15 content strategy myths debunked

by WarriorForum.com Administrator
2 replies
A new article on Search Engine Land reports that content may still be king, but you need the right approach, strategy, and talent. Let's clear up some common myths about content strategy.



Marketers, SEOs, employers, prospects, and even content strategists all have been taken in by content strategy myths they've heard or read and now believe. Some people think that it's all about coming up with new ideas for content. Others believe that it's a one-time task. But there's a big difference between creating content for the sake of creating it and developing a content strategy that will help you achieve your short- and long-term business goals. The full article debunks fifteen content strategy myths that are flat wrong. Here, we'll look at the first five:

Content strategy means content marketing

Many people believe that content marketing and content strategy are the same. The term "content strategy" is often used interchangeably with content marketing. Content strategy is about creating a plan for how you will produce and distribute content across your website and other channels. But while the two fields share some common goals and tactics, there are important distinctions between them. While content marketing is essential, it's only one part of a successful content strategy.

In short, content strategy is a plan, while content marketing is a part of that plan.

Content strategy is about topics and keywords

This is one of the biggest misconceptions. A prospect questioned our content strategy services. Why? They believe content strategy is only a list of topics and keywords and don't need any service provider. And we lost the lead. Coming up with a list of topics and keywords is just one small part of creating a successful content strategy.

A content strategy would include (depending on the goals and targeted platform):
  • SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Timely) goals
  • Segregated marketing goals to achieve business goals
  • What the overall marketing strategy looks like
  • Who you would target as your customers
  • Types of content and number of content you would need to create for respective marketing channel
  • Keyword research for each content targeting SEO and customer journey stages, if any
  • Briefs for content creators and designers
  • Content marketing process to distribute content
  • Content performance KPIs

You need content strategy only for blogs

This is another big misconception about content strategy most SEOs have, and I had that too, which got busted after a few years. I used to create a content calendar to support SEO, which used to work well for my employer and clients. So I started believing that content strategy means a blog calendar.

This is how most SEOs or marketers manage blog calendars, including me (obviously in the past). Eventually, when I started working on lead magnets to drive MQLs (Marketing Qualified Leads) and SQLs (Sales Qualified Leads), I had to plan everything from the different types of content to the amount of content we needed to plan, create, promote and track.

Content strategy can only help in SEO

Most of the time, people thinking of content strategies are SEOs. Why? Because no content strategy is complete without a list of keywords. Each piece of content we plan has at least some audiences searching for them on the search engines, branded or non-branded keywords.

Content strategy is for SEO. But, it's not limited to SEO.

Content strategy = social media content strategy

No. Content strategy is not equal to social media content strategy. We have met and seen some marketers and business owners have this misconception, especially in the e-commerce domain, as they largely depend on social media for business. When you talk about content strategy, it's an overall plan that includes auditing, researching, planning, developing, executing, managing, distributing content and measuring its performance to achieve business and marketing goals.

A social media content strategy is a segmented part of the content strategy. Once you know what needs to be promoted on social media, why and how, you can prepare a social media content strategy to achieve what you've set for social media.
#content #debunked #myths #strategy
Avatar of Unregistered
  • I love that they included this myth: 13. Content writers should build content strategies

    Content writers already have a hard enough job working on the content. Somebody else has to do the management! Someone who sees the bigger picture and can point writers in the right direction.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[11711838].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author WF- Enzo
      Administrator
      You can't write without a direction, no?

      Originally Posted by John Jonas Phil VA View Post

      I love that they included this myth: 13. Content writers should build content strategies

      Content writers already have a hard enough job working on the content. Somebody else has to do the management! Someone who sees the bigger picture and can point writers in the right direction.
      Signature
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[11711872].message }}
Avatar of Unregistered

Trending Topics