[{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BlogPosting","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2020\/05\/07\/get-the-most-out-of-your-content\/#BlogPosting","mainEntityOfPage":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2020\/05\/07\/get-the-most-out-of-your-content\/","headline":"Smarter not harder: How to get the most out of your content","name":"Smarter not harder: How to get the most out of your content","description":"Effective content marketing is a powerful tool. But too many marketers focus on making more content instead of making what they have work harder.","datePublished":"2020-05-07","dateModified":"2021-02-24","author":{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/contributor\/randy-frisch\/#Person","name":"Randy Frisch","url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/contributor\/randy-frisch\/","identifier":410,"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a0a05f6ba80eef24abc9901fc83246ef746d5468c3633aa4cfb3f3abdf05e5dd?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a0a05f6ba80eef24abc9901fc83246ef746d5468c3633aa4cfb3f3abdf05e5dd?s=96&d=mm&r=g","height":96,"width":96}},"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"The Future of Commerce","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/logo-foc-schema-app-1.png","url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/logo-foc-schema-app-1.png","width":172,"height":60}},"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/get-the-most-out-of-your-content.jpg","url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/get-the-most-out-of-your-content.jpg","height":375,"width":1200},"url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2020\/05\/07\/get-the-most-out-of-your-content\/","about":[{"@type":"Thing","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/marketing\/content-marketing\/","name":"Content Marketing","sameAs":["https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Content_marketing","http:\/\/www.wikidata.org\/entity\/Q558685"]},{"@type":"Thing","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/marketing\/","name":"Marketing","sameAs":["https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Marketing","http:\/\/www.wikidata.org\/entity\/Q39809"]}],"wordCount":738,"keywords":["Consumer Journey","Content Marketing"],"articleBody":"I can\u2019t tell you how many people I run into who say, \u201cI don\u2019t have enough content to create a content experience, let alone power all my go-to-market strategies!\u201d Modern content marketers are hardwired to stress out daily over whether they\u2019re creating enough content to fulfill their audience\u2019s thirst for knowledge and insights.They almost certainly are.In fact, most organizations have plenty of great content. Sure, some of it may be dated, but hopefully, most of it is evergreen (or can be updated). With a simple audit, you’ll find you have a lot that would easily align to campaigns throughout the buyer\u2019s journey.To harness the power of effective content marketing and take ownership of your buyers’ journey, stop worrying about whether you’re creating enough, and focus instead on what you’re going to do with what you’ve already built.Get the most out of your contentAll too often, once it\u2019s produced, great content is left to twist in the wind\u2014unused and forgotten. But it’s still valuable.One of my good friends, the Queen of Content, Ann Handley, refers to these pieces as homeless content. No doubt, your organization has its own homeless content: the decks your team uploaded to SlideShare, the videos you posted to YouTube, and all those sad and lonely infographics on our blogs.Indexing may not be the sexiest concept, but it\u2019s the foundation of building a world-class experience. With content indexing, you can:Understand and track all of your assetsMake more informed decisions on what pieces to leverage whenReduce the likelihood that you\u2019ll duplicate your previous effortsThe most basic version of indexing (that you can safely get away with) can be done in a spreadsheet. Simply list out your assets in the first column and then use the other columns to fill in the relevant details\u2014such as format, topic, headline, CTA, persona, keyword, journey stage, and so on.It\u2019s easily searchable, and requires very little budget to set up and maintain. And with modern-day team collaboration tools, it can be an online internal resource that your whole team can access.That said, it does require some time, and at some point, you\u2019ll have more assets than your spreadsheet can handle. At that point, switching to a database or dedicated content experience platform (CEP) will help you better integrate content into your feed, no matter whether the asset is a blog post, a SlideShare deck, or a YouTube video.Tools like a CEPs help you integrate your assets into one central location so you can easily take stock of what you have and where it can be used.Own your content, own the buyer journeyIt’s interesting how many definitions of content marketing refer to owned content, when in many cases, we end up housing it on sites we don\u2019t own at all! YouTube, LinkedIn, Twitter\u2014these are owned by Google, Microsoft, and wherever Twitter lands one day.Imagine you’re on YouTube watching a video about a Sony camera. As soon as it ends, YouTube recommends one about a Nikon camera, or maybe even a video of a cat taking pictures. The team at Sony probably didn’t plan on directing you to their competitor (or down a rabbit hole of cat videos, for that matter!).I\u2019m not suggesting we shouldn\u2019t lend our content to these places for people to discover. Sharing on these external channels is a great way to gain exposure and hook your audience.With every piece you publish, consider how you can bring the experience inbound. Then you can serve up your next great asset without losing prospects to the infinite scroll of other outbound channels.You can end every video with a strong call-to-action, to help pull your audience toward more of your owned properties.Or, you could stop relying on outbound channels to deliver your information. Get them inbound with that first tweet. Then you can follow up with another asset to help personalize the experience and guide them through their journey.Well thought-out content is a powerful marketing tool. And when done right, it can help you own\u00a0your customer experience.  Every digital moment matters.Are you making the most of them?1,000 business leaders dish on how to stand out from the crowd with a great CX. Get the details\u00a0HERE.\u00a0"},{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"2020","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2020\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"05","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2020\/\/05\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"07","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2020\/\/05\/\/07\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"Smarter not harder: How to get the most out of your content","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2020\/05\/07\/get-the-most-out-of-your-content\/#breadcrumbitem"}]}]