As content publishing best practices rapidly evolve, there are a lot of mixed messages on whether a constant jet of new content is more important than a steady stream that’s less frequent but more in depth.
As important as it is to produce timely, consistent content to establish a reliable social media and web presence, it should not be at the expense of useful and engaging material. Every blog, social media post, video and anything else should follow a carefully curated total content strategy that supports your brand mission and goals.
Speed isn’t necessarily better than substance, but substance isn’t always better than speed. Quality content matters, but quality content published twice a year won’t deliver results or drive revenue. There are pros and cons to each approach, and the key is to strike a balance.
The Case for Rapid Content Publishing
Publishing weekly to social media is essential to growing your following. On-again, off-again posting won’t keep up with your competitors. You need a consistent social media strategy, built on unique blog content, relevant hashtags and tagging, thought-provoking copy and eye-catching images.
The algorithm of most social networks rewards brands who stay active and engage with industry peers, so your posts will be shown to more people if you are sharing content regularly on various channels.
The fact is, your whole audience is not online at the same time, and numerous factors impact whether people are seeing your posts. The more often you share, the more of your audience you will be able to reach. Rapid publishing allows you to A/B test what time of day, what kind of post and on which social channel you get the best engagement, and then adjust your publishing schedule accordingly.
The social media realm moves quickly. As soon as you think you have figured out the LinkedIn or Instagram algorithm, it seems to change. One week, Instagram Stories are all the rage and long LinkedIn posts get the most engagement. The next, it’s IG Reels and LinkedIn video posts going viral. Staying up to date on social media trends and algorithms allows flexibility that a rigid content calendar sometimes lacks.
By the time you finish pondering your latest marketing idea, the trend or current event you are using as a reference has likely passed. If you have a younger audience and are looking to grow your Instagram or Tiktok numbers, you have to respond to current trends within a few days or a week at the most, or else risk being left in the dust. One way to work within this fast-paced timeline is to have a clear idea of what topics or points you want your social content to cover, so you can tweak posts to fit in with current trends rather than start from scratch.
By using a content scheduling software, you have an organizational structure for evergreen content where you’re able to schedule posts far ahead. This way, when newsworthy topics arise, you can respond in real time without rushing to create daily content for both social media and your website. Combining in-the-moment responsive posts and well-crafted, pre-planned ones allows you to stay relevant without getting burned out or falling down a rabbit hole.
Make sure to evaluate social media and web engagement based on your current publishing frequency. Sometimes posting too many times per day or per week can actually split your engagement or turn off your audience. As always, social strategy is trial and error, and the best way to identify what works for your industry is to be open to experimentation and measuring performance.
Why You Should Slow Down and Curate Content
Yes, you need to share content consistently, but it can actually damage your credibility if that content is half-baked, full of errors or just uninteresting. Not rushing to pump out blog posts and social media content allows you to carefully plan your content strategy, making sure every piece of content supports your brand mission, from headline to CTA.
Publishing in a hurry often leads to costly mistakes being made, and you will have to make edits or repost later, which is time-consuming, inefficient and damaging to brand credibility. While errors happen to everyone, the internet is forever, and potentially lucrative clients will notice if your content often seems hastily created and poorly edited instead of well-planned and professionally produced.
By adopting the model of selectively curated, in-depth content, you can take time to identify important keywords, topics and subtopics, visual themes and more. This approach allows for deep industry research and more developed blogs, white papers and interviews. While deadlines are still important and you should plan to share new content every day, week or month, the quality of this work takes priority.
Content marketers are starting to take a more journalistic approach to brand publishing. This means staying up to date with industry trends, but also taking time to verify facts and sources, presenting information in a balanced and accurate way. Brand journalists are committed to credible, trustworthy, informative and relevant content, not clickbait or fluff. Even more important than getting readers to your webpage with blogs and social media is keeping them there to do something more.
Including expert interviews in blogs or offering substantive white papers can answer the important questions your audience is searching for online, setting you apart from your competitors and increasing your brand’s industry authority. When the content you produce is informative and unique, your audience trusts you more, leading to more engagement, leads and sales, as well as a better brand reputation that cannot be built overnight.
Talented brand journalists produce industry-specific blogs that convey valuable insights, consulting your experts, conducting research and even interviewing willing customers for information and testimonials. Brand journalists aren’t guessing what content your readers might like; they have a honed sense of newsworthiness and understand communication, messaging and storytelling. Then, they develop specific content plans, execute the work and meet hard deadlines.
So, What’s the Ideal Solution?
Whether you prioritize a constant stream of timely social and blog content or a slower and more thorough approach, you’ll soon realize that both demand a lot of time, expertise and budget.
In order to truly reach and exceed your online engagement goals, you need to outsource to industry experts who can evaluate your brand’s target audience and goals to curate a balanced content strategy that includes both evergreen and trending content.
PowerPublish is transforming the way brands create and publish premium content. Our virtual brand editor solution is an excellent outsourced alternative to expensive ad agencies. It’s the smartest way to publish consistently compelling, high-quality blogs, white papers and social media content.
With PowerPublish, you gain access to your own virtual content team. Recruit the skills of our brand journalists to create exclusive content tailor-made for you and harness the power of our newsroom software for ideation, scheduling and publishing. Contact us today to schedule a demo and learn more or to start publishing today.