9 Steps to Multichannel Content Planning Success

Want to reach your audience across multiple platforms? Here's a quick guide to creating a successful multichannel content plan:

1. Set clear, measurable goals
2. Understand your target audience
3. Review existing content
4. Choose appropriate channels
5. Create a content schedule
6. Establish content creation processes
7. Use a content management system
8. Produce and optimize content
9. Monitor and analyze results

By following these steps, you'll create a cohesive content strategy that reaches your audience effectively across multiple channels.

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1. Set Clear Goals

Setting clear, measurable goals for your content strategy is key. It helps guide your work and keeps everyone focused on the same targets across different platforms.

Create SMART Goals

Use the SMART framework to set good goals:

Match Business Objectives

Your content goals should support your main business goals. This keeps your content plan in line with your company's overall success.

Here's how to link content goals with business goals:

2. Know Your Audience

Understanding your audience is key to making content they'll like. When you know who you're talking to, you can make content that fits their needs and interests.

Build Audience Profiles

Making audience profiles helps you picture your ideal customers. These profiles include basic facts about them and what they care about. This helps you make content that speaks to them directly.

Here's what to include in your audience profiles:

Find Out Where They Spend Time Online

Knowing which online platforms your audience uses helps you put your content in the right places. This way, more people will see and engage with what you make.

Check these things to learn where your audience spends time:

• Social Media: Which sites do they use most? What kind of posts do they like?
• Email: What emails do they open? How often do they want emails?
• Blog: What topics do they read about? Do they prefer articles, videos, or podcasts?
• Video: Where do they watch videos? What types of videos do they like?

3. Review Existing Content

Looking at your current content helps you plan better for multiple channels. This step shows you what works, what doesn't, and where you can improve.

Check Content Performance

Start by looking at how well your content is doing. Check these numbers:

Find Content Gaps

After checking how your content is doing, look for what's missing. Ask yourself:

• What topics or types of content are we not making?
• Are we missing any groups of people we want to reach?
• Are there any online places where we're not sharing content?

Finding these gaps helps you make a plan to fill them and make your content better overall.

For example, if you see that people like your videos but you don't have many on YouTube, you can plan to make more videos and put them on YouTube.

4. Pick Your Channels

Assess Channel Options

When choosing channels for your content plan, think about:

• Where your audience spends time online
• Which channels get the most likes and comments
• What types of content work best on each channel

This helps you pick the right places to share your content.

Balance Channel Use

Don't put all your effort into one channel. Instead:

• Use different channels to reach more people
• Focus more on channels that work well, but keep using others too
• Try new things and change your plan if needed

This way, you can reach more people and keep them interested.

Use this table to help you choose which channels to use. Pick the ones that match your audience and the type of content you make.

5. Make a Content Schedule

Build a Main Calendar

A main calendar helps you plan when to share your content across different channels. It keeps your team on the same page and makes sure you don't miss important dates.

When making your main calendar, think about:

• Important dates: Mark holidays, product launches, and events your audience cares about.
• Topics: Choose topics that fit your content plan and what your audience likes.
• Content types: Decide what kinds of content you'll make, like blog posts, social media updates, videos, and podcasts.

Here's what a simple main calendar might look like:

Change Content for Each Channel

While your main calendar gives you a big picture view, it's important to change your content to fit each channel. This helps you connect better with people on different platforms.

When changing your content for each channel, think about:

• What people like: Make content that fits the people who use each channel. For example, if younger people use your Instagram, use more pictures and videos.
• How each channel works: Make sure your content fits the rules of each channel. For example, Twitter has a word limit, but YouTube lets you make longer videos.
• How you talk: Change how you speak to match each channel. You might be more formal on Facebook but more casual on Twitter.

By changing your content for each channel, more people will like and share what you post.

Here's how you might change the same content for different channels:

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6. Set Up Content Creation Steps

Create Work Processes

To make good content quickly, you need a plan. Here's how to set one up:

1. Decide what you want your content to do
2. Choose who does what on your team
3. Make a step-by-step plan for creating content

Here's an example of a content creation plan:

This plan helps everyone know what to do and when to do it.

Assign Team Roles

Give each person on your team a clear job. This stops people from doing the same work twice. Here are some jobs you can give:

• Content Manager: Leads the team and checks the work
• Content Creator: Writes and edits the content
• Reviewer: Reads the content and says if it's good

When you give out jobs, think about:

• What each person is good at
• How much work each person can do
• Making sure everyone talks to each other

7. Use a Content Management Tool

Pick the Right System

Choosing a good content management tool helps you plan and share content across many channels. Here's what to think about when picking a system:

• Can it grow as you need more?
• Does it work with your other tools?
• Can you change it to fit how you work?
• Is it easy to use?

Here are some popular options:

Set Content Rules

Making rules for your content helps keep it good and the same across all channels. Here's what to do:

• Decide how your brand should sound
• Make a guide for writing style
• Plan when to share content
• Choose who checks content before sharing

Setting these rules helps people trust your brand and like your content more.

Here's an example of content rules:

8. Make and Improve Content

Plan for Each Channel

To make good content for different online places, follow these steps:

• Know who you're talking to: Find out what your audience likes on each channel.
• Set goals: Decide what you want to achieve, like getting more followers or website visits.
• Pick the right content: Choose what works best for each channel, like videos for YouTube or pictures for Instagram.
• Use special features: Try things like Instagram Stories or Facebook Live to make your content more interesting.

Fit Content to Platforms

After planning, make sure your content fits each online place well:

9. Track and Study Results

Checking how well your content does is key to making it better. By looking at the numbers, you can see what works and what doesn't, and make smart choices for your next steps.

Pick Important Numbers to Watch

To see how well your content is doing, you need to choose which numbers matter most. These numbers should match what you want to achieve. Here are some common ones to look at:

When picking which numbers to watch:

• Make sure they match your goals
• Don't pick too many - focus on a few key ones
• Mix different types to get a full picture

Use What You Learn to Get Better

Once you know which numbers to watch, use what you learn to make your content better:

• Look at your numbers often to see what's working
• Find patterns in what people like
• Try different things and see which works best
• Change your plan based on what the numbers show

Conclusion

Quick Step Review

Here's a simple review of the 9 steps for good multichannel content planning:

Keep Improving

Making content for many channels is something you need to keep working on. The internet changes a lot, so you need to be ready to change too. Here's how to stay on top of things:

• Check how your content is doing often
• Be ready to change your plans if needed
• Learn about new ways to make and share content
• Watch what your audience likes and doesn't like

FAQs

How to create a multi-channel content strategy?

To make a multi-channel content strategy, follow these steps:

1. Know your audience: Find out who your customers are and what they like.
2. Set goals: Decide what you want your content to do.
3. Pick channels: Choose where to share your content, like social media or email.
4. Make a plan: Schedule when you'll post your content.
5. Use content more than once: Share the same content in different ways on different channels.

How do you structure an effective multi-channel market plan?

Here's how to make a good multi-channel market plan:

What is multichannel content?

Multichannel content means sharing your content in many places online. This could be:

• Social media posts
• Emails
• Blog posts
• Paid ads

By using many channels, you can:

• Reach more people
• Get more people to see your content
• Share your message in different ways

Using the same content on different channels helps you save time and get better results.

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