Despite the fact that it snowed in Massachusetts this week, it really is springtime! Many people take spring as an opportunity for “spring cleaning” and there’s no reason why you can’t apply this idea to your content marketing. Much like New Year’s resolutions or end-of-year recaps, spring cleaning is the perfect time to examine what’s working for your company and what needs improvement. Here are some tips to clean up your marketing strategy.
Breathe in that fresh air!
April Audits Bring May Success
Spring means tax season, so maybe it’s also time to perform a little content audit. Gathering data on your page views, time of publication, number of conversations, and any other useful metrics will help you see where your content is doing well, and what could be better. Once you have data to work with, you can begin to make strategies to improve. Don’t just pull data randomly; figure out what information would be best to know, and how would be the best way to organize this information.
It may be helpful to look at this data in a visual chart. For example, a line graph of your Twitter mentions may help you visualize the best times for social media engagement. You don’t have to share this information with anyone else, but it’s useful to have as a reference.
Find Perennial Content
Flowers, bunnies, easter eggs… ever noticed how spring is filled with symbols of new life? Look at some of your best content (see, that audit is already coming in handy!) and consider ways to republish or rewrite the same idea. Did you write a great article about industry trends last year? Write an updated version with new information, or simply make a few changes so that people can enjoy it again this year.
It’s nice to have evergreen content, but you likely have a lot of topical content too. Luckily, certain topics (holidays, annual events, seasons) happen every year, so much like the tulips you might have planted last year, those topics can get new life every year!
Plant Goals For The Season
Who says resolutions are just for New Year’s? You can make goals any time of year! In fact, making seasonal goals gives you a standard 3-month time frame to achieve your plans. Figure out where you would like your content to be in three months. Do you want to have double the social media shares? Do you want to be publishing twice a week consistently? Having set time-span really pushes you to achieve those goals. But it’s not enough to just say some goals; set up a concrete plan to put these goals into action. For example, if you want to post more often, set up a content calendar to map out future topics.
A great article by any other name will still read as sweet.
Doing a little content marketing spring cleaning can really help you get a fresh start. Really, it doesn’t matter if there’s still snow on the ground…anytime is the perfect time to get organized, make plans, and revitalize your content marketing efforts.
Check out our Content Marketing Academy to learn more about how to create great content.