Is your content strategy more of an idea or a feeling, rather than a concrete action plan?
Is your content strategy performing at the highest possible level, or have you settled into a comfort zone? Developing a strategy and putting it into practice is an intensive effort—and before you know it, you might look up and realize you're several years into executing your efforts. Is that original plan you made still working, or has it started to lag behind?
As you look to the year ahead and beyond, now might be the ideal time to consider whether a refresh is in order. Here are five major signs that say you need a change.
Your Audience Understanding is Years Out of Date
Are you sure your content still lands with the target audience you have in mind for your brand? If you haven't revisited your personas and evaluated who interacts with your brand in some time, it's possible to lose your way. You could be "speaking" to an empty room with your content.
Consider the simple fact that the audience you once targeted is now older. Are they still your target audience, or should you consider refreshing your approach to speak to a younger cohort with new and different preferences? The 2020 census, for example, found that the over-18 population of the United States grew by over 10% in the last ten years. If young people are an important part of your audience, it might be time to retarget your strategy for a Gen Z audience rather than a millennial one.
You're Still Not Leveraging the Power of Social Media
Kids spend almost 100 minutes every single day watching TikTok—so it's no surprise many have learned that micro-influencers can be an excellent way to direct attention towards branded content. When Instagram celebrated 500 million users in 2016, they noted that the platform garnered 95 million posts per day—a number that's surely even larger now.
What's the point of all these numbers? Simple: your content can't just live on your website or blog. If you've neglected to stay ahead of the social media curve, it might be time to catch up on finding your social niche online.
Your Traffic or Rankings Have Stayed Static
This sign is easy to spot because the graphs in your analytics should make it abundantly clear. Are your pages hovering around the same place in the SERPs month after month? Does your content perform at roughly the same level regardless of what you do? Don't settle for just a little bit of success: strive to really make your content campaigns work for you. If your digital presence seems stagnant, open a window and let some fresh new ideas in—your content will benefit from it, and your analytics can improve along the way.
Your Brand Identity is Evolving
Sometimes the issue isn't that you've gone wrong with your content, but that your content simply becomes wrong for your brand. Are you pivoting to a new rebrand soon, or thinking about launching a new product? Do you need to change the tone of your content to speak better to your audiences? When your brand begins to evolve, your content strategy needs to do the same. Otherwise, you can lose points on authenticity that you need to keep in your column.
Your Sales Say It's Time
If you aren't making money or improving sales, you shouldn't continue to throw good money after bad on a strategy for content that's not working. You may need to improve your content at other points in the funnel. Analyze your data and try to determine where people abandon their buying journey and adjust your approach accordingly.
Make the Time to Overhaul Your Strategy for a Fresh Start
A time-tested and well-worn strategy is like a security blanket—comforting but not the best tool for confronting the future. If you spot one or more of these problems plaguing your content strategy, it's time to step up and move out of your comfort zone. Consulting on a better approach can give you fresh insights and a path towards more measurable success in the future.
