordinate
pillars can exist in multiple places, decide where they need to be based on
your business’ current goals. Create brand style guidelines that define each pillar. Such a systematic approach to placing
content in one pillar or the other ensures that your approach is strategic and
that you ensure that your content includes all of the elements necessary for
meeting your business objectives.
SELL (content pillar)
- Editorial product image, showing the result. At this stage, the target audience is ready to buy because they are well aware of the problem and the brand's solutions. The audience also already knows, likes and trusts the seller. There is no need to meet any needs associated with earlier stages of the buyer process. The only objective is to make it as easy as possible for customers to buy. This is hard sell content, featuring elements like the price, list of what the product or service includes (without any explanation), contact details and list of payment facilities, the CTA is implied by the list of telephone numbers and everything else that makes a purchase as easy as possible. . (Instagram / IG)
- Tentpole-related image for special offer (mother's day, IG). Marketers can even invite customers to highlight if the product is on their wishlist, so as to signal to others in their personal circle.
- Video advertisement (for Botox treatment) with very simple lead generation (IG). This very simple albeit effective CTA instructs leads to enter a keyword in a WhatsApp message. This allows this brand to easily collect telephone numbers without much effort on the part of the target audience. This brand remains consistently compliant with its brand style guidelines (color palette, logo presentation and so on). To pre-empt the common question whether all skin types and races can benefit, the brand features women of different races.
- Editorial product image, like a hero image (ie within some context that appeals to the customers versus with a white background). There are individual product tags for each product that appears in the image. (These tags allow customers to tap the tags for product names and to go directly to individual product pages). Additionally, a CTA 'view shop' button appears at the bottom of the image. The accompanying message overcommunicates the sale CTA, this time to "Order ..... to enjoy". These CTA may also incorporate selling techniques like urgency, scarcity and exclusivity, psychological pricing and so on. (Instagram / IG)
- Back in stock notifications (IG). This image can be stronger with brand assets.
- A brand reaches for one-on-one online contact. Your brand may join an interest group (on Facebook for instance) that your TCP indicated would host members of your target market. When someone expresses your TCP's pain point, your brand can reach out.
- "I can help you with ___. If you are interested, please text your telephone number via WhatsApp".
- A brand's individualized responses to publicly posted queries. Prepare for different scenarios. Regardless of the pillar type, customers may ask about prices, ask questions specific to case study / model used in the the ad, show interest (like 'I need that product'), about the type of treatment given to the model and so on. When collecting images, also collect the back stories and any other details that may be requested. Other good individual responses include asking customers who show interest in the comments to send private messages with their contact details.
- In IG, brands usually publicly tag the customer with the @customer and send a private message, aka direct messages (DMs). The following appeared in the comments section of a 'Sell' and 'Brand' via 'Results' post (IG). Notice how the customer advanced herself through the buying process by requesting other elements of hard sell communication. It may be best to also include other sale-related details like payment methods and so on.
- acustomer I'm interested. What are your prices? / Me interesa. Me gustarÃa saber preciosservice.provider @acustomer We sent details to your inbox / le enviamos más información al inbox
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- SELL/BRAND: Results .* This content typically includes elements like case studies with before & after images (for physical transformational products), graphs (for services) and so on to honor its other strategic pillar of brand promotion. Additionally, at this stage, the audience is already well aware of the problem and might even feel a sense of urgency to buy. However, the barrier to the sale is an ongoing need to build trust in the brand's expertise. Consequently, only a soft sale pitch is required. (A hard sell may be too jarring). Soft sell may: explain that the brand has the solution; invite customers to get a free consultation to evaluate your personal needs (if variations will apply); send a private message with specific types of details to get a quote and so on.
- A single composite image of a client before and after cosmetic surgery (IG). The accompanying message opens with a brief problem statement, ie 'pronounced gesture-related wrinkles'. In keeping with this content's other pillar objective (ie to showcase the expertise of brand), it showcases expertise with a medical explanation of what has happened to the skin and causes, but in relatable / layman terms. The soft sell occurs in the closing lines 'We have good news for you: there are solutions to treat frown lines. If you want more information, you can contact us: Tel number ###'. NB This creator consistently uses this recognizable format featuring color palette, image format of the logo against ample white space (versus the easily missed tag name or text logo). All other content within this pillar (other examples 1, 2, 3, 4) follow this formatting formula. This brand has likely invested in brand style guidelines.
- Video reel with images transitioning from before to after treatments (IG). A single brand may use multiple formats for showcasing 'before & after' (or with product after x days) imagery.
- Results from R&D are a form of social proof. This is a post from Kylie Cosmetics. The background is a very sensorially triggering image of the swatches of variant colors of the product. The foreground features supposed research & development results where the high percentage results are double the size of the corresponding statements: 100% agree that it provides full coverage on lips; 98% agree that it is transfer-resistant; 98% agrees that ... 96% .... lightweight and comfortable to wear. The ad accomplishes many things at once; it features the product in a very intimate way, ie rather than show only the packaging as well as suggest strong likelihood that it will be beneficial in key ways.
- Testimonials.
S SELL/BRAND: Authority *. This content honors its 2 strategic pillar objectives. The customer is not yet full ready to buy because she still needs to develop trust in the brand. Consequently, the 'Brand' promotional objectives seek to competitively position your brand as a leader in some way with the use of features that engender trust in the brand's expertise like accolades, information that showcases expertise, special certification, technology or other tools, staff receiving important training and so on. CTAs can include asking your TCP for questions or topic ideas.
- A carousal with an image as a cover slide followed by other slides (IG).
- Slide 1. customer problem in an eye catching image and is easily recognized for quick customer self-qualification. Embedded captions are a question, like CTA 'can you identify with this image?' The accompanying message (which is fixed to all slides) reiterates this question and prompts the audience to swipe further for more information about possible reasons. NB. This case is interesting because the root cause of the stated recognizable problem is not the true problem. However, the brand communicates the problem in the way that the market perceives it (however false). The message also uses urgency selling techniques "If the answer is yes, swipe to learn the reasons why you should request an appointment ASAP". For discoverability, it includes problem-specific hashtags ('weak finger nails') in addition to its regular hashtags. FYI, this brand clearly uses brand style guidelines because its format is consistent with the use visual brand assets (across all other content within this pillar using this post format): its palette, filters, logo in a high contrast and image format that helps with brand awareness (recognition).
- Although all subsequent slides differ from the first, they all consistently follow the brand color palette and other style rules (like the neutral background palette color and logo presentation, text rules and so on).
- This Kylie Cosmetics single-image post pictorially illustrates how a single UVP / product applies across 3 segments (based on skin tone segmentation). The image of the product is in one of the 4 quadrants.
- Slide 2 and 3. In concise layman terms, this slide educates customers about their perceived problem with progressively deeper detail. In this case, slide 2 explains that the perceived problem is really a sign of 'underlying health problems' and in slide 3 that 'changes in the finger nails can be due to deficiencies associated from anything from protein to lung disease.' Furthermore, despite the fact that urgency sales technique can often seem jarring, this case likely motivates trust in the brand and amps up the otherwise very soft sell pitch.
- Video illustration of how new technology works (IG), along with educational diagram-based video illustrations to explain the science in layman terms. Explanatory captions appear on the screen. As usual, the brand style guidelines are followed throughout. A list of uses or benefits for the customer (like skin tightening, scar reduction, etc).
- Post has image of the product, states the problem it will resolve (to help customers self qualify), lists benefits. (No price is stated because this is somewhat of a soft sell).
- Posts may simply showcase the completion of new certifications, acquisition of new technology or other tools that improve the offering (IG).Instagram. Image with brand name, embedded image of the result (like a beautiful woman if the product is surgery), bullet points of benefits, applications, price highlighted in bold print (perhaps encircled with a caption like 'special price' while outside of that circle in smaller print is a line with a higher 'regular price', contact details and small fine print (like the expiration of the offer) at the bottom.
- This content explains why your offering is the best in some noteworthy attribute as per your UVP that indicates your special expertise.
- This is useful for specialty brands that compete based on an attribute. In such case, brands like these mention their unique patents, specialist formulas and so on.
- Specialize type of production like vegan certified, ISO certified, dealing with only a certain breed of dog.
BRAND (content pillar)
This pillar is concerned with motivating the target to know, like and trust the brand.
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·S BRAND / SELL: Results * (Also see 'Sell via Results' above). The audience may have not yet identified the problem and is therefore at the problem buying stage. Otherwise, the audience has already identified the problem but only needs to be convinced of your brand’s trustworthiness and likeability. You also want to build rapport. There are several approaches to creating this content. Since this tactical pillar is also concerned with selling, its content commonly presents as infomercials that focus on the problem while promoting the brand. It also commonly appears in the form of product reviews, testimonials and case studies. CTAs can include asking your TCP for questions or topic ideas (especially if you already have a lot of possible results content in the pipeline).
- Before & after images with caption that there is a solution (IG). A surgeon may show before and after images with an embedded statement that "anomaly X has a solution". The attached message will demonstrate expert understanding of the pain point by explaining its causes and presentation in relatable language. Especially regarding conditions that are discomforts that are not life threatening and so the customer may have learned to live with the inconvenience without considering seeking a solution. In other words. the customer's stage in the buying decision is at the problem stage and certainly not the buying stage. Consequently, this message encourages customers to recognize the problem. It includes a short list of bullet points that itemize ways customers can identify the problem in themselves. The message ends with a line like 'The good news is that this condition has a solution. Contact us at telephone number ...' In addition to the usual broad hashtags, the name of the pain point is specifically named in a hashtag.
- Testimonials
- This 1-image Dr Squatch post is funny and gets to the point quickly, 'people prefer Dr Squatch'. It features 2 sales booths, one with the banner 'Dr Squatch" and the other "soap" (to represent other brands of soap). The line of people for Dr Squatch is so long that it even makes a 90 degree angle down the lower edge of the image frame. Meanwhile, the competitor's salesman has no one in line. This clever idea can be recycled not only using your brand name but also (or instead) the key attribute on which your market bases your UVP.
- A social media manager (SMM) tutors others who are becoming SMM. She uses this 25-second clip to explain one of her market's unsolved problems, ie their trouble retaining clients. The video’s heading is ’Why you aren’t retaining social media management clients’. It includes her market's problem statement (poor client retention) and an implied promise to solve it (an explanation and guidance). Her clip delivers. She gives the reason that defecting clients do not see a return on investment / ROI. She then briefly discusses what is required to resolve the issue; ie to set clearer expectations in the onboarding and daily processes (which by the way is what she teaches in a course). She then invites leads to read the description box for more information. That information explains that her agency also helps clients to set up data that they can also show to clients. This apparent bonus is a useful tool that will also help the otherwise defecting clients to track their ROI. This might also have been a short excerpt from a long form video. This is a useful way of using the YouTube clip feature which allows you to extract clips from a long form video.
- Carousal of educational slides about key inputs (IG)
- Carousal highlighting ingredients. (IG).
- Cover slides with rhetorical question (like 'why is my t-zone always oily?) that motivates interest in the educational content.
- Infographics. These can be further leveraged by with questions to motivate audience participation. Common questions include: "Of these problems, which do you have?' 'What additional problems do you experience?".
- Image with a hook that is a tip in the caption.
- (IG) This content can also introduce new hashtags for upcoming tips.
- The Cheetos snacks brand often posts short reels for alternative uses of their product in cooking recipes. This provides an opportunity to reach more people with hashtags that are associated with the unique recipes like #friendchiecksandwish #snackhack #recipevideo, #restockasmr (for crunchy friend foods) and so on. (1, 2, 3)
- Cheetos. In keeping with the fun personality of Cheetos, its content includes inside tribe jokes (1) about having an almost additive obsession with the product that others can not understand. These are wildly popular.
- Red Bull. As usual, posts (IG 1) by Red Bull showcase extreme sports. Red Bull might ask consumers to share images of their participation in a specific tentpole extreme sporting event that occurs every year..
- A luxury brand may show someone living in a modern, clearly expensive environment or doing things that are related to luxury, like fine dining, receiving first class service and so on.
- Image portraying personal / after-hours lifestyle of key brand personnel with whom the target customer interacts.
- This cosmetic surgery brand shows a composite image on IG of one of the surgeons participating in a sporting event, which has no direct relation to the brand's work. However, this evokes of sense of knowing the brand.
· BRAND / SELL: Transparency . This content is very good for encouraging customers to trust you and feel they know you. This content can be used to educate customers of a brand's processes and decisions, to showcase how the brand commits to core values and so on. Even though this content is not geared towards selling, it is likely to leave a mark on the minds of your TCP who may be motivated to buy when or if they are ready in the future. This content should appeal to customers emotionally. Examples typically include topics like behind the scenes (how I make a-b-c, workspace tour, product development process, etc...), day in the life of a ___, funny blooper experiences I face, etc.
- Behind the scenes long form YouTube videos about how the brand did market research and product development.
- Behind the scenes that show the 4Ps (for products) or 7Ps (for services). Example(s): a hairdresser shows and explains the process of transforming her client's hair. This video is a combination of Before & After and transparency. This is a workaround for restrictions on before - After advertisming.
- Behind the scenes short form IG reel. These could be excerpts from a long form video. For instance, if you bake cake, one reel may show a few seconds of mixing ingredients, another pouring, decorating and so on.
BRAND / SELL: Beliefs aka Visions *. Beliefs are ideal for creating viral content. This content commonly appears as quotes, tips, advice, the promotion of your brand's core values and so on. For clarify sake, this content is based on visionary thinking, even if the vision is not yet attainable. It is principled and heavily reliant on imagination and wisdom. It should not be confused with core values as core values are more closely related to currently attainable missions like to use vegan ingredients as a contribution towards the vision in which all industries are kind to animals. Think of Martin Luther King's 'I have a dream' speech which speaks of principled ideals he hopes occurs in the future. This pillar is unlikely to be represented at all in some brands, especially as the public becomes more distrustful of their lofty principles that are only PR stunts that hide contradictory behavior behind the scenes.
- Posts about principled visions like 'world peace', 'quality formal education for everyone', a clean physical environment and so on.
- Visions of how the brand's industry works.
- Christmas greeting to specific clients: Next year this time, we will have you"... " [leakage free (plumber) / operational (business consultant), etc]. Enjoy your Christmas.
S BRAND / GROW: Values ·* Honoring 2 strategic pillars, this 'Values' content should be concerned connecting emotionally with the audience based on shared values and, to a lesser extent, some elements of virality. This content commonly appears as quotes, tips, advice and so on and virality elements (like CTAs to 'share' the content, funny memes that ride on the coat tails of that meme's success, deliver an 'Aha!' effect, deliver a 'wow' effect especially within the first 5 seconds, trigger powerful human emotions, include music, allow the audience to feel that sharing the content will make him or her feel and look good).
- Reel with powerful imagery and music (IG). A clean skin care brand shows aerial video of a powerful waterfall with instrumental music that suggests grandeur. The attached message speaks of the ecofriendly product qualities. As the reel advances, high contrast letters appear across the screen to explain production qualities. This content has no selling message.
GROW (content pillar). This content is primarily concerned with growth through virality and, when pillars overlap, brand promotion to a lesser extent. This type of content generally seeks to entertain, to generate new leads. Common elements will include virality elements (like CTAs to 'share' the content, funny memes that ride on the coat tails of that meme's success, deliver an 'Aha!' effect, deliver a 'wow' effect especially within the first 5 seconds, trigger powerful human emotions, include music, allow the audience to feel that sharing the content will make him or her feel and look good, trending topics which can be verified by sites like Google trends, removal of heavy branding so that content is enjoyed for its own sake). This content is often collaboratively produced with other brands who have the same or similar audiences. More subtle growth content CTAs include subscription requests (for mailing lists and platform accounts).
S GROW / BRAND: Beliefs aka Visions * (also see above)
GROW / BRAND: Ask / Participate . As the name suggests, this content seeks customer engagement / participation. When successful, this type of content can also help your ranking by social media algorithms.
- Ask customers to vote
- YouTube channels with very similar target audiences collaborate to have a fun competitions. During the pandemic, two very large family channels Tribe of Many and the Miller Family posted their version on a cooking competition for under USD 25 on their respective channel. Each posted their own behind-the-scenes meal prep video which followed the same format; they spoke of knowing the other family and wanting to have a competition, then held a split screen video call that helped audiences to see the other family. They used the call to discuss the competition rules and (re)introduce family members. The rest of each video showed each family shopping to remain within the $25 budget, the cooking while still introducing remaining family members and then the eating. They posted their videos on the same date and asked their audiences to visit each other's channels and to vote for a winner in the comment sections. Ultimately, even though the competition was not a serious one with prizes, they were intentional in encouraging their audiences to know the other channel. Subsequently, they met in person. (Get an idea below on how curated content might open doors to this type of brand collaboration).
- Quizzes. Ask the market which of multiple options they prefer.
- Ask for audience participation
- Live streams encourage customers to interact directly with content creators real time. Common live stream ideas include interviewing others (clients, employees or subject matter experts); working behind the scenes; product demo; launches.
- A question seeks audience comments.
- Attached to an infographic (IG) about a problem, the question asks "How do you experience this problem?" This can help to qualify customers into segments before the brand retargets the customer. Attached messages can have a short article, maybe a link to a long form podcast or video. Consider using GIFs for graphics for more interest.
- The brand can use polls (IG) to survey customer opinions during the MVP development process.
- The responses may help to qualify customers (into segments) for subsequent re-targeting.
- Communication during the post-conversion stage of the buying process
- Thank you cards.
- Small unexpected gifts that often motivate more generosity from customers, like dinner mints given to diners with the bill.
- Requests for customer / user generated content (UGC), often with incentives, like competitions.
- The brand requests photos of the product in use, comments and so on.
- Brands often create unique campaign hashtags to allow tracking the public's use of the hashtag. In such cases, brands even seek out and incentivize persons who freely mentioned their product with hopes of getting permission to use the fan's content.
- Chester the Cheetos cheetah published an IG reel in which a customer build a 3000 lb sarcophagus for Chester to be found by future generations.
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GROW / BRAND: Traction . Of all the pillars, this content is most purely focused on virality as discussed above and likely to involves pop culture trends. Common CTAs include the popular practice of requesting users to post hashtags (1).- Buzzfeed's (Dao Nguyen) research suggested that sampled viral content all provided audiences with the chance to share at least one of the following highlighted emotion-centric content pillars. See Buzzfeed's full article on what makes content viral. Consider content that went viral in your niche and identify which of these deliverables were present. (Other examples include puzzles about topics that entertain or interest your target and puzzles.)
humor (specific internet meme-related humor, laughter at someone)
- YouTuber Beluga's bingeable content that gained him 4 million subscribers within 3 months. Beluga used a series of clever strategies and techniques that forced viewers of his crude-looking short-form videos to be active (versus passive) users. For instance, the quick pace of his videos forced viewers to pause and rewind his video, a trick that enhanced the average viewing duration (AVD). Other techniques involve psychological tricks of using a formula that .
self revelation often in a self-deprecating way that says 'this is me' (my fandom / my likes, passions, guilty pleasures, my culture);
community / helps connection This pillar helps viewers to connect with others. Example(s)
- live streams that gives viewers the feeling of togetherness and participation like Buzzfeed's livestream Exploding watermelon video that attempted to test their theory about virality and received over 800 thousand live viewers, at least at the end of the 45 minute video. The video has continued to receive views that reach over 10 million.)
How to. This pillar includes educational content for improving emotional health. (how to settle arguments, to understand others, etc)
Emotional / motivational triggers. This type of content can trigger negative or positive emotions. Common examples include those that engender empathy.
- Pet videos that show empathy
- 50 Random acts of kindness that will restore your faith in humanity
- Brands insert memes (like popularized sayings, music and dances) into their content. The sky is the limit with memes like this. At the very least, they make memorable content to re-enact anything from target audience frustrations.
- When a section of a song became a meme for its funny way of saying ‘no’, a service provider used a clip of the section as a memorable voice over in a short video (YouTube shorts) of her shaking her head as if saying 'no' in response to a captioned request of what she won't do. She essentially restated the value of her brand.
- Content on how-to complete tasks or tips.
- Carousal of images on 'how-to' do something (IG)
- Influencer marketing. Influencers can use your product.
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Customize design content pillars
This stage of content pillar customization should be done only after you have understood the basics of strategic and tactical content pillars.
As mentioned previously, customize the strategic level pillars according to your current marketing campaigns and mission statements. This therefore involves changing strategic pillars accordingly, as well re-allocating standard subordinate / tactical pillars under the new strategic pillars.
Brands can consider how their sales funnel stages align with the TCP's buying process stages. Afterall, the 2 sets of stages do not always align perfectly. For instance, a new TCP lead may enter into a brand's 1st 'awareness' stage of the sales funnel when, he, as a potential buyer, is psychologically at the 3rd 'competition comparison' stage of his buying process (because he is already very well aware of his problem and has done a lot research to also know types of solutions he can use). New brands should therefore have different strategic goals to very well established brands.
- If your TCP has a strong awareness of the problem and has already gotten sufficient information about the problem and solutions, you can assume they are already in stages 2 or 3 of the buying process. However, if your brand is new and therefore entirely unknown, the TCP will certainly enter and remain for a longer period than usual in your sales funnel at the top of the funnel (or T.o.F). Consequently, regarding its strategy; your brand may decide on missions to 1) build brand awareness (regarding basic knowledge; recognition and recall), 2) encourage TCP engagement with the brand and 3) close product sales (that are not only transactional one-time events but based on relationships and therefore repeated, even to the point of being evangelical). On that basis, the content strategy will be as follows. The awareness pillar will have a heavy reliance on searchability via hashtags and keywords.
- to build BRAND AWARENESS @ top sales funnel (regarding i. basic knowledge; ii. recognition and iii. recall) @ middle buying process (information, competitive analysis)
- Brand basic knowledge of existence, i:
- Traction (entertainment via brand collaboration)
- Transparency (relatable to R&D process that is competitive)
- Lifestyle (aspect of brand that is relatable to TCP lifestyle that makes it competitive)
- Value (brand's core values that relate to TCP's strongest problem via UVP)
- Brand recognition, ii
- Ask (re self qualification on simple broad criteria like product line, for opinions on brand differentiation assets like colors, symbols, etc)
- Authority
- Brand recall, iii
- to ENGAGE TCP @ Middle Sales Funnel (as the TCP's ability grows to know, like and trust the brand).
- Know
- Value (brand's core values that relate to TCP's emotional convictions)
- Like
- Ask (deeper self-qualification questions re niche, 4P preferences)
- Trust
- Authority (tackle sales objections)
- Results
- Transparency (R&D process)
- To GROW THE BRAND @ bottom sales funnel (through repeated sales / loyalty, market growth)
- (Repeat) sales
- Transparency (R&D of new products for bundling & tentpoles, value regarding core values)
- Solution
- Ask (contact details, opinions on how to improve any part of the marketing mix)
- Market growth
- Ask (for positive reviews about brand & product, on how to improve)
- Fastnet Agency's YouTube video illustrates how 3 strategic pillars can vary from the original set that had presented in their earlier video. As per usual, this considers the sale funnel.
- Brand advocacy. To establish brand loyalty. (bottom of funnel / BoF)
- Transparency *
- Authority
- Beliefs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ehSfsMstRwStep-by-step guide: Content planning | top
Forms of content
Regardless of content pillar, all content occurs in one of 3 forms; 1) original, 2) repurposed and 3) curated.
1. Original aka long form or macro content refers to comprehensive content because it offers a lot of in-depth information. It is generally considered to be the single most valuable type of content long term for several reasons.
The first key benefit is efficiency to the content creation process. Strategic content creation usually starts with long form content, intentionally made to be in-depth so that that one piece can be subsequently broken down aka "re-purposed" to generate multiple other pieces of content called "short form" content (which I will discuss shortly).
Beware however, its name has unfortunately given rise to the misconception that this content must be time consuming. The single most important defining factor is its level of consumer perceived value. Furthermore, it is a win-win form of content because in addition to being valuable to consumers, it is also very valuable to the brand. This is because long form content is evergreen. In other words, it has a long-life span and can be easily found by search engines well into the future.
NB, while planning long form content, keep in mind that you intent on subsequently re-purposing it into shorter forms of stand-alone content. See an explanation by Vanessa Lau's explanation of the efficient way of executing this process. She explains that, you can conceptualize the long form video and then get a video editor to create and break it down into short video clips. A virtual assistant (VA) or social media manager (SMM) can then distribute those clips to TikTok, IG reels, Facebook reels and YT shorts.
- Detailed YouTube videos, blog post or podcasts that can be subsequently broken into short parts. :
- 10 reasons your doctor wants you to reduce stress. Each of the 10 can be used for creating short form posts.
- Interview with expert about different techniques in his field.
- You interview 10 people separately about the same question "Are you a cat or dog person and why?" That long form video can subsequently be divided into 10 short form videos, images with quotes, etc ...
- A hair dresser records the process of treating someone's hair; starting with a detailed analysis of the hair and causes for the problem (1 or several potential short form posts, 1 for each cause); she goes into detailed discussion about the benefit of each type of product (potential short form posts for each product type); she trims the hair (another short form to show off the style and can use the final result as the 'after' version of a 'Results' post.
Here is an example of how a single long form piece of content may be re-purposed into multiple pieces of short form content. Naturally, the same applies for campaigns.
- 1 long form detailed YouTube video, blog post or podcast "7 reasons your doctor wants you to reduce stress" generate 7 Short form repurposed
- video excerpts on YouTube shorts, IG reels and TikTok
- quote cards on IG
- advertisements
- question prompts
- Post 1: Reason 1 re 'mental health'
- Post 2: Reason 2 re 'chronic physical disease'
- Post 3: Reason 3
- etc
- Infographics* on IG
- Slideshow on IG
- Reasons 1-10
- 1 long form detailed slideshow deep dive "how to reverse damage caused by stress"
- IG carousel
- Post 1: Reason 1 - mental health expert interview
- Post 2: Reason 2 - dietician interview interview
- Post 3: Reason 3
- etc
* viral potential
Third party YouTuber (J Palmer) speaks about her content repurposing journey.
Rest assured of 2 things that worry most new content creators:
- for the most part, people are committed to single platforms and are therefore not likely to become bored with some repetition across platforms and;
- re-posting good content with minor updates after some time has past is common, even on the same platform.
- The curated clip: A Nordic looking woman stands next to a topless black man with dreadlocks who stands by quietly. In addition to speaking of how he can do anything for her, she also speaks of having "purchased this one", language choices often used in white supremacy to dehumanize black people. Needless to say, the visual is reminiscent of how black people were lined up and spoke of as objects rather than human beings. https://www.youtube.com/shorts/_EsLCuhCUxk
- The curated clip: Somewhat like the earlier example, an Indian woman follows the same format, speaking of 'this' (referring to the topless black man) being a pure breed from Nigeria. https://www.youtube.com/shorts/_GcWy1dsVOU
- The curated clip: A black man tries to pursue a white woman who says that she does not like black men. https://www.youtube.com/shorts/CUidB2_cQwI
- https://youtube.com/shorts/GIUhPrkAXPk?feature=share
Content Formats #cformats
Most common formats appear in the list immediately below. Since formats can be very platform-specific, knowing your format options, where they belong and their performance within specific strategic or tactical content pillar will advance your process of content planning.
- Branded Graphics.
- Purpose: building trust in the brand's expertise.
- Provide: tips and appear.
- Platform(s): visual platforms; IG; PInterest.
- Infographics *.
- Purpose: building authority & trust; virality (because they are among the most shared content formats).
- Provide: concise graphical / statistical results that condense large volumes of data; solution-centric segment symbols to represent numerous products.
- Videos.
- Purpose: to a) advertise existing or new products (short form videos); b) to boost engagement / participation, to get the target to like your brand.
- Provide: a) testimonials, slideshow of images that has been converted into video format; b) live streams for B2C; webinars for B2B.
- Platform(s): a) YouTube shorts of 60-second videos for entertaining advertisements; b) YouTube live streams.
- GIFs. GIFs can be incorporated into many other formats like infographics. They create just a little animation transform otherwise less exciting still images and text. If GIF is working for you, they can also be used drastically to minimize long form video to better resemble still images.
- Provide: animated testimonials and reviews, quotes in image format
- Blog Content.
- Purpose: to build authority and trust
- Provide: long form content; branded images with embedded text messages and quotes that are repurposed from other platforms and SEO-ready.
- Text. When applicable, consider repurposing this format into others like GIFs and infographics.
- Provide: brand-specific quotes; hashtags like #dailyquotes or quote of the day / #qotd (to reach broader audiences)
- Platform(s): Instagram stories; Product packaging thank-you notes;
- Presentations.
- Purpose: to teach; to instruct; to demonstrate
- Provide: multiple slides with complex information (usually without sound)
- Platform(s): Instagram carousels
- E-books.
- Purpose: lead generation.
- Provide: long-form content; short-form content
- Platform(s): ....
- Apps (gaming, functional, etc)
* virality potential
Online templates include the following options.
- Canvas
- Visme
Online tools include the following.
- YouTube allows you to create short clips from pre-existing long form videos. This third party YouTuber video discusses how that feature works.
Step-by-step guide: Content planning | top
Steps for planning content
1. TCP | 2. Pillars (Strategic & Tactical) | 3. Pillars (thematic) | 4. Platforms, Formats, Guidelines | 5. | 6. | 7.
- platform preferences. (an ordered list).
- While this likely predicts content format preferences, you may survey content format preferences as a type of reliability testing.
- purpose(s) and perceived value for consuming product on the platform, such as: entertainment; connection personal contacts; connect with like-minded people
- consumption rate and frequency of posts. You may get this information from observing industry standards, ie from observing your competition. If you can, establish your frequency to match that of your competitor with the most engaged audience.
- your target's buying personality as it relates to the communication style your brand's voice & tone must use in response to advance your target to the next stage of the funnel (like the buying decision process).
- what will be considered 'enough', too much or too little information to convert this target to the next level of the current funnel?
- what are the linguistic and grammatical preferences?
- what elements of information does the target need? (For instance, in addition to stating the UVP and clues for TCP self-qualification, does your target also need expert scientific evidence, case studies, etc)
- What keywords and hashtags will attract and appeal to your target?
- frequently asked questions. These will tie in with thematic pillars, etc under ‘information’)
- Responding to as many questions (who, why, where, etc), establish 2 descriptive key thematic pillars, based on 1) the solution that you provide and 2) your TCP's problem. Example: "stressful city lifestyle" (is the TCP's problem) and "your luxury spa" (is your literal product solution) &/ "relaxation" (is your non-literal product solution). You can breakdown these concepts later. For the time being, we only want to establish a reminder of what your TCP is looking for when he or she consumes your content. ... just so that, if you sell cupcakes, you won't find yourself posting about video games. Remember that your solution can be a literal or non-literal concept, as per your unique value proposition (UVP). If Disney World were to participate in this exercise, they would likely include the non-literal concept 'happiest moments' or 'happiest vacation'.
- content format preferences. This will likely correlate with platform preferences.
- demographics
- Other marketing mix considerations:
- Price. If your target is not price sensitive, perhaps price should not be discussed and vice versa.
- This example assumes that your brand is introducing a new product to a market that knows the problem very well, knows of various solution types and is at the competitive analysis phase of the buying process. The strategic pillars may be like this.
> 'BRAND Top sales funnel' (Purpose: to build brand awareness to buyer at the 3rd competitive analysis stage of the buying process.)
> 'ENGAGE TCP middle sales funnel' (Purpose: To engage TCP to encourage them to know, like and trust the brand.)
> 'Boost & Repeat SALES, GROWTH bottom sales funnel' (Purpose: To promote loyalty and social proof.)
- Pillar: "Trust: Expertise"
- Purpose: Trustworthiness defined by expertise re science, safety).
- Rules:
- YES:
- NO: sales pitch, 'product benefits', etc
- Traction
- Value
- Authority
- Value / ask
- Authority
- Results
- Ask
- Values
- Solution
- Transparency & Ask
- Results
- Solution
- Traction
- 1) stressful city lifestyle (TCP's problem); 2) your luxury spa (your literal product solution) -& or- relaxation (your non-literal product solution)
- 1) physical attributes the consumer deems unattractive (TCP's literal problem) &/ lack of self confidence when dealing with the opposite sex (non-literal problem); 2) surgical procedures (your literal product solution) -& or- opportunity to feel more confident (your non-literal product solution)
- Primary research with your TCP.
- Ask your TCP. Needless to say, doing so can be converted into a social media post that encouraged engagement. I also like the idea of using this question as a regular CTA.
- Product reviews
- Monitor the posts of your competition.
- Join interest groups on Facebook and otherwise.
- Social listening tools. These tools show the questions that real people asked search engines. You could not ask for better pull marketing ideas because you know that your TCP is already looking for answers.
- By typing in your brand name, a competitor’s name or a product, etc on AnswerThePublic.com, you will see the questions that the public asks to search engines about the keyword. These questions can inspire several pieces of content around the single keyword. This is ideal for creating bingeable content for persons who are genuinely interested in the topic.
- AnswerSocrates is similar to AnswerThePublic
- UberSuggest also offers keyword information. It also provides information about search volume.
- Buzzsumo shows the platforms with the most engagement for certain types of content, among other things.
- NeilPatel UberSuggest is a site that offers keywords
- Trends
- Google Trends
- AnswerSocrates has a trends section that requires you to filter for country and language. The accompanying graph also gives a quick visual as to whether the trend is rising or falling.
- Google Trends Hot trends
- YouTube Trends
- For the search "go to a spa" answersocrates.com
- while pregnant*, while menstruating*, where to find one in a-b-c town (to go with a group of friends)*, what to expect*, would going be a good date* *
- "how do spas work" [can be a post under the 'Transparency' tactical pillar]
- day passes [can be a post under the 'Sell / Solution' tactical pillar]
- If you get a question specifically about "Swedish massages" for the search "go to a spa" answersocrates.com, you can generate post ideas based on wildcards like the following.
- Benefits of a [specialty type of massage (the wildcard variable name)]. You can therefore create a post about swedish massages, deep tissue massages, etc ...
- One question wants to know where to go while the other wants to know if it is a good idea. You will remember above that, for the search "go to a spa" answersocrates.com, your results included the following. The new variable can be 'spa partners'. This means that, if you offer such spa packages, you can have posts about carrying pets, co-worker groups, therapy groups, etc.
- where to find one in a-b-c town (to go with a group of friends)*, would going be a good date
- Using the same example of the 'spa partners' wildcard variable from immediately above, you can now pivot around that spa partners variable with other new wildcard variables, like '
- photos of best moments'
- 'package deals' [for the 'sales / solution' pillar]
- reviews
- how spa day transformed the relationship(s)
Whether you started with long form content ideas (or eventually got to it), see how you can break it down into shorter form for multiple individual posts. Needless to say, do not worry if you re-use / re-purpose some parts of other posts. Here is an example.
- 5 ways you can transform your life. (by transforming your relationships)
- Post 1: Co-worker relationship transformation at spa day.
- Post 2:Slow down to focus on significant other
- etc ...
4. Establish your publication a) platforms, b) formats and respective c) brand style guidelines.
- YouTube (primary platform for long form content) and Instagram or Facebook (primary platform for short form content).
- Long form: A video featured all the types of spa guests patrons brought along on their spa day.
- Short form. : 5 posts, each featuring an IMAGES WITH A QUOTE about transformative experiences in the relationship during the spa day.
- Brand asset rules. Avoid the common mistake of creating infographics, quotes and other such content without adequately promoting brand recognizability.
- color palette
- fonts
- scenarios for presentation variations
- templates (and sources of templates)
- Posting rules
- Frequency.
- Days of the week
- Tentpoles
- Brand awareness mission: 80% brand promotion; 5% sales; 15% growth
- Business as usual mission: 60% brand promotion; 10% sales; 30% growth
a.
Create a list of
platforms that best reaches your target market.
b. For each pillar, list messages
you want to share. If you need inspiration, use the most popular hashtags
to observe activity from your competition and target. Remember to include
Calls-to-Action (CTAs).
c.
Visualize how you will
present each message.
i. Decide where you will produce the long form, original format from which parts may be re-purposed. Long forms often derive from YouTube videos that last longer than other formats. A rule of thumb is to have one main long form content platform on which you focus. You can also have a secondary platform to which you can repurpose content without expending much effort.
ii. Decide on how you can repurpose each long form message. Here are some tips.
1.YouTuber, Veed Studio's '10 ways to repurpose content using Garyvee's Content Model'. (ie transforming long form YouTube video content into shorter formats
2. YouTuber Rachel Pederson's '11 repurposing hacks' (ie transforming long form YouTube videos into shorter forms recognizing that the same content can not always make sense on different platforms. However, she also discusses possible cases where the same content can be reused over sufficiently similar / 'sister platforms')
3. YTer Stephanie Kase's 'How to repurpose long form using the program Descript' (Descript can be used to extract and combine clips from within a long form video)
iii. For each message, decide on the presentation.
For instance, if your message is that you sell mugs, also note the platforms
along with the most suitable corresponding platform-specific presentation
option for each message. This should specify graphic and other needs. For
instance, you need to explain if you will use a carousal of 2 or 3 slides; the
first with before and after images, the 2nd with a-b-c, etc …
d.
If necessary, describe
the types of content to be curated. …
Top of Step-by-step guide: Content planning | top
7. Scheduling
with a Content Calendar
- Know the preferred schedule of your target market. BTW, this is also advantageous because search engine algorithms favor schedule consistency (such as routines, like once weekly or monthly), often above anything else.
- Two favorite times to engage the average population are: 1) when your target just awakens before they go to work and 2) while they are relaxing in the evening, ie before they go to bed.
- For an audience of professionals who work from Monday to Friday and, let's say, have a purchase cycle that corresponds accordingly; you may post only certain types of content on certain days. For instance, rather than start their week with a hardcore sales-related post on Monday, you start with content that motivates them to 'know, like and trust' your brand. This may include brand promotional informative content on earliest days of the week. promotional content later in the week like Wednesday or Thursday and then growth related content like share-worthy tips on the last days of the week, like Thursday and Friday and you won't post at all on weekends. When possible, promise customers that you will post certain types of content on certain days that they can look forward to, like 'Deep dive Tuesday', 'End of Week Tips Day' and so on. I like this because it helps customers to looks forward to their day, without feeling exasperated by looking with disappointment on other days that do not interest them.
- Pay special attention to tentpoles that your target values, such as seasonal schedules like back-to-school tentpole-related content.
- Topics that naturally lead up to tentpoles (new product launches).
- Event: If I will launch vegan cakes in December, I may have to plan webinar content for November that teaches special health and safety issues associated selling products to persons with special diets; tutorials about decorating the cake; tutorials about ingredients. For each of these posts, I will promote the upcoming launch.
- the number of touchpoints your target market needs before trusting you sufficiently to buy.
- Create a schedule by posts, preferably with a scheduling tool. Common content scheduling tools include the following. Select a tool that is easy to maintain and share with a team, explain its contents, the frequency and so on. For instance, schedules commonly specify the following types of details for each post. This is usually possible with the use of drop down menus that allows you to easily select options from a predetermined set of values. I prefer to schedule according to post, ie versus platform type. I think that this way allows for a more strategy-centric approach. Needless to say, you may however need to have a separate schedule for each brand or even segment within a brand. Since a brand is essentially a personification, I think it is best to organize as the scheduling as one would for a single person who is has a meeting planner for a friend group, like inner circle of best friends, cooking students and so on. Decide whether you want the subgroups of your vegan and non vegan cooking students to get the same posts. Some very comprehensive templates (by ThinkLikeAGirlBoss for under USD 15 at end 2022 on the Etsy page) are available for sale.
- Strategic pillar (Sell, brand promotion, etc)
- Objective (lead generation / traffic, etc.)
- Target audience (outdoor loving tourists, leads, etc)
- Channel (YouTube, Instagram, All, etc)
- Format (Long form video, short form video, carousel, etc)
- Content axis (qualification questions, online course, tutorial, etc)
- Hashtags
- CTA
- Publication date
- Status (queued, published)
- Title ("A day in the life of a ___")
Content managers find ways of making their jobs easier by formatting these details for each post like using
- color codes that relate to platform brands like red for YouTube, blue for Twitter and so on. Color codes for brand-specific calendars. Colors may also be used for certain types of topic like red for top of funnel brand promotion content, amber for middle of funnel content and so on. green for -related tags, with an explanatory legend of course).
- style guidelines that provide templates
- relevant sub-tasks (like check lists). This might appear in the style guidelines
- scheduling tools.
- Later (content scheduling software)
- Planoly,
- Google Calendar for content calendar:
Performance analysis
- Analytics
- Which pillars get acceptable levels of engagement for their type? Customize your definition of what 'acceptable' engagement means for each pillar. For instance, Sales pillars are unlikely to have engagement levels as explosive as entertainment-related pillars. After all, entertaining content often aims to encourage leads who are not yet ready to buy to LIKE your brand (ie to meet the 'like objective within the 'know, like and trust') objectives of your brand growth pillar. You will therefore need to strike the ideal allocation of publication percentages between entertainment and sales pillars that meet your objective of converting entertained leads into buying customers. Over time, you will need to tweak percentage allocation of each type of content until you figure it out perfectly. Needless to say, this also ties in with how you schedule content accordingly.
- How well did your CTAs perform? Did customer comments that you requested motivate comments that demonstrate the level of emotional connection you wanted?
- Do you need to redesign your strategic content pillar plan (step 3) to your business' significant evolution over time, new trends, impactful events and so on?
Step-by-step guide: Content planning | top
CONTENT RELATED TO SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGEMENT
- Target customer profile (TCP)
- See options for finding thematic content ideas (above)
- Know, Like and Trust Series
- Prepare hefty social listening data files in MS Excel to make the data more manageable.
- tentpole marketing
- On the point of brand awareness as it relates to enhancing brand recognizability, some brands use a fixed format for all content of a particular pillar. All Afritribe_skincare Oily Skin Tips & Tricks' use the same template as the cover. My only doubt is that a more prominent graphic logo would make this consistency even stronger.
- SEO tools that can analyze your pages include the following.
- Social media marketing101
- Marketing campaigns
- Brand personality
- Your content pillars
should be defined when discussing your brand voice in your brand style guidelines.
- Sales funnel
- How to write an advertisement for social media
- Buying decision process
- Other strategic pillars
- entertainment (to encourage engagement)
- memes, curated video content or summaries of other video content), dances (like TikTok dances), top 5, etc
- sales (to sell)
- sales offers, discounts, etc
- informative (to inform)
- news, newsletters, events, trends in your field
- educational (to teach)
- tutorials, tools, e-books, tips
- inspirational (to earn trust)
- phrases, case studies
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