The 3 Cs of a Winning Content Strategy

Over the last decade Big Fuel has helped brands create some incredibly compelling content. But we also believe that content “creation” is just 1 of the 3 key elements of any successful content strategy. You don’t necessarily need all three — there is no “winning formula” as it ultimately depends on your audience, your goals and your commitment to content — but each element needs to be considered in order to develop a winning formula… and all three happen to start with the letter C.

1) Creation

What kind of content are you going to make? Where will that content live? Who is the audience? What kind of tone/voice?

There are dozens of key considerations that help define what content a brand should invest in creating. Beauty brands skew heavily in this area as the demand for “how-to” content provides a tremendous opportunity to connect with consumers. Red Bull is probably the most prolific brand today. Their content extends so far beyond the beverage category that they are now partly considered a media company.

2) Co-Creation

What opportunities do you have to co-create content? Are there key-influencers you can collaborate with? How can your own audience get involved?

Co-creation of content is incredibly important as it often comes with built-in “earned” distribution. Collaborating with the right influencers brings an instant audience while allowing brands to borrow credibility. Which is why those same beauty brands are partnering with folks like Michele Phan and other YouTube stars to create content with them. GoPro leverages the power of co-created content better than anyone. The entire brand was practically built by leveraging content made by their customers.

3) Curation

What content do you care about? What content resonates with you… and your audience? What topics are you credible in?

Content curation is foundational to any content strategy. There is no shortage of content today. Between emails, social networks, texting, surfing, chatting, blogging, vlogging, micro-blogging and a dozen other things — we’re surrounded by so much noise that it’s often hard to find peace. This creates a tremendous opportunity for brands. Rather than adding to the noise, brands can surface the best of what their audiences need and want. In fact, being “a trusted resource” has connected mass audiences to the likes of Home Depot, Kraft and many others. Home Depot has curated some of the best “do-it-yourself” content out there while Kraft has curated a huge library of recipes that moms love.

As an agency executive, in many ways my job is to help brands stand out or get noticed — and it feels like my job has gotten harder over the years. 10 years ago we we didn’t have much quality digital content. Today we are drowning in it and bombarded by messaging wherever we turn.

It’s critical for any marketer to be strategic about what content they create, who they partner with and how to leverage and curate existing content in order to drive their business goals. By thinking about content across these 3 buckets we can begin to formulate the right strategy and get one step closer to our consumer.

–Avi Savar

Avi Savar is the founder and Chief Creative Officer of Big Fuel, a pure-play social media agency designed for the needs of large brands. He is the author of Content Commerce: Engaging Customers across Paid, Owned, and Earned Channels.

Want more great tips about social media, social selling, and content marketing?

Subscribe to the Trapit blog, and we will send them to your inbox!

Image via Flickr

Leave a Reply