How to create a better content strategy

Kristina: How important is it for brands to have not only a content creation strategy but a content discoverability strategy?

Neil Mody, CEO, nRelate: Any content marketer can tell you that content strategy is all about context. Great content is a valuable tool to have in your arsenal, but without the correct exposure and appropriate context, it's pretty much useless. Having a comprehensive discoverability strategy can ensure that your brand's content lives on the right sites, and is read by your target demographic. This is one of the reasons why, at nRelate, we put so much focus on quality of our content recommendations. If your message isn't being found and consumed by the right people on the right sites, it doesn't matter how good it is.

Kristina: Facebook's new discoverability option sounds like a good option; but can brands get similar results outside of the social network?

Neil: Definitely. It's clear that social networking sites can foster content discovery among users, but that's only if they're already watching or following your brand. What about those that haven't yet been exposed to your content? Consumers spend more than seven hours a week actively looking for content online, and no single search engine or website is the sole gateway to content discovery. In fact, just last year we conducted a survey looking at how users consume and discover content online, and found social media to be one of the weaker forces driving consumer discovery. The strongest method was found to be related links, with 76% percent of consumers reporting clicking on related links at the bottom of articles for more information, versus 24% using social media, and just 7% using Facebook. It's important that content creators and marketers pay special attention to this consumer behavior when thinking about their content discoverability strategy to maximize their visibility and reach.
Kristina: What are the differences between syndicating content online and making content more discoverable?

Neil: Content syndication is a way to make content more discoverable online, but they are not one and the same. Brands and publishers can make content more discoverable by getting it up on social media channels, or making their corporate blog more visible on the home page of their site. They may also create new sites, like Citibank's Women & Company, which can help make content more visible to their target audiences.

Content syndication really helps drive readers to your content. Platforms like nRelate take your content and put it into widgets alongside article results on a publisher's site. When audiences are on the site reading articles, the "related Articles" widget provides those readers with quick links to stories; a study we did with Harris showed that an average session of reading online is 3-4 articles, so there is a propensity to click to read further. Syndicating content can also give your content a longer shelf-life; it won't be buried under a few weeks' worth of blog posts or social feeds, so it's more likely consumers will see it weeks after it has originally posted.

Tags: branded content, content discoverability, content strategy, nRelate, online content