When I discuss this topic, many people automatically think I’m only referring to the frequency at which content like blogs, articles, information leaflets, posters and social media posts should be created and shared. While this is definitely a vital factor that needs your attention in order to hit the right note, there also needs to be a level of consistency when it comes to your tone and style. Both of these are key areas to be aware of when producing and scheduling your content, and I will discuss each aspect in more depth here.
STYLE
The style of your content is all part of your brand and how your business is portrayed to the outside world. Ask yourself this: if your company had a voice, what would it sound like? The answer to that question is entirely up to you and various factors will come into play when deciding, all based on who you’re trying to target. For example, a dental practice might want to aim for an informative yet friendly tone, in order to gain and maintain the respect of patients, but also to ensure they feel comfortable and at ease too.
Once you have decided on your company’s ‘voice’, you need to ensure you consistently use it. The reason for this is that maintaining a style throughout all of the content you produce – from posters to leaflets, blogs to social media – maintains a level of professionalism and means your customers will come to know what to expect from you and the service you provide. This helps to invoke trust and builds credibility, which is vital for customer retention.
I would recommend creating a style guide. This should outline the tone that you want to use across the board, so ensure this is very clear and easy for others to understand and refer to. You may also want to consider other aspects like your preferred date format, e.g. 1 January 2017 or 1st January 2017, spellings that may be relevant to your industry, such as X-ray or x-ray, and other things like whether you capitalise job titles or not. This might seem pernickety, but it gives everyone who works on your content a good base to work from and helps to ensure a consistent approach.
FREQUENCY
Ensuring a consistent frequency of content helps to maintain customer interest by encouraging engagement. Not only that, regularly posting blogs can also help to keep your website content fresh and allows you to boost your SEO. All of this gives you lots more things to post on your social media accounts too, so what’s not to love?
In order to keep the frequency of your content at a consistent level, you need to create a plan, schedule things like blogs, articles and social media posts and then you can prioritize the other items that tend to crop up, such as new leaflets or a revamp to a section of your website, around this. You may want to task a member of your team to be in charge of ensuring what you’ve scheduled goes out on time and to be the final set of eyes on any content that is produced in order to double check the tone fits in with your defined style.
Sometimes it is tricky to find the time to firstly plan and schedule this content, never mind actually create it and get the message out there.
About the Author
Hayley’s passion is helping dental related companies with all aspects of marketing. Specialising in a Social Media Marketing, her unique, in-depth knowledge of marketing combined with her knowledge and experience of working in dental practices has helped many dentists, dental training companies and dental suppliers thrive in today’s changing business environment.
Hayley started out her career working in marketing and advertising , working on accounts such as BMW & Redrow Homes. About 13 years ago she took a different path and took a job as a Receptionist within a cosmetic Dental Practice and worked her way up to Practice Manager. Now she combines the two!
She set up HI Marketing Ltd in 2015 to help drive business’s and take away the pressure and time that the upkeep of marketing requires. Whether its social media marketing, writing blogs about your services, driving more traffic towards your website, she is here to take away the stress & pressure. Currently she works with around 25 dental related clients, including the British Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry. Get in touch by calling 07805506477 or emailing at hayley@hayleyironsmarketing.co.uk.
