Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
The official podcast of Shoemaker Films. Every week we share content related to digital marketing, video production, and brand building; and frequently meet with local creatives, entrepreneurs, and business owners for in-depth conversations. Get to know local heavy hitters and influencers in the Greater Philadelphia region while picking up some tactical advice and tips on starting and running a business, being productive, creating content, and everything in between.
Hi. Welcome to another episode of The Shoemaker Lab. I'm Dane Shoemaker, your host, and we're talking content strategy today. So, Shoemaker Films, we produce video content for brands, and one of the things that we do anytime we're working with a client on a long term basis, we build a content strategy for them. So that is anytime we're doing a podcast, regular social media content, maybe a YouTube channel, things like that where we're producing regular content, we establish what's called a content strategy, right?
Dane Shoemaker:And we're gonna go through, all of the elements today that goes into that. So if that sounds interesting to you, go ahead and watch the rest of this video. If you're not subscribed already, please subscribe. If you're in the Greater Philadelphia area or really anywhere in the US and you need, some type of video content help, please give us a ring or visit our website, shoemakerfilms.com. So today, content strategy.
Dane Shoemaker:So anytime, again, we engage with a with a client, we're gonna we're gonna build out typically a 10 to 15 page document, and this is really a living document, right? This is not a one and done type of thing. We need to evaluate this every 3 to 6 months, right? And just like a plan, you know, you need to plan to pivot, right, and when it makes sense for your business. But ultimately, what the content strategy is going to establish really is, you know, what are the goals of the content, right?
Dane Shoemaker:Why are we even making the content? What's the goal? We might put some metrics around that. Right? Who are we targeting?
Dane Shoemaker:What types of content? Right? We get into content pillars. You know, what are the platforms that we're going out, where this content's going out to? Different things like that.
Dane Shoemaker:So, actually, the first thing that we do is typically, we'll send out a questionnaire, right? And basically the questionnaire will, we'll put this up on the screen for you to take a look at it, but the questionnaire, is sent to anyone where we have, you know, we'll do the questionnaire and then we'll have a discovery call typically, if they're interested in doing some type of long form piece of content, right, on a regular basis. So, you know, the name of your business, what's your industry and niche? You know, what's the nature of your business? What types of products and services do you offer?
Dane Shoemaker:How many years have you been in business? What's your vision, mission, and goals of the business as well as the content? And, you know, tell us just a little bit more about you and your and your business, right? It's really just capturing that basic core information. Typically, this is done, you know, in a discovery call.
Dane Shoemaker:We can answer this, but we also have this built into a questionnaire, so there's no confusion. That's really step 1. Right? So we get a lot of that baseline foundational information about your business, and then we get more into content strategy. Right?
Dane Shoemaker:So what's your current marketing mix look like, you know, outside of social media and podcasting and YouTube, because assuming that's all gonna be new to you, what are you doing today from a marketing standpoint? Right? So, are you advertising? You know, what does that look like? You know, email, you know, is it ads, billboards, things like that, you know, what kind what's your marketing mix look like?
Dane Shoemaker:We also like to understand a little bit more what you're doing today from a social media standpoint. Most businesses today have an established, you know, their presence on social media. Right? So what does that look like today? What are some things that you're doing today?
Dane Shoemaker:What's working? What's not working? And we wanna understand some of that stuff. Right? You know, you can go to our website and check out the questionnaire.
Dane Shoemaker:We won't get too much into that. So let's dive into what is entails in the content strategy itself. Right? So, you know, again, it's gonna be a 10 to 15 page document. After the first couple meetings with us, we'll present that to you.
Dane Shoemaker:Right? And, again, it's gonna have the first page is gonna have those foundational elements of your business. What do you do? Who do you serve? How long have you been in business?
Dane Shoemaker:Just so we're aligned on that and there's no confusion. Really, the second main piece of that is, what is the goal of the content strategy and and what are we producing? Right? So is it is it YouTube content? Is it social media content?
Dane Shoemaker:How how often is that content going out? It's kind of just aligning on those deliverables. So after we establish kind of that core, who, what, why, of your business, we get into actually what is the goal of the content, right? Are we trying to build your brand, right? Are we trying to build you as a business owner or, you know, a expert in your field?
Dane Shoemaker:We're trying to build up your reputation, build up your authority in a particular domain, right? Or are you trying to drive leads, right? Are you trying to drive revenue, right? What is the goal of putting out content? We wanna make sure we document that and there's kind of a clear kind of roadmap as we progress and build our relationship.
Dane Shoemaker:Right? And we wanna put some metrics behind that so we can keep, you know, keep track of, you know, how we're how we're doing together. Right? It's a partnership. One of the the the big thing for us is, you know, around branding and what the visuals are going to look like.
Dane Shoemaker:Right? So a lot of the clients that we work with today, they might have maybe a logo that they had created couple years ago from a friend. Maybe they are currently working with an agency. Right? And they have pretty well established brand guidelines.
Dane Shoemaker:Right? Logo, fonts, colors, right? Brand, tonal, you know, adjectives, things like that. We wanna understand what that is, right? Because, you know, branding is a big part of what we do, right?
Dane Shoemaker:We're putting out visual content. We want it to look consistent with what the rest of your brand will look like, right? What does your website look like? What does your sales collateral? Maybe you have some print materials.
Dane Shoemaker:We want all of that to look and feel very similar so that when you do launch your podcast or launch your YouTube channel or you start pumping out a lot of social media content, it all looks consistent with what you're currently doing, with your existing brand. Right? So we will typically have 1 to 2 pages in the content strategy that outlines, you know, what your logo looks like, and we don't we don't offer branding services per se, but we can help you kind of establish that. Right? So if you have a logo already, we'll take that logo and we'll work with you to kinda tweak it, for, you know, social media.
Dane Shoemaker:What we've also done in the past is actually take, you know, had an, kind of an old JPEG logo that we had, vectorize it, actually work with our motion graphic designers, make it a vector file, and actually add some movement to it to really add some nice elements to your, video content. Right? So we can work with you on some of those things. So it'll have your logo. Maybe it's, you know, stacked or vertical style logo.
Dane Shoemaker:There's different, you know, different ways that those are interpreted. And then you have your fonts, your colors, maybe any icons, things like that that's all part of your visual brand and we wanna make sure that all of that's outlined in the content strategy so that that influences everything else, that we're, you know, that we're creating for you. Right? So it all stays consistent, you know, throughout the life of our our engagement with you. Right?
Dane Shoemaker:Next, we wanna establish the the target persona. Right? Who is the, who is the buyer, the the audience that you're looking to engage with, right? We really want to establish that. Who is that, Right?
Dane Shoemaker:You know, you want your content to really speak to, your your target audience. Right? That that should be obvious, but it's not always so so clear, right? So we can work with you on that. So the next thing that we we outline in the content strategy is your target persona, right?
Dane Shoemaker:Who is the audience intended, for your content, right? So we really wanna look at, you know, who's gonna be watching the videos. We wanna look at demographics. We wanna look at psychographics. Right?
Dane Shoemaker:So demographics are gonna be male, female. Right? You know, age. Right? Where are they locate located geographically?
Dane Shoemaker:What do they do for a living? You know, things like that. Then you have psychographics which are a little bit more how they think, how they feel, maybe some of their values. Right? Some some of those different elements.
Dane Shoemaker:So the better you can kind of identify who that persona is and get really super granular. Right? That might be, are they married? Do they have kids? You know, what are some of the hobbies that they like to do?
Dane Shoemaker:Right? Some of the things that you may not think have anything to do with your content, but you really wanna envision that person. And the better you can envision who your target persona is, the better the better you can your your content will be because you you're speaking to that person and that person, if you know, you know, if you know who your audience is, the better, you know, your audience, the better contacts are gonna be, the more, you know, the, the, the more impact we'll have, whether that's sales, brand leads, etcetera. Right? So we'll usually spend some time working with you to identify who that is and maybe you don't really know who that is yet.
Dane Shoemaker:Right? And if you're an early stage, company, you may not have that dialed in too much yet. So, we can work with you on that, right? Maybe that's interviewing some of your your your current clients. Right?
Dane Shoemaker:Maybe it's, sitting down, looking at some data, things like that, and we'll we'll develop that together as part of the content strategy. Right? Now we're getting a little bit more into, okay, platforms, right? What are we actually producing? For some clients, we're just doing a weekly podcast.
Dane Shoemaker:For some clients, we're doing podcast, YouTube, as well as their social media, right? So, you know, and that social media has different levels, right? Maybe it's just podcast clips or it's actually completely separate from the podcast or YouTube channel where we're actually developing, you know, 3 to 4 to 5 posts per week in addition to some of the the podcast clips and things like that. So, you know, what are the platforms where we're posting? YouTube, Spotify, Apple, right?
Dane Shoemaker:All of the podcast streaming platforms, then maybe on the social platforms, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, right? Where are we posting the content and and how much are we posting? Right? Is it one long form episode on YouTube per week plus 5, you know, podcast clips that are going out on social media, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, and, you know, are we doing graphics? Are we doing carousels?
Dane Shoemaker:Really, so it all depends on what those deliverables are, and we wanna make sure we outline that pretty clearly, so that everyone is aligned and and there's no misunderstanding. Right? And a lot of that stuff will get flushed out before we even go down this process that'll be in kind of our contract with you, right? So, but we wanna make sure that's outlined in the content strategy because we're talking about the content. Right?
Dane Shoemaker:And we wanna understand what are the exact deliverables we're doing. Right? And, you know, have that outlined. Then we get into what's called content pillars, right? So, we talk about we've talked about what the goal of the content strategy is.
Dane Shoemaker:We've talked about who our target persona is, what platforms are we posting on. Now, we're gonna talk about the pillars, right? And we talk about content pillars. They're really just like themes or topics, right? And it's really good to have maybe 3 to 5, content pillars.
Dane Shoemaker:Right? So, you know, that might be it kind of is like different themes that you wanna post about. So let's say I am well, for for instance, Shoemaker Lab and the Shoemaker films content that we put out every week. Right? So our content pillars are going to be, clips from the podcast.
Dane Shoemaker:Right? So that is a part of our pillar, right? But we also talk about digital marketing tips and tricks, as well as, you know, technical, you know, a little bit of video, production technical tips. Right? But really more from from a business user standpoint.
Dane Shoemaker:So that's really like 33 of our content pillars. So the podcast clips, digital marketing tips, and video camera tips for business users. Right? And, you know, most of our clients are gonna have between 3 to 5 pillars, right, or themes that they're talking about. And that helps kinda steer your content, so it doesn't feel like all over the place.
Dane Shoemaker:So you kind of have a good mix throughout the week. So maybe you're posting, you know, a carousel about digital marketing tips, then there's a reel or a video clip from the podcast. Maybe it's an interview with a business owner where we're talking about, you know, what they do, how they promote their business, things like that. So, that's kind of the the strategy around content pillars and you wanna keep it pretty consistent. You can shy away from that from time to time but at least your audience is going to kind of know what to expect from your channel, from your, you know, from your account, right?
Dane Shoemaker:If there's really like 3 to 5 or or 6, different themes or different, types of videos, types of content that they're gonna be seeing, and that's gonna help with the algorithm. That's gonna help with, you know, making sure they understand, Hey, if I'm subscribing to you, I know what to expect every week. Right? So that's content pillars. So the next the next section here is about, mood boards.
Dane Shoemaker:So mood boards can kind of tie into that brand and style guidelines, section at the front end of the content strategy. But really what this is is pulling, samples from, you know, inspiration across the internet. Maybe you wanna use Pinterest or you can save things in a, you know, in Notion or ClickUp or something like that, right? But basically, you want to pull imagery, and, you know, different types of content that you wanna kinda mimic or, you like that and you wanna kinda draw from from inspiration. Right?
Dane Shoemaker:So it it really ties well into, the brand and style guidelines at the front end, like I mentioned, because your logos, your fonts, and your colors, you know, also, you wanna have some imagery, some visual stuff that kinda ties into your brand. But it's good to include that in here somewhere in the content strategy because, you know, ultimately you're gonna be creating, you know, visual stuff and you wanna kinda have a consistent look and feel right but also, provide some inspiration and this might include kind of a sample, you know, sample feed if we're doing social media, you kinda wanna look at your Instagram feed, right? And kinda have it, okay, what does it look like? You know, you might be using some of those visuals and the colors and the branding, right? So mood, board, again, important there.
Dane Shoemaker:And then we wanna get into the content schedule. So we kinda talked about, hey, what are the deliverables that we're doing? What are the platforms? Now what's the schedule look like? Right?
Dane Shoemaker:So is it every Tuesday, every Wednesday, that long form episode? Most of our podcast clients will go out every Tuesday, and then we have, you know, content basically going out every day. So you wanna build out that schedule and kind of build out a sample calendar. You know, it's helpful to have that in the content strategy even if you don't stick with that per se. You know, the the schedule you wanna have kinda mapped out on paper so you can kinda stick to that.
Dane Shoemaker:And so, you you know what that will look like. Right? Even if you don't stick to that plan, there's always a plan you can pivot from there. Right? The next thing is the engagement plan.
Dane Shoemaker:Right? So when we talk about content, you're putting out content, but you also wanna engage with your audience. Right? And this can be a whole separate other video. We'll talk, you know, we'll probably have a separate video about this in the future, but basically you want to have about 15 to 30 minutes of engagement on social media when you put out a piece of content and what is engagement?
Dane Shoemaker:So maybe it's commenting on some other posts, right? Some other content that, one of your followers maybe had posted or you're, you know, you're liking comments on your own content, right? Or you're, you know, just engaging. You're just using the platform. Right?
Dane Shoemaker:It's proven that, you know, if you do a post and then they say, you know, post and ghost. Right? If you do a post and then don't do anything with it, your your content will do a lot better if you post and then you're actually on the platform for about 15 minutes, you know, commenting, liking, you know, doing different activities, right? Following new people, right, because those new followers then, they might see you, they might follow you, they'll like your content. So your content's gonna perform a lot better, if you're, you know, active on the platforms around the time that you're actually posting.
Dane Shoemaker:Right? So what does that plan look like? And typically a plan will be again, it goes back to the target audience, right? Who is your audience? So you wanna be following your audience, you wanna be engaging with your audience.
Dane Shoemaker:Who does that look like? It kinda goes back to that target persona but then maybe, you know, you have a a plan that looks like, hey, I wanna follow, and engage with 10 to 15 new accounts every day and, you know, that's gonna help your content. It's also gonna help grow your account significantly, right? So that's that's part of the service that we offer, engagement. Right?
Dane Shoemaker:Again, we recommend about 15 to 30 minutes per day engaging with your audience. Again, this isn't just mindlessly scrolling on Instagram. That's not engagement. Right? So you actually wanna proactively look for people whether they're following you or they're new people that kind of match who your persona is.
Dane Shoemaker:You wanna follow them, engage with them. There's a good chance then that they will engage with you, like your content and start following you. Right? So that's that's the name of the game. And so that's really it.
Dane Shoemaker:So if we kind of summarize it, we'll call it the business summary, kind of those foundational elements of the, what does your business do and what are your goals for the content strategy? What the brand and style guidelines will include the mood board with that as well, your target persona, who is the person that we are trying to reach with our content, what's the audience and what are we trying to get them to do? The content pillars, right? What are the themes or topics that we're regularly posting or talking about in a podcast or YouTube channel? What are the platforms that we're using?
Dane Shoemaker:Is it YouTube? Is it Spotify? Right? Is it Instagram, Facebook? What platforms are we actually putting the content out on?
Dane Shoemaker:What's that schedule look like? How often are we, how often are we putting out content? And then what does the engagement plan look like? How do we, how, how do we actively grow and communicate and interact or interface with our with our audience, right? That's really it.
Dane Shoemaker:Typically, again, we're gonna build out this strategy in partnership with you, at the start of any long term engagement, whether that's a social media, engagement or it's a podcast or YouTube channel we're, we're producing, with you. So, if this sounds interesting or valuable to you, please get in touch. Happy to answer any questions. Make sure you subscribe, to our YouTube channel as well if you found this valuable. Thanks.
Dane Shoemaker:Thanks for listening today. Shoemaker Lab is an original production by Shoemaker Films, LLC. LLC. If you enjoyed today's content, please consider subscribing on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your content. Follow us on Instagram at shoemaker.films.
Dane Shoemaker:And if you're a business that's either interested in our video production services or would like be a guest on the show, get in touch by using the contact form on our website, shoemakerfilms.com.