Here’s How to Cope and Adjust
COVID-19 has completely changed how businesses operate. Maybe your business is on hold while you wait for things to get back to normal. Or you’re an essential business trying to continue to operate under stressful circumstances. Your content strategy may not be a priority on your mind. However, your customer is at home, trying to find a useful distraction (because they’ve finished combing through Netflix)! You may have a content calendar all lined up for the next few months, which is good. Yet you don’t want to appear indifferent to what is going on with your audience. How can you continue to engage your audience during difficult times? The answer is to evaluate your content against your brand’s values and your audience’s needs.
Determine When to Tweak Your Content Calendar
When breaking news hits, you have to ask yourself two key questions to decide whether to change your content calendar:
- How does this news headline relate to your company?
- How does this news headline affect your audience?
Use a rating system of 1 to 10 to answer those two questions. The higher the score, the more likely you need to change your content calendar. When the news relates to your audience, they are probably seeking more information about the topic. If you don’t provide information about what’s on your audience’s mind, they may overlook your regularly scheduled content. You may even want to consider halting your content if business as usual seems insensitive.
If the news doesn’t affect your audience, but relates to your business, you can still use it as content to present information. For example, a tornado in Kansas probably doesn’t affect your audience, so it wouldn’t warrant a change. But, if that tornado disrupted your supply chain, it might affect your business. You may want to include a blog post that shows empathy to the community and explains how your business has been impacted.
You may need to reassess your calendar during the pandemic to see what is trending and how your audience is engaging with your business. Ask yourself if your target audience is ready to consume and share your regular content.
Using News as Part of Your Content Strategy
Don’t use the news to sensationalize your content. You want to empathize with your customers and share solutions. Only provide factual information from legitimate sources. The best SEO writers are proactive and monitor potential news items outside of your industry. By having a plan in place to adjust your content calendar, your content team can adapt the schedule when needed. Make the news part of your SEO strategy so your customers know that your business isn’t indifferent to what is going on around you.
Keep your business ready for when the world gets back to normal after COVID-19 by looking at your SEO strategy during this time of involuntary simplicity. If you’re not sure where to start, contact MintCopy, a content marketing agency with a great team of SEO writers who can provide keyword research, blog articles and more to build your brand’s voice online.
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Resources:
https://contentmarketinginstitute.com/2020/03/content-calendar-news/
Sheetal Pinto is the founder of MintCopy, a content agency that has been helping businesses communicate effectively since 2008. With a passion for words and a knack for SEO, she’s worked with companies around the world to craft copy that not only engages but ranks. Whether it’s blog posts, website content, or social media updates, Sheetal has a talent for turning complex ideas into compelling stories. When she’s not optimizing content or editing for clarity, she’s probably daydreaming about the perfect headline or debating the Oxford comma. With over 16 years in the business, she’s seen the digital marketing and SEO content landscape evolve and grow. Sheetal’s mantra? Fresh copy, refreshing results!
