Providing your audience with valuable content to increase the relevance of your event
Maintaining relationships with your community between two occurrences of an event is essential. One way to achieve this is by launching a content strategy with content that’s relevant and compelling rather than promotional and self-serving.
Adding value to an event, increasing its relevance in order to grow it… every event planner is looking to prove that their event is useful, meaningful and meets the needs of the people it brings together. But between two occurrences, maintaining and even growing relationships with audiences is now more important than ever. This inevitably involves putting key elements in place for maintaining long-term relationships. A content strategy, if well structured, can meet this need. Here are five key points to carry it out successfully.
1. Determine the correct audience
It all begins here. Producing content means going back to the basics of marketing. You can’t say everything to everyone. So, who exactly should I be speaking to? Which audiences do I want to send a message to? The success of any content lies, above all, in its ability to meet the needs of a clearly defined audience. It’s not enough to merely identify the audience; you need to know them well. What are they looking for? What questions do they have? What are their expectations? What do they need in order to improve their professional experience? What will they respond to? A thorough understanding of the community you want to deliver compelling and meaningful messages to remains a prerequisite.
2. Define your editorial approach
In the case of content strategy, an editorial approach is a guiding framework that all content must respect. It lists the main themes, the level of technicality and the tone. It represents the point of convergence between your strategic communication and/or growth objectives and the expectations of your audience. Don't try to say everything in order to meet your audience's every expectation. Instead, choose your themes and build value-added content. Capturing the attention of a target audience is extremely difficult at a time of increased messaging. Purely promotional messages don’t reach their targets. Any content that’s published must be meaningful to the person viewing it. The editorial approach brings together the ideas from your messaging. This is the promise you make to your audience: if they view your content, they will improve...
3. Multiply your production formats
There’s no shortage of formats to choose from: events, webinars, videos, articles, podcasts, infographics, etc. The formats used depend both on the information consumption habits of the target audience, the originator’s production patterns and their available resources. While video and podcasts are clearly all the rage today, we know that these formats are not conducive to SEO. No format is perfect, nor can it satisfy every objective. However, the ability to produce a variety of formats shows a willingness to adapt to your audience, regardless of their preferred mode of content consumption. You can also associate formats with content categories: a podcast or video for an interview or customer feedback, an article for a more personal perspective, an infographic for the results of a survey, etc.
4. Focus on quality rather than quantity
When it comes to high value-added content, you obviously can’t skimp on the quality of production. First, it’s important because your event’s image is at stake. Second, you’re showing consideration and respect for your audience. And finally, because legitimacy is only built on quality and meaning. So, yes, producing content is expensive in terms of resources, especially if seasoned professionals are needed, such as recognized specialists, niche journalists, opinion leaders, etc. Focusing on quality sometimes means cutting back on quantity. This would be your best option. Rarity equals beauty and value...to an extent. Content just once a year wouldn’t be sustainable.
5. Consider the appropriate timing for publication
If the content must be carefully considered, so must its publication. This begins with choosing the most appropriate avenues, especially those traditionally used by the event: blogs, newsletters, websites, email, social media pages, etc. Visible content is content that can be published multiple times, at different points, through different channels, but, of course, is always linked to what you know about your audience's behavior. In some cases, live webinars at 9pm will be the most successful.
In an age of over-solicitation and “infobesity”, nurturing audiences with relevant content is critical. If an event planner wishes to be considered a key player in their industry, they need to demonstrate that they understand the ins and outs and that they’re a trusted third party. A good content strategy values its audience, builds a strong relationship with them and creates value for all stakeholders.
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