Creating and distributing digital content that gets high levels of client engagement is a goal, and a challenge, for many asset managers. With an increasing number of firms turning to online channels to get their content out there, the digital landscape is swimming with content and fierce competition. In fact, research shows that 350k new tweets are posted every minute.
So with all that noise, how do you make sure yours in the voice that is being heard? Let us walk you through how to plan for effective online content that will get you noticed by the right audience.
Firstly, choose who you want to be your audience
The first thing to consider is who you are aiming your content at. Most asset management firms will have multiple customer personas that they target, such as institutions, private investors and financial advisers. But these people won’t all want the same content. You need to choose a specific audience and tailor your content to make sure that it’s relevant to them and therefore gets high levels of engagement.
What are they engaging with?
Once you have chosen who want to create for, you need to understand the type of content this audience is most likely to engage with.
As with any good relationship, the best way to find this out is by listening to them. Whether directly, through market research, or even social media – find out the issues they are facing and aim to solve them with your content.
The first thing you can do is to get a feel for what is going on in your target market. Read the relevant news – what issues are facing your customers? Secondly, who are your competitors and what are they writing about? You can also get on LinkedIn and Twitter to see what your customers are posting and sharing. This should give you an idea about which subjects are most likely to drive engagement.
It may also be worth asking people from your company who deal with clients first hand, such as your sales teams - they are likely to have good ideas about what would interest your clients.
Get educated
So you know what your target audience is talking about and you have decided on some relevant topics that you know are of interest.
Once you have a plan of what you want to write and have found a strategy that not only addresses key issues concerning your audience but is also in-line with your business goals – you want to make sure you are an expert in this field. What does that mean?
It means you need to become an expert on the subjects you will focus on so that you can demonstrate authority and add value – or else you could have a great topic, but fail to produce something new.
Research as much as you can on the subject. Start by seeing what else has been written or produced – are there any research reports on your subject? Find out if other thought leaders in the industry have covered your subject. The more you read the easier it will be to create engaging content that adds value.
Plan your structure
Once you know your subject back to front you need to plan your structure, and believe it or not, this is the stage that often gets less attention that it deserves.
So why plan?
- It makes your content more coherent
- It keeps your content focused
- It allows you to concentrate on making the content engaging – as you’ve already done the complex thinking.
The hardest part is arguably working out what to include and what can be left out – not everything you have learnt will fit so be prepared to store up some of your knowledge for a later date. Sometimes less really is more.
At this planning stage it is also a good idea to think about your distribution strategy.
Where and how are you going to distribute your content? How can you optimise it for those channels? For example, is there a specific quote that you can tweet which nicely encapsulates your key message and makes people want to engage? In today’s digital landscape you want to make sure your content stays engaging across all channels.
Create, edit and comply
So finally you are ready to start creating. You will be grateful that you did all the research to get to this point. Don’t forget to get your work edited as well – we often don’t see our own mistakes so getting someone else to read it could save you some embarrassment.
At this stage you should also get your compliance team involved to make sure you are toeing the regulatory line. With complex and ever-changing rules you will need the help of your experts.
Promote
Once you have your finished piece you need to decide how best to get it in front of the people you created it for. This again refers back to your target audience – how do they seek out information?
The answer is likely to include social media, as advisers are three times more active than the average LinkedIn user and have healthy Twitter habit. Sharing your content on Twitter, LinkedIn and any other websites where your prospects are actively searching for information is a good idea.
This isn’t to say that you should overlook the more traditional email method. Some audiences may prefer to read something sent to them by email as it is more personal, plus sending content via email means it doesn’t get lost in a noisy social media feed.
The key is to experiment and see what works best for your audience. It’s also worth noting that the most successful content is still promoted by the creators long after it is initially published – so it’s important to keep it circulating.
Monitor
Once your content is out there it’s important to monitor the metrics to see how it does. This will tell you what’s working and what isn’t in terms of engagement so you can refine your plans accordingly.
With the amount of content out there it is important to make sure you stand out from the crowd. Making sure you take the necessary steps to research, plan, comply and promote will help your content shine.