The 3 Elements of a Great Content Plan

Caid Christiansen• October, 14 2015

Too many marketing managers focus on the “how” and not the “why” when it comes to content marketing. A content plan is much more than a simple calendar with editorial due dates, revision schedules, and publication notices. For content marketing to be truly effective, it needs to be a truly holistic plan—more like a story board than a calendar.

An advanced content plan has three main parts:

Master Your Message: First, you need to create a mission for your content plan. Define your audience and examine the unique needs of your readers. Make sure that what you are communicating follows three guidelines. It needs to be relevant; something that is meaningful and on message for your brand. It needs to be honest; advice for the sake of the greater good, not in service of sales. It needs to be actionable; there should be concrete takeaways that shape future actions of your readers.

Finally, you need to build out a forward-looking plan that ensures you’re repeating key messages and reinforcing your unique viewpoint while leaving slots to react to news and trends.

Define Your Distribution: You have the opportunity to spread your messages in a variety of ways. Any single company might have a Facebook presence, a Twitter handle, a blog, a website, a PR strategy, and so on. A plan that blasts your message across all channels at once is not taking advantage of the individual strengths and weaknesses of each platform.

Additionally, intentionally selecting and spacing out messages across platforms will allow your content to live on and remain relevant for a longer period of time.

Examine and Refine: There’s no better way to refine your plan than by taking time to examine the reactions to your content. Many content managers read responses to posts and count clicks, favorites, and shares/re-tweets. However, you should be proactive in taking all of your measurables and adjusting your future content calendar.

If you’ve had a particularly popular post, dig deeper to find out what your readers reacted to—tone, topic, even just the keywords or title. All of these will help you shape your content plan for maximum impact.

Building a quality content plan isn’t easy. It takes research, time, and expertise. But ensuring your plan contains these three elements is a good place to start, and it’s a heck of a lot better than creating a simple calendar and hoping for the best.