Research tips to improve your content strategy
No matter how far along you are in your career, I feel like there’s few things as daunting as sitting down to plan out a content strategy.
It’s the ultimate White Page Syndrome. You know what I mean—staring down a blank sheet, wondering where to start. And the thing about content strategy? Sure, you can structure it, but there’s only so far a template will take you. At some point, you need to use your gut and experience and your findings to shape what’s turning up on that page.
Lucky for me, I love a blank page—a big ol’ notebook from Michael’s and Pilot .38mm ultrafine pens are the way to this tactile strategist’s heart—and I have a system for how I like to start gathering inspiration.
#1: Google search…with a twist
You may say, duh, of course you’d Google. But I’m not looking at the organic results—I’m thoughtfully and intentionally choosing brand names to see which companies are bidding on Google ads. These are going to be your competitors, either realistic or aspirational. And, if they’re bidding, you can guarantee that you’ll find plenty of keywords in the meta descriptions and landing pages.
I start making lists of words I find are super relevant to me—usually in a spreadsheet of some kind, because I’m obsessed with a good spreadsheet—and jot down anything else of note in my big white sheet.
Last thing: when I’m on the website, I always, always check the source code. There’s still some old-school SEOs who use the meta keywords tag, and if you see me copying their keywords…oh no you didn’t.
#2: Stalk direct competitors
If you have a business, you probably know who your competitors are. (If you don’t, please revisit point #1.) So, get to know them, and get to know them well.
Check out their social content. Can you see a theme? What are they posting about? How often do they post? What’s the mix of their content—video, photos, text…? How would you rate the quality of their media? What’s the engagement looking like? How do they speak—what’s their voice like?
Same thing with their website. What are the CTAs? What’s the site navigation like? Do they have anything there that you think is brilliant? On the flip side, is there anything that you would never do?
I like to put data points in a spreadsheet, along with links to any stellar content I can use as inspiration. I jot down anything else of note in—you guessed it—my big ol’ notebook.
#3: Look on the lateral
Okay, what if you’re the type of person who thinks you have no competitors? Or, what if the competitors in your space kind of…well…suck at content?
This is where you think on the lateral. Meaning: you’re going to have a completely different audience or industry than Example A, but the spirit of what you’re doing aligns.
An example: you’re a membership community in the engineering industry. Your goal is to get people to join your community, where they can get webinars, continuing education, exclusive resources, and access to a private online networking group. There are a few similar groups out there, but not at the same scale, and, since it’s run by engineers, the content is pitiful. (Sorry, engineers.)
So, what you want to do is look for other membership communities in different industries. Maybe there’s a similar group for social media marketers that you dig, or something in the fitness community. These are wildly different from engineering, but I can guarantee you’ll find something you can learn from. Gather a list of companies and ask the same questions I laid out in #2.
#4: Tap into content research tools
There’s plenty of incredible research tools out there that I would have killed to have as a young digital marketer circa 2012.
The ones I find myself going back to over and over are Sparktoro, SEMrush, and Answer the Public. Each one has a free—albeit limited—option, but sometimes that’s all you need.
Sparktoro is great for comprehensive research on websites, social media, keywords, and more. It will help you identify any other competitors or lateral accounts you may have never thought of, and get you some of the data you need to understand your audience.
SEMrush is great for competitive research, too, but excels from a paid marketing perspective. See who’s bidding on keywords, find keyword gaps, and stalk ad creative.
Answer the Public will help you identify extremely search-friendly questions common in your niche. This is a fabulous way to identify what your audience is searching for, especially from a long-tail perspective.
#5: Reddit search
Man…never underestimate the power of Reddit. It can be tricky posting there from a brand perspective, but it’s a never-ending fountain of wealth as far as research is concerned.
Search for keywords in your niche. Search for products like yours. Search for competitors. Search for problems. Chances are, someone there is talking about it. Someone has a subreddit about it.
Fall deeply into the rabbit hole, copy URLs, take notes, add them to your spreadsheet.
I love to make lists of commonly asked questions, but I also love to get a sense of sentiment here. What are people frustrated about? What do they love? What brands are they passionate about, whether the passion is good or bad?
As with all things internet culture, tread lightly and know that sentiment can be exaggerated—but you’re sure to walk away with some killer insights, unknown competitors, and plenty of inspiration.
I’d love to hear how you like to research—do you have favorite tools or methods you’ve come to love? Leave a comment or reach out to me…I’d love to hear all about it!