Content strategists often make mistakes. What are the top ones to avoid?

A huge mistake that is often made, is not getting enough context on the customer/client. Trying to onboard your customer/client with some preliminary questions to aid preparation and research are always helpful, but also active listening and asking open ended questions is ideal.

In my experience of creating content for LinkedIn, YT and Instagram I think content strategists should avoid: skipping audience research, lacking clear goals, ignoring what audience wants, inconsistency in tone and style, trying to overpush content in a short span of time, neglecting analytics, and forgetting content updates. To succeed, understand your audience, set clear aims, optimize your page/channel, keep a consistent voice and persona, analyze data, and refresh content regularly. Thanks for reading:)

The major flaw is failing to understand a user's needs. The strategist's role is to support the user, whether that is to instruct, inform or guide. To identify opportunities that enables or delights the reader. To also help shape the UX and leverage the brand. The role is complex, and requires a deep understanding of the user needs and the overall goals. It is a tricky balance but done well can be like gold dust.

skipping the fundamentals is the most common mistake. your first step should be to define your w's . the lack of clarity on ... 1. who is your viewer ? 2. what do they want to see ? 3.why is this relevant to them ? usually has a cascading effect on any form of planning. Having a well-defined understanding of these elements ensures that your content serves a purpose and resonates with your audience. It lays the foundation for a coherent content strategy, guiding your planning and execution. Additionally, a concise and compelling one-liner can act as a guiding principle, keeping your team aligned and focused on the core purpose of your content.

Effective content strategy avoids common pitfalls by focusing on precision and adaptability: ⇢ Prioritize Goal Clarity: A foundational error is vague objectives. Clear, actionable goals rooted in business strategy and audience insight drive purposeful content creation. ⇢ Learning from Missteps: Acknowledge that errors offer growth opportunities. Implement a culture of continuous improvement, where each mistake informs future strategy adjustments. ⇢ Quantify and Qualify Objectives: Beyond broad goals, pinpoint exact outcomes—be it enhancing SEO, amplifying brand voice, or boosting conversion rates. Apply the SMART framework to ensure goals are not only aspirational but also attainable and aligned with specific timelines.

Make the best possible content you can and then give it away without asking for anything in return. Unless you want their contact information to continue to send them high-quality educational content that will better the lives of your audience. If you're planning to use a paywall or some mechanism to make them give you their contact info in order to get the content, you'll get throwaway contact information, unless your content is so beneficial they want to keep getting content from you.

Not doing enough research can mislead a content strategist. Without knowing the pain points, how can one prepare a good content plan? So, they can't afford to ignore the research part. 

Not validating the topics you're targeting with user research is a huge mistake. You could be wasting hours and thousands of dollars on every post you write that doesn't hit the mark. Some ways to validate a topic is worth covering: - Customer support teams - User reviews/feedback - Google search volume - Trend analysis (Google Trends, Exploding Topics, Glimpse) - Your own data (did you write about a similar topic and it performed well?)

Research ought to also include research on the content itself. Below are a few points on how to write content through research: 1. Read. Read a lot. 2. Pick up a specific topic. 3. Read related news and research papers to move towards creating a more information-accurate content. 4. Ponder over your views on the topic. 5. Write what you have understood from your research, and what you think about it. You may also give real life examples to explain your content better.

One crucial mistake is failing to tailor content to each channel. You wouldn't wear a tuxedo to the beach, would you? Each platform has its style, tone, and format preferences. For example, a long-winded blog post detailing the spork’s history might be a hit on a niche historical blog. Still, a catchy infographic with critical facts would likely resonate better on a visually-driven platform like LinkedIn.

In the realm of content strategy, planning is not just a step; it’s a game-changer. Content batching, where you dedicate a day or two to create all your major content pieces, can be incredibly effective. It harnesses the power of focus and flow—when you’re in the zone, you’re not just creating; you’re crafting a cohesive narrative. By immersing yourself in the process, free from the interruptions of daily tasks, you can produce more consistent and thoughtfully interconnected content. This approach not only saves time in the long run but also ensures that your content is strategically aligned and resonates more deeply with your audience.

Sem planejamento, o conteúdo não é estratégico nem para o público, ou seja, para quem consome; nem para quem faz. Um bom profissional da área de conteúdo realiza seus próprios calendários editoriais e cria a partir da pesquisa e planejamento.

Effective planning is essential in content strategy to avoid inconsistencies and ensure timely delivery. Creating a detailed content calendar and workflow, assigning clear roles, and utilizing project management tools are crucial steps. These practices organize ideas, streamline production, and maintain content quality. Tools like editorial calendars and content maps support efficient planning, enabling a consistent output that aligns with strategic goals. This approach transforms strategy into actionable execution, vital for sustaining a result-driven Content Factory.

Creating content without a strategic plan can result in inconsistencies and disjointed messaging. Develop a content calendar that aligns with your objectives and ensures a cohesive narrative.

If you’re looking for a way to be more consistent online there are two ways to go about it: 1. Create content daily — block out time each day to research your competitors post and analyze what’s performing well. Design content from that. 2. Create content in bulk — maybe daily creation isn’t your thing. That’s okay. You could always batch-creating. Maybe everyone Sunday for 2-3 hours you create your content for the week ahead. It needs to be part of of your routine in order for it to become a habit. Once content creation is a habit, showing up consistently is something you won’t even have to think about!

My top don’ts for quality content: ❌ Write like a marketer ❌ Use words you won’t use in real life ❌ Forget to edit ❌ Spend more time on the content than the title or headings ❌ Make stuff up

Here’s an off-the-hip litmus test for creating quality content in a noisy ecosystem: 1. Empathetic: Addresses and anticipates audience goals, needs, questions and objections 2. Distinctive: Stands out, counters arguments, tells untold stories, offers new perspectives 3. Engaging: Creatively captivates and maintains attention while avoiding clickbait 4. Visual: Enables skimming, reinforcing key points with callouts, bulleted lists, charts, and graphics 5. Actionable: Provides practical insights and answers, guiding to tangible next steps 6. Accessible: Uses correct spelling, grammar, and approachable language, optimized for SEO and ADA compliance. 7. Remarkable: Inspires debate, dialogue, reactions, and sharing

Quality content requires original and HUMAN thought. There are no shortcuts: in order to create quality content you should do the work: get the experience, do the research, read, talk to your audience, re-write over and over, consult experts etc. Quality content means the audience experiences the content as valuable. The biggest mistake you can make is creating content that would be valuable to you if the audience reads/sees it, so the simple trick to avoid this mistake is to imagine your audience sending you this content: would it be worth your time? One hint: if your audience would perceive your content as bragging or promising, it doesnt offer value to them, so it’s not quality content, no matter how much effort went into it!

Esto es, sin duda, algo que hasta los más expertos, incluso referentes en sus campos de estudio, dejan pasar. He visto como olvidan que su principal aporte es relacionar contenidos ya existentes y aportar su propia mirada y en su lugar terminan haciendo un “collage” de temas extraídos de varias fuentes (las que algunas veces no citan, auch!). Recordemos que el conocimiento avanza parándose en hombros de gigantes, pero a ellos ¡hay que darles las gracias!

Couldn’t agree more! Its the same with research, if you dont do your homework, follow the latest trends and listen to both practice and theory, you are not making an impact, which risks losing your audience, your partners and your intrinsic motivation 💪

Not optimizing your content is a cardinal sin in the realm of content strategy! It's like baking a delicious cake but forgetting to add frosting. Optimization ensures your content reaches its full potential by enhancing visibility, engagement, and conversion rates. Ignoring optimization means missing out on valuable opportunities to connect with your audience and achieve your goals. It's a mistake that can't be overlooked if you're serious about making an impact in today's competitive digital landscape! 🚀✨

Optimizing content is key - but you need to optimize the content that is already working well and then carry the elements that reader’s like over into other new content. Also, update older content or make it deeper for better insights.

Optimising your content means knowing every audience at every platform and adapt that content so it's not a mere copy paste. What can work in Instagram perhaps doesn't have same results in Tik Tok. Also, searching what keywords your audience look for is key to introduce those in your headlines and other copies. Last but not least, do all of this in content that is working, so you must also track and measure all your publications to understand what's performing better.

O conteúdo pode ser otimizado aplicando técnicas de SEO, de modo que o material criado gere maior engajamento do público-alvo. Fazendo links e conexões com outras publicações, bem como trabalhando em parceria com outros criadores.

Poorly crafted content harms your brand. Prioritize quality over quantity. Ensure accuracy, readability, and value for your audience.

It’s really important to imagine all the ways a story or piece of content can be repurposed across a variety of journeys. Building assets can be time consuming — so make sure to determine how to tell the same story at different levels, lengths, for different audiences and through different mediums. Repurposing content will help you focus on using powerful stories to advance your strategies.

Right message/right platform/right medium. A content strategy needs to consider where your message will be, how it’ll appear (video/gif/photo), and what you’re trying to say. Without really understanding platforms, your strategy will fall on its face

The biggest mistake I see is planning content for SEO and algorithms instead of for the end user of the product or service. This is especially ill-advised if the pool of potential buyers for the product or service is small or niche. Displaying niche expertise through thought leadership is a better way to reach actual buyers.

Break out of marketing habituations. It's a common human behavior to develop content like "we've always done it" or how you've seen other marketers do it. The brain gets used to doing things a certain way and goes on autopilot. It limits your ability to find new opportunities to connect with your audience. They see the same stuff all the time. Don't obsess over the competition like you used to - it's not about doing it better than them; it's about doing something they're not doing. Your audience doesn't care about your rivalry. They care about who can solve their problem and who will talk to them like they're a human - not a wallet. Create content that creates contrast, curiosity and connection.

A big mistake is talking "AT" your audiences, and not talking with or to them, stakeholders want to connect with an authentic voice and believe that your brand genuinely holds them in mind. There's impact in telling the story to sell the story. Be real and relative and your engagement will increase across the board!