Creating a content strategy is essential if you want your target audiences – industry, government, the public, media, and philanthropists – to find and value you and your research.
Producing engaging content that your target audiences want to read and share will establish you as an expert or thought leader in your field of research. This applies to various areas, such as breast cancer, concussion, antibiotic resistance, machine learning, aquaculture, cybersecurity, ag-tech, mining, or the protection of indigenous languages.
If you want to know more about what a content strategy is, please read my earlier
To help you get started, I have pulled together 10 key elements of a content strategy that are useful for both organisations and individuals:
#1 Set your objectives
What are your communication objectives?
It’s perfectly understandable to want to build your profile – but think about who you’re building it for and what you hope to achieve.
Are you seeking to:
- Build your profile locally or internationally?
- Bust myths or challenge disinformation?
- Create closer industry partnerships?
- Get greater media coverage of your work?
- Be invited to speak at particular events?
- Raise awareness among the public?
- Raise donations?
- Engage with your local community?
- Encourage greater diversity in STEM fields?
For individuals, you do not have to start with something grand. Perhaps you just want to be interviewed on radio or television. Remember that your objectives and strategy will evolve over time, but the important thing is to start.
#2: Know your audiences
If you don’t know whom you are communicating with, it is difficult to create consistently good content.
You may have one or more target audiences. Write them down and prioritise them.
Next, find out what your target audiences want to know about your field of research. Creating a content strategy is about identifying the content your audience wants to read, not just promoting your work.
From my experience, most researchers are asked the same questions repeatedly. Write down those questions.
Also, use Google to your advantage. With over 5 billion people online, there is an abundance of information and tools available to help understand what people are searching for
#3: Information competitors
You have people and organisations that you compete with for research funding or media attention, but you also have information competitors.
When you Google your area of research or those frequently asked questions, where do you end up? It could be a media website, Wikipedia, a corporate, government or research website, a blog site, or someone’s social media platform.
It can be surprising who is producing information around your research.
By understanding your information competitors, you will also understand the information gaps and opportunities.
#4: Type of content
Some people produce original content, while others curate and comment on existing topics, and still, others do both. All of these are valid options.
What do you want to do?
You may want to tweet, enjoy podcasting or making YouTube videos, produce a range of explainer videos, take photographs, illustrate, or even create an e-newsletter to send to people interested in your area of research.
Choose something that you enjoy.
#5: Appropriately resource
Not all content requires a lot of effort, but it does require careful planning.
The process of creating video content is very different from creating Twitter posts. Be realistic about the amount of time you have available.
If you’re producing original content, such as videos, text, or podcasts, focus on creating ten to twelve high-quality pieces per year instead of fifty mediocre ones. Since 2020 I have published an online global science communication magazine, The Brilliant. I have an annual budget – for both my editorial team and for my time – I plan the number and frequency of articles within that amount. And importantly I prepare a content calendar.
If you’ve decided that Twitter is your preferred platform, it’s important to give careful thought to what you’ll be posting and how often. Take Assaad Razzouk as an example – he has over 150,000 followers on Twitter and LinkedIn, and despite tweeting regularly, it now only takes him 30 minutes a day. As he told me in an interview for The Brilliant, it took some time to learn what works best on the platform at the beginning.
#6 Choose your platform
Remember that it’s not necessary to be present on all platforms. Start by choosing one and, once you’re familiar with it, consider ways to adapt your content for other platforms to reach your desired audience.
#7 Your content should reflect you
I am not suggesting you need to share personal details. Like many of you I find there can be a little too much oversharing on LinkedIn.
However it is great to learn more about you and the motivations behind your work. People are always interested in hearing about those “aha!” moments, when the hard work and effort finally pay off. I personally enjoy seeing the behind-the-scenes aspects of a person’s passion. What ignites your excitement for science?
#8 Share others’ content
If you want people to perceive you as an expert, then sharing content from other experts on the topic is critical. Engaging with them when they share also helps to build your credibility.
A word of caution: be careful when diminishing the work of others. Ask yourself why you are doing this. If their facts are incorrect, engage constructively. People can damage their own credibility when they try to make themselves appear important by diminishing the work of others.
#9 Promote your content
Promoting your content is an essential part of reaching your audience, whether you do it through social media or email marketing. Even the most engaging and valuable content can go unnoticed if it’s not promoted effectively. You can start by asking your colleagues to share your posts – it can be as simple as that.
#10 Review and measure regularly
Content creation is research and discovery in action. It requires experimentation.
Keep in mind that it takes approximately 18 months for a content strategy to fully take effect, so having patience is crucial. However, it’s important to regularly review your progress and evaluate what is working and what isn’t. Is it meeting your business objectives? Are your key audiences finding you and engaging with you?
Developing a content strategy will put you in a advantageous position compared to many other researchers and organisations, because most people don’t spend the time to create one.
A content strategy will transform the way you interact and communicate with your target audiences.
Opinion by Kylie Ahern, Publisher of The Brilliant and CEO of STEM Matters