Do You Have a Strategy?

It is easy to get caught up in random thoughts and ideas. Especially here at WA, we tend to blog about whatever catches our fancy in the moment. And that’s okay for us here because our goal is often to share and connect with other WA members like family.

When writing content for your site, however, you cannot afford to run on such randomness. In order to be effective, you must have a content strategy.

“The Fundamental Five”

Noted author, Ann Handley, discusses this idea from her background in journalism. She speaks of the five fundamental Ws: Who, What, Where, When, and Why. (I would add How, but that’s just Who spelled a little different. lol)

The idea behind it is that you should answer strategy questions first, before you begin to create your content. Why are you creating it in the first place? Who is your target audience? What are you trying to accomplish? Where do you plan to publish? And so on…

“Plan Your Work and Work Your Plan”

In order to maximize your effectiveness, you have to have a plan. You need to set goals and know where you are going. Then, and only then, should you begin working on content of any kind, be it an article, blog post, podcast, video, etc.

For example, if you are developing a “young and hip” website that will appeal to, say, gamers, then perhaps something like Twitter might be part of your strategy. However, if your site is geared more towards a business audience, you may want to focus on a site like LinkedIn. Of course, this is not to say that Twitter does not have “business” people on it, but you only have so many hours in a day and may get more bang for your buck elsewhere.

"Rabid Fans"

So, if you have not done so, put a little thought into what it is you’re trying to achieve and who will most likely respond positively to your message. That’s how you will not just get customers, but build a tribe of fervent followers.

Post your thoughts and comments below. Also, feel free to share and strategies you might think will help your fellow WAers. :-)