Content marketing think like a publisher chapter 21 how to analyze content needs

21 How to Analyze Content Needs “Knowing you need content is not unlike moving into a new, completely empty house and knowing you need furniture.” We discussed content auditing back in Chapter 20, “How to Conduct a Content Audit.” Part of the content auditing process involves performing a gap analysis, a rather fancy-pants way of saying, “Figure out what isn’t there, and then figure out how to get it in there.” Easier said than done Knowing you need content is not unlike moving into a new, completely empty house and knowing you need furniture Of course, you But what kind? What style? What color? What pieces for what rooms? How much you require to be functional and practical, and how much would make things cluttered and impractical? Even after you’ve boiled it down to “sofa for the living room,” you still have to decide if it’s a sectional, has arms, and you ought to order the matching footrest 172 Part III G e t t i n g Ta c t i c a l : C o n t e n t N u t s & B o l t s Fortunately, there are systematic ways to go about analyzing and assessing content needs This includes not only what kind of content is required and in what format, but other factors as well including how often, when, and where to reach which target audience segment effectively This might seem painfully obvious to some, but one of the most effective ways to assess content needs is to ask Interview customers, clients, and prospects about their content needs and their content consumption habits Where to Start? “You don’t want to create content so infrequently that readers forget about you But you also don’t want to inundate your audience.” Sources: Ask how these various constituencies consume content and what sources they get content from Do they subscribe to newsletters? Read blogs? Listen to podcasts? Use search engines when researching a purchase or service? Do they visit company websites, read customer reviews on retail sites, download whitepapers? Do they watch online videos? Follow links on social network sites or Twitter? Do they use their mobile devices or subscribe to RSS feeds? What online publications they read? Do they participate in online user groups or forums? It’s also helpful to uncover the specifics of these channels Do they read blogs or not? If they do, which blogs or bloggers they most avidly follow? What’s their favorite publication? Their must-see or must-read sources of digital information? These may or may not lie within your professional sphere; nonetheless, they will help when it comes to assessing taste, style preferences, and predilections How Much, How Often? We’ve all been there: subscribed to a newsletter, or eagerly following a cool blog, until suddenly it became too much Way too much Creating too much content is an onerous task for you, but it also can quickly sour in the minds of your audience That eagerly awaited weekly newsletter? When the publisher bumped it up to twice a week instead of once per week, it started looking and feeling more like spam You don’t want to create content so infrequently that readers forget about you But you also don’t want to inundate your audience It’s not impolite to politely inquire as to the frequency of content—and contacts—when assessing content needs Chapter 21 How to Analyze Content Needs 173 Part of this assessment is “how much?” For many users, a whitepaper is too long So is a video on YouTube that runs over five or ten minutes Some users will want the content equivalent of a snack; others will prefer a five-course meal Many may want something in between (And all of this may be contingent on where they are in the consideration and buying cycle.) Scoping out content “serving sizes” is an essential part of a content needs assessment When? Sure, lots of digital content just sits there, waiting for you to find it A website, a video on YouTube, a whitepaper, a slide show One of the wonderful things about the Internet is that you can access all these channels in your proverbial pajamas, whenever you want But for some types of content (not to mention some consumers), it’s all in the timing Ask when people consume content: at home? At work? Over the weekend? The type of business or service you offer can play a big role in this Mainframe computers are probably an at-work type of content affair If you sell pizza or movies or skiing, you may be better off sending that newsletter or tweeting late in the week, perhaps after the workday is done (Or just before it’s time to call it a day.) Common sense dictates that most people would rather be exposed to messaging about coffee in the early morning, beer in the late afternoon (Yes, there will always be exceptions to those guidelines, but that’s why we establish guidelines in the first place.) Another reason “when” matters is because, although there’s plenty of digital content waiting for you to come ‘n’ get it, increasingly, digital channels are about real-time, or near real-time, messaging In particular, tweets and posts on social networks such as Facebook, Google+, or LinkedIn are more likely to get readership as well as to be promoted, “liked,” amplified, and passed along by readers if they appear at the right time of day, or on the right day of the week Interviewing key audience members and members of a target market is only the first step in assessing content needs Turning to web metrics and other analytics sources is another essential part of the task Elements to look for in this arena, both on a website and on external sources such as social media and social network sites, include traffic, comments, “likes,” passalongs, and other shout-outs What kinds of content, and in what channels, are attracting the most traffic, attention, recommendations, and chatter in terms of comments and retweets? Conversely, what’s dormant and attracts little to no user attention and engagement? 174 Part III G e t t i n g Ta c t i c a l : C o n t e n t N u t s & B o l t s One of the most essential tools in a web analytics package when it comes to assessing and analyzing content needs is search keywords: The words and phrases searchers use to find you on the Web These terms can help quickly identify user needs “What toothbrush is best for fighting plaque?” is an example of a search term that reveals a problem the searcher is eager to solve How can you create content that addresses the problem and that uses those terms, so more searchers with that problem are likely to find your content? Keyword research reveals the words and phrases searchers use to find you Combined with the free keyword research tools offered by the major search engines, these words and phrases can be greatly expanded upon A recent project with a client, for example, was conducting keyword research around the products and merchandise they were targeting at “readers.” A quick dig into Google’s keyword research tool quickly revealed that searchers don’t look for products for “readers,” but they search for items to buy for “book lovers” and even for “bibliophiles.” It’s not that people never search the word “readers.” (It’s important to keep keyword research information in context.) The point is that when searchers are shopping, they’re not shopping for “readers.” This one nugget of information has made the company’s content marketing more effective, influencing the content and even the categories on its blog, the posts on its Facebook page, and even the tweets on Twitter Sure, you can always go with your gut when it comes to creating strong content for marketing But backing up those gut instincts with research, observation, and hard data will always make a content marketing initiative that much more impactful and effective  ... inundate your audience It’s not impolite to politely inquire as to the frequency of content and contacts—when assessing content needs Chapter 21 How to Analyze Content Needs 173 Part of this assessment... you can always go with your gut when it comes to creating strong content for marketing But backing up those gut instincts with research, observation, and hard data will always make a content marketing. .. effective ways to assess content needs is to ask Interview customers, clients, and prospects about their content needs and their content consumption habits Where to Start? “You don’t want to create content