Apr 0913
Creating a Content Strategy for your Web Site, Blog, Social Networks
In my last blog post, I referenced the content strategy that the marketing team at Matrix Group has developed to keep our Web site and social networking pages fresh and interesting. Several folks asked for more details on our content strategy, so here you go.
Our communication/conversation strategy has several elements:
- Communication vehicles. We created an inventory of all the ways that we use to communicate with clients and prospects. Our inventory includes: the Web site, e-mail newsletter list, blog, Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, and e-mail discussion lists.
- Communication schedule. We have mapped out a schedule that delineates what we will post or send out every day, week, month, and quarter. For example, we strive to tweet every day, update our Facebook page twice a week, and post new blog entries twice a week.
- Content strategy. We believe that it’s important to NOT post the same stuff across all channels. For example, on the Matrix Group Twitter account, we tweet about association/non-profit news, how companies and organizations are using the Web and social networking in interesting ways, cool sites, Web standards, site and application launches, job openings, Matrix Group events, and fun stuff going on around the office. My personal Twitter account (@jmpineda) is different; I will post personal updates, sites I love, business news and trends, cool gadgets, blog posts and Matrix Group events. You’ll notice that there is overlap in what we tweet when it comes to Matrix Group; otherwise, what we tweet between the two accounts is very different. That’s intentional; we want our followers to have a different experience on each Twitter account.
- Tone and voice. Our Creative Director, Alex, says tone and voice are very important, no matter what the vehicle, so we have guidelines for the writing across our sites and pages. Our updates are always professional, not formal but not too casual either, friendly and warm.
- Engagement and response. Since we seek engagement across the different channels, we strive to respond to every single e-mail, blog comment, direct tweet, etc. We may not get back to folks instantly, but inquiries and comments get responded to within a day or two. For example, when someone asks a question on my blog, I post a comment AND I send a direct e-mail.
You’ll notice that we don’t have a separate social networking strategy. Instead, we have integrated the social network sites into our overall communications plan. All of this is working for us. Leads from the Web site have increased by several hundred percent, the quality of the leads is amazing, we are getting good candidates for our jobs, and clients are interacting with us in new and different ways.
How about you? What content and communication strategies are working for your organization?
April 14th, 2009 at 10:03 am
Hi, Joanna—
Great post as always. I find particularly useful the fact that your team has created a communication schedule. That’s a great idea and helps make sure that all of the communication platforms you use are updated regularly, which fits well with your content strategy and not posting the same information across the board.
Lots of good tips to think about…
April 14th, 2009 at 12:03 pm
Hi Joanna! I always admire your ability to pass along useful, on-point, accessible information, and have particularly enjoyed the last two posts: this on content management and the other on social networking. Thanks for the great info, and glad to hear the time is paying off on the client side. Hello to your boys.
April 14th, 2009 at 7:29 pm
Hi Katie and Cindy. Thanks so much for your messages. It’s always good to know there are people out there reading and finding value in my posts! I’d love to hear more about your organizations and what you are doing with regard to your content strategy, schedule and content. Thanks again for commenting!
April 27th, 2009 at 3:28 pm
Great advice and clear way to collectively approach the multitude of social media tasks. I often find it overwhelming but this is a great way to look at building an integrated plan.
July 29th, 2009 at 2:57 pm
This brings me to an idea:…
August 3rd, 2009 at 6:14 am
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