Why content agility is important for reader engagement
Understanding content agility is the first step in improving reader engagement. Content agility refers to a publisher or content creator’s ability to perfect the end-to-end delivery process of distributing content to the readers. To become agile would mean to remove any friction in the streamlining of content creation and consumption.
Content agility would mean :
Having the right team of writers,
The right technology to support content creation,
Building a sustainable experience for content creators
To have responsive content promotion.
Content Agility for better reader engagement
Writers must remain agile, flexible and experimental with their online content. This is the only way to create a more customized and fresh reader experience on your website.
It isn’t easy to remain creative or agile. You’re dealing with a ton of readers who each have their own preferences and demand a personalized experience. Companies will keep focusing on creating more and more content - this can be challenging while working in a niche as you are bound to sound repetitive or bland.
Staying agile is important. Creating new content pieces is important but so is changing your content to the needs of your consumers. Staying on top of this ever changing content demand can be overwhelming.
Here are a few sustainable ways to perfect your content agility to facilitate engagement.
Working with your content team to focus on their strengths
Your group of writers need to be taught to avoid content stagnation on your site. How do you do this? Often it is assumed that improving a content team refers to hiring new people. This is only partly true. If you don’t have sufficient writers in your team, hire away. But how do you organize your writers? Organize your writers based on their skills, strengths, experience and writing styles. This helps you delegate them efficiently without making your overall content look chaotic.
If there are writers especially skilled in adding to articles, writers who are good at first drafts, writers who enjoy research driven articles - assign them accordingly. This would help you save time and set a system in place. You will have content churning out like clockwork without getting repetitive or unremarkable pieces.
Reuse and recycle content
One of the primary things to understand when it comes to content is content marketing. You need content that is interesting, accessible and relevant. But this does not mean you have to create new articles by the week. You need to and must regularly look into your archives.
If you don’t look over your past content, why would your readers?
Your most popular stories, your most investigative stories can all make a comeback with the right updates and edits. Recycling content is very important to keep readers hooked onto your content. Next time you find yourself making a list of new content ideas, make some room for polishing your older content pieces.
Consistent reading experience
Engagement from readers can only be expected if they can identify your brand voice in your stories. This could be aided by content formats, background colors, video formats or writing style. The readers will come back to read the sarcastic satirical column you publish if it’s witty enough. You must create consistent reading experiences on your website by coming up with the right content strategy with your writers. Provide author experiences that the readers can familiarize themselves with. Have a dedicated strategy to aid engagement around your popular writers’ columns and stories.
Content management will only be achieved through a powerful and smart CMS. If you’re looking to deliver content to your consumers, beyond these pointers, you will have to look into the right technology to back you up.
Once you’ve got your tech-stack setup it’s important to reevaluate your content strategy to ensure the perfect distribution of content. You may want to pay close attention to every relevant channel you publish your content to achieve the same. Content will inevitably draw reader engagement.