Just because you have something to SAY does not mean you know HOW to say it. AND Just because you have said something does not mean people would respond accordingly. There are factors responsible for successful online content.

1. Prepared by Gideon Ilori
Content
Strategy
and Ideation
For UNDP Risk Communication Training
– Youth And Media Creatives Mentoring

2. TABLE
OF
CONTENTS
02
04
CONTENT STRATEGY OVERVIEW
An introduction to Content
Strategy
01
KEYWORD / SEO
Use of keywords and
Search Engine Optimization
03
AUDIENCE & BRAND CONTENT
Audience discovery and
brand content
CONCLUSION

3. Introduction
to content
strategy
01
(Overview)

4. Fact Check
Just because you have something
to SAY does not mean you know
HOW to say it.
Just because you have said
something does not mean people
would respond accordingly.
1
2

5. The Digital Landscape
Platforms
People
Content
INTEREST

6. What is Content?
• Text
• Pictures
• Graphics
• Infographics
• Video
• Audio
• etc
F o r m a t s

7. “…the term "content" applies to anything that
conveys meaningful information to a person.
Content can be presented as text or graphics or
images or video or audio..”
—Morten Rand-Handriksen
What is Content?

8. What is Strategy?
• Goals
• Processes
• Principles

9. “a plan, method, or series of maneuvers or
stratagems for obtaining a specific goal or result
—Dictionary.com
What is Strategy?

10. Content strategy is the art of
bringingthe right contentto the
right person and the right place
at the right time and inthe right
context.
STRATEGY
—Morten Rand-Handriksen

11. STRATEGY
Planning / Preparation
Development / Creation
Deployment / Distribution
Management
STAGES

12. What do youwant to say?
Whodo youwant to speak to?
When do you want to say it?
Why do you want to say it?
How do you want to sayit?
---------------------------------
What response do you expect?
STRATEGY

13. INITIATE
This is not just about thinking
ahead, it focuses on becoming your
target audience for a moment and
walk their path in order to form a
connection with them at every
decision making stage
People are bombarded with
infromation everyday so mainting top
of mind awareness as they push
through their day, hence, the need to
always initiate a relevant conversation
along their path to specific goals.
ANTICIPATE
13
CONTENTSTRATEGYSIMPLIFIED

14. ANTICIPATE
Prepare for action / feedback
before you speak (No Blind Leap)
• Goal
• Offer (Solution / Value)
• Target Audience / Recipient
(Buyer Persona) (Eco-system)
• Action required
(Buy, Talk, Give, Change Behavior)
• Process / Steps / Channel
(Customer Journey)
• Objections

15. Goal
GOAL
GAP
Using and maximizing digital marketing for
development is relatively new to most online
users / content creators in Nigeria as most of
the social media and adjunct platforms has
grown on the back of social expression and
business advancements.
Hence, the need to LEARN how to adapt
already known skills and processes to
support development goals
The development
Perspective to
digital /content
marketing

16. Business Goal Development Goal
Social Expression Social Impact
Content Marketing Digital Journalism
News Feature
VS
Goal
Non-profit Initiatives

17. Goal
What do
you want to
achieve?
+ Attract new Customers / Converts
+ Sustain Conversation / Subject Matter
+ Improve Relationship / Partnership
+ Increase Commitment / Involvement

18. Offer
What is the
VALUE of your
solution to the
target?

19. USP SOV
Focus on the product/brand Focus on the customer / recipient
Picture of product emphasized Picture of the future emphasized
Difference from the competition Difference from the previous state
Reason for the customer to pay Reason for the company / brand to
exist (Serve)
Offer

20. Offer

21. Target Audience / Recipient
Government
NGOs
Community
International
Organisations
Businesses
Diaspora
+ LGA Chairman
+ Police DPO
+etc
+ Chief
+ Groups
+Family
+ etc
+ Indigenes*
+ Residents
+Family
+ etc
+ Traders
+ Investors
+ etc
T h e E c o - s y s t e m

22. AUDIENCEDEMOGRAPHICS
60% 40%
INTERESTS
AGE
GENDER
G r o u p

23. BUYER/TARGETPERSONA
LOCATION: Madrid, Spain
STUDIES: Degree in Advertising
GENDER:Female
AGE:25 - 35
● Motivations
● Behavior
● Personality
● Interests
HOBBIES: Sports and social media
MARITAL STATUS: Single
INCOMERANGE: $1500-$2000
JOB: Publicist

24. CUSTOMER AVATAR
AVATAR NAME
GOALS AND VALUES
Goals:
Values:
SOURCES OF NFORMATION
Books:
Magazine:
Blogs/Websites:
Conferences:
Gurus:
Other:
Age:
Gender:
Marital Status:
#/Age of Children:
Location:
Quote:
Occupation:
Job Title:
Annual Income:
Level of Education:
Other:
CHALLENGES & PAIN POINTS
Challenges:
Pain points:
Objections to the sale:
Role in the Purchase Process:
OBJECTION & ROLE IN PURCHASE
PROCESS

25. Empathy
Map
Pains
Gains
Hear
Say + Do
Think + Feel See

26. GAIN
What are the challenges this person
might face and what are their
concerns? Pain could be finding the
wrong solution or finding it to be too
expensive or too time consuming or
maybe just not finding motivation.
This is what the person aspires
to be. What they're hoping they
will gain from the
experience. Better health. More
energy or motivation.
PAIN
26
Key Touchpoints

27. BEFORE & AFTER GRID
BEFORE AFTER
HAVE:
FEEL:
AVERAGE DAY:
STATUS:
GOOD VS. EVIL
HAVE:
FEEL:
AVERAGE DAY:
STATUS:
GOOD VS. EVIL
RECIPIENT/CUSTOMER SEGMENTS
OFFER / VALUE

28. Audience
&
Offer
Value

29. Process / Steps
The hard truth is that getting someone to
make a commitment is not a one-step
process. There are stages you must account
for on the path to commitment.
If you understand that process then you can
intentionally engineer your offer in such a
way that it moves people predictably through
these stages.

30. The Funnel
Focus on the
Audience Group
VS
Content Group

31. Process / Steps
ADVOCATE PROMOTE
EXCITE CONVERT
ENGAGE SUBSCRIBE
ASCEND
Upsell # …
Upsell #2
Upsell #1
Core offer
AWARE
F o c u s o n t h e i n d i v i d u a l

32. Process / Steps
ADVOCATE PROMOTE
EXCITE CONVERT
ENGAGE SUBSCRIBE
ASCEND
Upsell # …
Upsell #2
Upsell #1
Core offer
AWARE
I n d i v i d u a l V a l u e J o u r n e y
Prospect sees an ad or
hears about you via
referral
Prospect reads a blog post,
engages on social media,
watches a video, etc
Prospects opts in to
receive gated content
Prospect makes a small
purchase/ schedules
demo
Customer gets value
from initial transaction
Successful customer
gives a testimonial/ case
study
Successful customer tells
friends about your brand
Micro-win
Value Point

33. INITIATE
Prepare for action / feedback
before you speak (No Blind Leap)
• Conversation (Content)
• Direction (Call to Action / Steps)
• Conversion (Commitment /Change /
Purchase)
• Celebration (Reward)

34. CONVERSATION
Interpret
this
picture?

35. CONVERSATION
Interaction with prospects and
customers /recipients must take
place at each phase of the Customer
Value Journey. The interaction is to
keep interest alive and for the
brand/organization to be visible at
every point of decision.
Content

36. CONVERSATION
CONTENT
TYPES
55+
8 PILLAR IDEAS

37. BE USEFUL ( P I L L A R I D E A S A M P L E )
LIST POST HOW-TO
POST
CASE –STUDY
POST
PROBLEM /
SOLUTION
POST
SAQ POST RESEARCH
POST
Create a list of
books, tools,
resources or
any other thing
that your
market will find
useful.
Describe how
to execute a
process and
use images,
video or audio
to enrich the
post and make
it as easy as
possible for
your visitor to
take action.
The term ‘case
study’ carries
more perceived
value than the
term article,
blog post or
video. Outline
and unpack the
details of
something like
a project, event
or process.
This type of
post has an
easy format:-
Define a
problem -
Present the
solution. This
post can cross
over into the
territory of other
blog post types
such as the
FAQ Post,
How-To Post
The Should
Ask Question
Post is a
variation of the
FAQ post. This
is a question
that customers
or prospects
don’t ask — but
they should.
Conducting
your own
primary
research
around a topic
in your niche is
one of the best
ways to build
blog content
that gets
attention.

38. DIRECTION
CONTENT
TYPES
55+
The strategic role of content
is to move prospects and
customers /recipients
seamlessly and subtly through
each phase of the Customer /
Individual Value Journey.
(Call to Action / Steps)

39. The Content
Lifecycle
THE CONTENT LIFECYCLE
TOFU
•Blog
•Social Media Updates
•Infographics
•Photograph
•Digital Magazine/Book
•Audio Podcast
•Video/Video Podcast
•Microsite
•Print Magazine/Newsletter
•Primary Research
MOFU
•Educational Resources
•Useful Resource
•Software Download
BOFU
•Discount/Coupon Club
•Quiz/Survey
•Webinar/Events
•Demo/Free Trial
•Customer Story
•Comparison/Spec Sheet
•Webinar/Event
•Mini-Class

40. ADVOCATE PROMOTE
EXCITE CONVERT
SUBSCRIBE
ASCEND
AWARE
ENGAGE
Blog Articles
Podcast
Video
Social Updates
Images
CONTENT TRAFFIC
Search Engine
Optimization (SEO)
SM Channels
Digital Ads
Lead Magnet
Event
CONTENT TRAFFIC
Referral
Digital Advertising
Search Engine
Optimization (SEO)
Customer Story
Product Demo
Product
Comparison
Event
CONTENT TRAFFIC
Email
Instant Messaging
Ride Along
Digital Advertising
Onboarding
Indoctrination
CONTENT TRAFFIC
Email
Instant Messaging
Ride Along
Customer Story
Product Demo
Product
Comparison
Event
CONTENT
TRAFFIC
Email
Instant Messaging
Ride Along
Digital Advertising
Onboarding
Indoctrination
CONTENT TRAFFIC
Email
Instant Messaging
Ride Along
Onboarding
Indoctrination
CONTENT TRAFFIC
Email
Instant Messaging
Ride Along
Blog Articles
Podcast
Video
Social Updates
Images
CONTENT TRAFFIC
Search Engine
Optimization (SEO)
SM Channels
Digital Ads

41. • Audience
Discovery &
Brand Content
(Customer Avatar / Persona)
02

42. Audience & Brand Content
• Brand Value
What does your brand stand for?
• Brand Voice
How you want to sound or perceived
e.g Approachable, Bsiness-like
• Brand Elements
Your identity
e.g: Logo, color, catch-phrase
World wide web contains at
least 5.56 billion pages.

43. Use of
keywords
and SEO
03
(Getting found)

44. The World ofSearch Engines
BAIDU
GOOGLE
YAHOO
DUCKDUCKGO
BING

45. The place of
Keywords / SEO
Looking UP ahead..
• Definition
• Types
• Generating
• Tools
• Application

46. What is Keyword?
It is the best word that
describes the content on your
page or post. So when people
search for things with such
keyword or phrase in search
engines, they should find that
page on your website.
S e a r c h I n t e n t

47. What is SEO?
Search Engine
Optimization is the process
of making improvements on
and off your website in order
to gain more exposure in
search engine results.

48. Job vacancy

49. AUTHORITY
When a user searches for something like
Lagos Markets, search engines want to
show a list of results that are relevant to
the topic of California hotels. Search
engines will analyze all of the webpages
they have ever visited, and pick out the
pages that they believe are the most
relevant to Lagos Markets.
A website must be a trusted place that the
search engines would want to show to their
users? One very common way that search
engines determine the authority of a
webpage or a domain is by evaluating what
other websites link to you, and, reviews and
what people are saying about you on the
internet.
RELEVANCE
49
Key Touchpoints

50. Keyword Types
F o r m a t s
Main Keyword (Head)
Most blogs have one main topic – this is called the head term, or main
keyword. . The main topic or theme of your blog or site is the number
one keyword (or keyphrase) you want people to find you for.
Long-tail keywords
They are more specific and less common than other keywords. They
focus more on a niche. The longer and more specific because they ae
descriptive in nature

51. Keyword Types

52. Generating Keyword
K e y w o r d R e s e a r c h
+ What kind of search term do you want to be found for?
+ Which words do you think people will use in search
engines to find you?
+ What would the search query look like?
+ Use keyword / SEO Tools
+ Check the keyword of related content / organisation

53. Keyword Types
F o r m a t s
+ Moz Keyword Explorer
+ Jaaxy
+ Google Search Console
+ Answer the Public
.

54. Application
Use your keywords in your text, but don’t stuff
your them in almost every sentence. In general,
if 1 or 2% of all words of your copy, is your
keyword, then you’re not overdoing it. Make sure
your they are all well-distributed throughout your
text. Naturally spread them throughout your
page or post. Use your keyword in a heading or a
couple of subheadings, depending on the length
of your page or post. And use it in your page
title, first paragraph, and your meta
description. You can find all of these

55. Application
Technical SEO?
Technical SEO refers to
optimizing all of the back-
end settings on your
website that affect how
easy it is for google to
index and rank your
website.
On-Page SEO?
On-page SEO refers to
optimizing the content on
or within individual
website pages to improve
that page’s ranking.
Off-Page SEO?
Off-page SEO refers to
optimizing the things you
are doing outside your
own website to help boost
your sites authority and
trust factors.

56. CONCLUSION 04

57. CONCLUSION
STRATEGY
Anticipate & Initiate
KEYWORD / SEO
Relevance &
Authority
AUDIENCE
Pain & Gain

58. “ Think beforeyou speak and
read beforeyou think!”
- Anonymous
Every communication goal is
achieved by making every effort
to understand the recipient
rather than waiting for the
recipient to understand you.
This forms the foundation for
stratgic engagement on any
subject matter.

59. Q & A
Questions & Answers

60. What is the major difference between News And Feature
News is meant to report an event or situation for readers awareness and it is
hinged on the timeliness for it to be news but feature is done after the news for
readers to gain perspectives on the story. Feature is more elaborate and it chooses
the angles to present.
The major diff between News and content marketing?
News is simply a report without any opinion but content marketing is an umbrella
name that covers any form of communication sent out to the public or persons.
However, content marketing is done with the goal of reaching people to achieve
certain results so news is inclusive but it stops at the awareness stage.
Questions & Answers

61. Is it possible to have set goals, i.e, what you want to achieve
and maintain neutrality?
Yes. In the case of settling conflicts, the goal is set for to achieve
peace and neutrality is a requirement in order to have a balance. In
another scenario where the goal is to support a cause like child
slavery, and you need to garner support, maintaining neutrality will
not help the situation.
Questions & Answers

62. Thank you for the presentation Mr. Gideon. Under the business
and development slide you made mention, social expression and
social impact. Could you please elaborate on this?
Social expression is basically content that we push out to just show
what we can do or what we have in mind; it is targeted at getting
people to about us while social impact focuses on an issue that affects
society with an expectation that our content would positively affect
people’s mindset about it or make them to take action. Examples of
social expression are comedy skits that just makes people laugh and
like the comedian but a comedy can still be done to throw light on a
bad issue in a society with the mind of changing people’s behaviour.
So it is about the GOAL that the content creator sets out to achieve.
Questions & Answers

63. THANKS
Does anyone have any questions?
gideon_ilori@yahoo.com
gideon.ilori@techside.com.ng
+234 802 392 0178