Forming your 2021 content marketing goals and strategy
The goals, the plans, and the strategy for 2021 are in full force, right? If you don’t have it all worked out right now - I am here to tell you, it is okay.
Forming goals and strategies in your business is all a working progress and not something you have to have all worked out for January 1.
As you would have reflected the year previous from the inspiration you received in my last podcast. It is now time to start setting the goals and intention for what your content will look like for the year ahead.
If you find value in this blog, make sure you share it with me on LinkedIn, Facebook or Instagram! Even better, share it with your audience! You can also listen to the episode below!
Let me break it all down for you so you can action and implement goals and a strategy for 2021 without feeling overwhelmed or like you have to stare at your computer screen for hours.
Before you set your content goals for 2021
Set your business goals first! Have you done this yet?
This will allow you to break down what content/marketing goals you will need for the year. If your goal is to launch a program, start 1:1 coaching or reach a certain revenue target - what content do you need to create and what type of marketing/content goals do you need to do to help you reach those biz goals?
When you know where you want your business to be in 2021 and what goals you have for your business, it is easier to work out what you need to do on your content channels in order to achieve those goals.
For me, I want to build my membership and content agency. I know having an email list is key for this (and also building my listens on my podcast) - so these are my main goals for 2021 and I’ll use my social media to drive attention to these areas of my business.
What sort of goals you want to set
REMEMBER YOUR GOALS SHOULD ALIGN!! You can also use the SMART method to compose your goals. These are:
Specific
Measurable
Attainable
Relevant
Time-Based
But what are the differences between marketing goals, content goals, and social media goals??
Marketing goals are your overall goals but can include content marketing, social media marketing, digital marketing etc.
Your social media goals and content marketing goals are really just a more detailed version of your marketing goals.
Some of these goals may include:
Increase website traffic by % (this will be a clear marketing goal)
Increase IG following by % (this will be a social media goal)
Increase blog views and podcast listens by % (this is a content goal)
Once you have all of these set-out, you want to go into more detail on these goals, and what will help you get to where you want to be at the end of 2021.
WHAT you need to ask yourself "why does everything have to have a numeric value"?
Do you have a goal for XXX followers? Or XX number of people on your email list. Don't get me wrong, these are great goals. But they mean nothing if those people aren't aligned. Start to ask yourself what that numeric value will give you and your business.
How to measure your goals
Have your overall goals and then break them down into quarterly goals.
Break. It. Down. This makes it easier to achieve those goals because you know what you need to achieve in each quarter and you can even break that down for each month!! Measure those bad boys!!
Make sure you set time aside each month or quarter to reflect your goals. Always ensure you are on the right track and if you need to tweak the goals!
What does a content strategy look like in 2021?
Guess what? Once you have your goals, you have done a lot of work towards your strategy! Here are the next elements you want to focus on!
Platforms
Of course, you need to map out the platforms you will show up on as part of your strategy.
The platform is the channels you use online to deliver your content, these include (and are not limited to):
Instagram
Facebook
LinkedIn
Twitter
Podcast
Blog
YouTube
Email marketing
The things you need to remember when it comes to your platforms are:
Don’t start off with too many (aim for x1 core platform and x2-3 supporting)
If you are struggling to post on the ones you have, reassess and scrap if you need
Some platforms take longer than others to develop
You want to have a mix of content people can “watch, read and listen to”
Core: This is the channel you introduce your key theme for the week (below) or you spend your most time on!
Supporting: The platforms you use to reach a bigger audience. A lot of this content can be repurposed from your core platform.
Themes
Your theme will be decided each week and will help you never run out of content!
The theme you might discuss for the week on your core platform and repurpose to your other platforms.
e.g. if you are a side hustler digital marketer your theme for one week might be “writing long-form captions for Instagram”. So, you talk about this throughout the week.
Check out my Instagram and see how I use themes each week!
Pillars
Use the four content pillars, these will help you structure your social media posts so you aren’t running out of things to say, and you have variety. These pillars work along with the theme to help you outlay what each day looks like.
For example:
You have a theme of “writing long-form captions for Instagram”
Days for Instagram Feed:
Monday: Inform (promo post about your Instagram course)
Tuesday: Educational post on writing long-form for Instagram
Wednesday: Educational/Engaging post about Instagram captions with a question for the audience around the topic
Thursday: Engage: A story around how you write content for Instagram
Friday: Fun timelapse of you create IG captions
Saturday: Fun (could not be related to the theme, the theme doesn’t have to be everyday, just some days)
Sunday: as above
DON’T FORGET - lay this out for your other channels and add some video into your content!
What are the pillars?
Inform: This is information around yourself, your business, and your offers
Educate: the tips and tricks you provide to add value
Engage: the conversations and two-way posts you provide so your target audience can join in
Fun: this is your entertaining posts, your behind the scenes, and your life events
Buckets
The main issues or topics you address e.g. if you are a side hustle digital marketer you might have a bucket for “social media” and one for “life balance and side hustle lessons”. You might also LOVE coffee so you always add coffee into your posts.
They are just reminders to you of what content you like to talk about AND the more “fun” buckets are ones that help you stand out to your audience and allow you to resonate with certain people.
Repurposing
Of course, then you want to lay out a plan of how you are repurposing content across your channels! For example, if you have a podcast (your core platform), you might repurpose your podcast content into social posts or a blog.
Be smart about how much content you write and what you repurpose! I have a whole guide of this to help you!
Where can we track a content strategy?
All sounds pretty easy, right? So, how do we put this all together? Well, guess what? I have a Trello template to help you lay this all out!
The content strategy template works to collate your:
Goals
Pillars
Buckets
Themes
Hashtags
Content ideas
Platforms
ALL of the things! All in one place for you to refer to! You can even use it to write your content in as a batching system!! Even better? It is FREE!!
Final thoughts
So.. let’s get that strategy going! I have legit laid it ALL out for you. All you need to do is:
Download the template
Fill it out as suggested
Implement and create
Happy days!! You are all over it and will have amazing content in 2021 - keep up the amazing work!
If you find value in this blog, make sure you share it with me on LinkedIn, Facebook or Instagram! Even better, share it with your audience! You can also listen to the episode below!