Clean out your gutters, sweep the garage, sort through your closets—oh yeah: And while you’re at it, make sure your content marketing efforts are all working at tip-top shape. ‘Tis the season, we mean to say, for spring cleaning—and that includes not just your home and office, but the various online platforms you’re using to boost your company’s image.
It’s one of the toughest, but most important, truths of content marketing: The process is never really finished, and you’re never going to get things just perfect. There are always going to be tweaks you could make, ways to improve your processes. Now is as good a time as any to go through your entire content marketing plan and make sure things are neat, clean, and organized.
There are plenty of ways to spruce up your content marketing, and our list is by no means meant to be exhaustive—yet we’d say the following items will give you a strong starting point for your content marketing spring cleaning:
Read over your buyer personas. Hopefully, you have some personas sketched out, indicting the audience you’re trying to appeal to. If you don’t, now is the time to make them! If you have them but haven’t looked at them in a while, take some time to read through them, make sure they are still in line with your vision, and make whatever changes you might think are necessary.
Whip your editorial calendar into shape. Do you have an editorial calendar that you’ve long fallen out of sync with? Or does your editorial calendar only take you a couple of days into the future? Now may be a good time to start with a clean slate, planning your blogging and social media activity at least two weeks in advance—and really sticking with it!
Generate some press. When’s the last time you sent out a press release, announcing company news? If it’s been more than six months, start brainstorming some recent or upcoming events that you could publicize.
Makeover your social media profiles. If your Facebook cover photo and Google+ graphics have been stagnant for the last year, you may wish to give your social media platforms a makeover, switching out the images for some newer ones.
Connect on LinkedIn. Do you tend to be pretty lazy on LinkedIn? Many of us do, but if you haven’t formed any professional connections in a while, take the time to make some today.
Send out an e-mail blast. If you’ve got a list of client e-mail addresses—and surely you do—then you should be taking advantage of that, sending out e-mail newsletters or promotions every month or so. If you have not done this in a while, sign up for Constant Contact and do so today!
Update your blog. And plan topics for the next two or three updates, at least. The blog is the cornerstone of your content marketing campaign, and you can’t afford to let it languish!
Again, there is plenty that can be done, and these steps are merely suggestions—but by following them, you can ensure that your content marketing campaign is pointed in the right direction as the busy spring and summer seasons begin. For more tips, contact the Grammar Chic, Inc. team: Visit www.grammarchic.net, or call 803-831-7444