Content Matrix: What It Is and How to Work With It

Content Matrix: What It Is and How to Work With It

Content Matrix is a handy tool for continuous content generation, which shows in a clear and convenient way the topics that can be developed right now. The matrix will help to forget the problem of lack of fresh topics and actual ideas, the content manager can take topics for creating a content plan of publications for the next 6-12 months.

What a Content Matrix Is and What It Is for

A content matrix is a tool for getting a constant source of topics for articles, which must be created even for platforms that don’t need extra promotion thanks to their quality, like ऑनलाइन कैसीनो रूले. A content matrix should be created several months in advance, making changes later to adapt it to your marketing strategy.

The content matrix helps prevent burnout and quickly generate ideas for publications at a time when it feels like all possible topics have long been worked out. Generating new ideas on a regular basis is difficult, and up-to-date content is always needed, especially for start-up companies.

The content matrix acts as the basis for a further content plan. It’s more chaotic than a plan. The latter includes already formulated ideas for posts, formats and dates. A content plan is necessary for planning publications, while a matrix is necessary for generating ideas.

Instructions for Creating a Content Matrix

To develop a content matrix, fill in a table or template. And to get the information, you need to do the following steps.

Study the Target Audience

First, make a concise portrait of the ideal customer. For B2B and B2C segments, we need information about who the buyers are, where they live and work, what their needs, interests and motivations are, what obstacles they might face on their way to purchase/order, etc.

You can use questionnaires, case studies, conduct online surveys and interviews, search for information on social networks and thematic forums to get answers to these questions. There will most likely be several portraits of the target buyer, whose problems, interests and needs will be different. For each portrait of the target audience it is necessary to develop its own content matrix.

The result is the ability to understand how to effectively motivate a person to make a purchase and remove barriers to decision making.

Describe Content Goals and Identify Target Consumer Actions

Any piece of content should have a goal leading to a conversion. The goal can be a purchase as well as any other action that is expected from the user after viewing the content: subscribe to a newsletter, download a presentation, go to the desired page/blog, share a publication on your page in the social network, sign up for a consultation.

The goal of conversion is influenced by the stage at which the user is. So, if a person knows nothing about the company’s product, then after reading the post, he is unlikely to place an order. However, there is a high probability that he will go to the company website and become more familiar with the activities.

Thus, for each stage, it’s necessary to specify the goal of conversion – something that will encourage the user to take the targeted action, which also acts as the goal of content placement.

Determine How Users Will Receive the Content

The way the target audience is contacted affects how the company will deliver the content. The specifics of the target audience must be taken into account when choosing the right option. For example, b2b executives make contact through business intermediaries.

The target audience can receive content in one of the following ways:

  • The company communicates with the user on its own. 
  • The user contacts a representative of the company. You can get in touch with him or her through advertising, search engines or thematic forums.
  • There are intermediaries between users and the company who make contacts, for example through intermediaries, colleagues, or networking.

Choose Appropriate Content Formats

The format of the content is its “packaging”, the choice of which depends on the stage of the buyer’s journey, the goal of conversion and the chosen content delivery option.

So, if it’s necessary to talk about the company and its product, the suitable formats are infographics, posts in social networks and thematic publications. Video reviews, case studies and guides are suitable for sorting out the competitive advantages of a product, and email letters, articles and posts are suitable for motivating the user to place an order.

Determine the Thematic Direction of Content

The thematic direction of content are common themes, and you can find them using methods such as:

  • Online target audiences surveys.
  • Competitor activity analysis.
  • Search for trends, popular searches and publications.
  • Monitoring of actual discussions in social media.
  • The method of brainstorming.

After a definition of a thematic focus, it is necessary to analyze how interesting it is to a particular segment of the target audience, how to make a user interested and motivated to make a purchase.

Fill in the Content Matrix

To create and fill in the content matrix, you have to:

  • Create a table with the number of columns corresponding to the number of steps in the consumer journey. You can use Word, Excel, Google Docs, or paid services to create tables, online boards.
  • In the top common line, you should specify “Portrait of a consumer”.
  • In the headings of the columns, list the stage of the consumer journey.
  • In the cells of the columns, specify the conversion goal, the way of establishing contact with the consumer, the format of the content, the thematic focus.

Ideas for publications are the last to be filled out in the matrix.

If necessary, add other elements to the matrix, such as keywords that users use to search for products, the purpose of the publication (to engage, educate, sell, show your expertise), and the purpose of the product.

How to Create Ideas for Content

You can use ideas such as:

  • Characteristics of products and services: specifications, materials, manufacturing companies, stages of delivery and timing of services.
  • Ways to use the product, service. For example, if a company blog is dedicated to coffee, then users will be interested in publications about recipes for brewing this drink, the rules of its use. For services, detailed instructions are suitable, for home appliances – video reviews.
  • Problems of customers – those who are just choosing a product, who have already bought it and are using it. As a source of ideas, you can use the archives of the questions users asked when they contacted technical support.
  • Interesting facts: the “internal kitchen” of the company, the product manufacturing process, the history of its origin.
  • Related or broader topics. The manufacturer of pet food can touch on other products for pets in publications, but it is important to maintain a balance, otherwise, there is a risk of attracting a non-target audience to the site.

Rewriting articles from search results should not be: the idea from the content matrix should be implemented through the experience of the brand or company. Only in this way will the text be truly valuable and useful to the audience.

The value of articles and posts is determined by their response from readers. For content to really work, it has to be useful. If there is no usefulness in the text, you have to rewrite it, and if even after that the result is unsatisfactory, you have to put the idea aside for a while, “placing” it in the content matrix, and work with another one.

Summary

The content matrix needs regular revision, changes and improvements. In fact, the situation on the market and the company product itself is constantly changing, the assortment is replenished with new offers, and there are unique directions for the business. If any categories or columns have lost relevance, they should be removed.

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