Yesterday, I attended Shaa Wasmund’s business bootcamp (a brilliant day of learning), where her business partner Matt Thomas gave a superb talk about content strategy, including what it is, why you need one and the benefits it brings. And in case you were wondering what it comprises, this slide from his talk sums it up (and hey, it’s not that much to keep on top of right!?)
Matt discussed how all the experts, including himself, tell us all we need to blog everyday, make more content, use every social media, use videos and share our lives with the world, and whether or not we actually need to do that. To which the answer is yes, IF, that is, you want to raise your profile, get new leads into your business, make a good impression, charge higher prices and all the things we basically all do want to do.
From my own experience running my previous online business and this one, and that of my clients, it’s obvious that you can directly see traffic increases to a site, and engagement on social media with each piece of content created and shared. I also KNOW that the content on this site has defined my expertise and bought me opportunities, including several speaking engagements and most recently, a book deal, none of which I’d have if my website wasn’t regularly updated in the way it is.
But what Matt superbly taught was how content is not just an on-site or social-media strategy, but a complete business strategy that works across lead nurturing and lead conversion too.
Content can be overwhelming, and it would be difficult for even the most dedicated content creator to do everything featured in Matt’s list (without putting a content team in place). One takeaway shift was to understand content in more of its ‘entirety’ and to balance my efforts, both for myself and my clients, on content for all purposes, not just for on site and social media.
Matt also explained how content is the number one priority in the business that he and Shaa run. Which is eye-opening, because even if you have the best of intentions, updating your website and creating something compelling for social media can get shoved to the bottom of the ‘to-do’ list. But bearing in mind Matt and Shaa credit content with the million dollars of sales they made in 2015, it’s clearly worth putting to the top.
