Social media has an overwhelming presence in our day-to-day lives, and maintains great power in the marketplace. To keep the competitive edge, many companies are setting their marketing campaigns around social directives. Enter content marketing. Should you be paying more attention to your content marketing? Evaluate your marketing plan to discover if content marketing holds a substantial place within the marketing mix. Then, imagine a continuous dialogue between digital content marketing and search engine optimization. The better and deeper the content conversation, the higher your site ranking and the more eyes on your site.

The first step is creating great content. Your audience is human, just as you are. So face yourself in the mirror, and ask: what would you like to see, and when would you be most likely to read, watch or engage? Then ask your colleagues.

The next step is to create a content schedule, which is a list of contributors, what to create and when to post. Adapting content to a content schedule helps you schedule, organize and optimize. Simplicity is key. The goal is not to have more content, but good quality content at the most effective times. You can perform some analytics to help optimize scheduled post times.

There are plenty of online tools available to help you with your content schedule. Feel free to use a pre-existing model or create one that fits the needs and goals of your company. Whether it is text- or picture-based, establish a template that works and fill in the blanks! Inspired by an article posted by Zack Stack in EdgeMM.com, below are some key features to include in your content schedule:

• Topic/Category
• Title/Main Idea/Focus Keyword
• Goal: content should support primary goal(s) of company or brand
• Author/Owner
• Due Date
• Post Date/Time
• Target Audience
• Media Type: photo, video, blog, newsletter, interactive, etc.
• Media Channel: YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, etc.
• Shareability

Creating a content schedule for digital and social media can transform your work into a more efficient and smooth content flow. Think of it as a categorized “to do list” that you can control and automate. With a flow of fresh and relevant content, don’t be surprised to overhear others describe your business as creative, smart and savvy. How to get started? Contact Checkerboard and we will help you develop your content strategy and schedule, and put your plans into action!

Image courtesy of mkhmarketing on Flikr.