Go Farther by Being Smarter: The Secret to Content Optimization

In the world of content programs, the creation process often gets most of the credit. It’s understandable, there’s a lot of time, effort, and creative brain power that goes into great storytelling. And that work is certainly worthy of a round of applause.

But once the roar of the crowd has quieted, you still only have that one (fabulous) piece of content. And as great as it undoubtedly is, it’ll never reach its full potential without a healthy dose of optimization. 

What do I mean by optimization? I’m not just talking about distribution (although that is important, too). Content optimization goes well beyond tweeting out links to your eBook (or video or infographic, etc.). It’s time for this behind-the-scenes hero of successful content programs to step into the spotlight …

What Comes Next?

For optimization inspiration, you need look no further than musical theater’s biggest hit of the last decade, “Hamilton.” What started on Broadway in New York City has been masterfully repackaged into “The Hamilton Mixtape,” a pop-up museum exhibition, a coffee-table book, an app, Chicago and London productions, a widespread, multi-company tour, and more. 

Even Disney has gotten in on this content-optimization action with its 2021 theatrical release of the hit show. And while your audience may not be on Broadway’s Great White Way, you can certainly look to “Hamilton” (and our Hamilton-inspired Ultimate Guide to Content Optimization) as a model to maximize the reach and impact of your own content.

Get Farther by Being Smarter

Too often content teams fall into the trap of equating optimization with quantity. But more content doesn’t necessarily mean optimized content. In fact, it’s more effective to produce a single high-performing piece of content that meaningfully engages your target audiences than five low-performing content pieces that have little to no influence.

Conversely, it’s highly unlikely one piece of content alone can effectively satisfy all of you or your target audiences’ needs. You need to repackage, repurpose, and reproduce content to fully address your target audiences’ questions, concerns, and interests.

Because every piece of content is unique, a one-size-fits-all approach to repackaging and repurposing content won’t work. Instead, storytellers must repackage content in a laser-focused way, piece by piece.

Tell Your Story

So once you have a standout eBook (or white paper, blog post, infographic, video, podcast, etc.), it’s critical your team optimize it to its fullest — from content formats to distribution channels — to fully engage your target audiences and achieve your desired business objectives. The impulse to start pushing it in front of anyone who will listen will be real. Resist it.

So how can you ensure you’re satisfied with the return on your content investment? Strategy must lie at the heart of your content repackaging and optimization plan.  First things first, to successfully utilize repackaging as part of your content optimization strategy (and, you might say … not throw away your shot), you must:

• Know your buyer personas: An intimate understanding of who they are and what they want is a critical first step.
• Address your buyer personas’ needs: Now put that insight to use and create the content that will meet those needs.
• Break down internal silos: Adapting content for each part of your business is a critical component of optimization. There’s no room for bottlenecks here.

In Tier One’s Ultimate Guide to Content Optimization we’ve compiled all our best practices when it comes making your content go farther (by being smarter). Get your copy here and make sure your content is non-stop.