No matter what you create and how you shape your content strategy there are some simple principles you can build into everything you create. Here’s a quick look at 5 key tips to creating an effective content strategy.

1) be authentic – don’t get involved in conversations you have no right to be in. If you can find an angle to get involved then great but don’t force it. You will lose followers who become disenchanted and your engagement levels will drop which will harm your social and seo strategies just to name a few.

2) don’t be lazy – create content that means somethings to your audience. Take the time to make it valuable. Research it. Create different content for each social channel – people want different things from Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram.

3) make it beautiful – so by now it’s a fairly well known fact that imagery makes content more engaging. We humans have brains that engage well with pictures. Understand what makes images powerful and use them with you content.

4) have a plan – create proactive plans that show what’s coming up in your business, industry and generally in world events. Use this to power forward with themes that your followers can engage with and to creat powerful, relevant content that resonates with your audience.

5) have processes in place – sometimes you need to react. If a major news story breaks that’s relevant to you or if a customer complains you need to know what you’re going to do. Have thorough processes in place and you can be the first to ft in on a conversation which is a powerful opportunity. Also being fast with complaints can turn them into recommendations.

Read more about how to build an effective content strategy in my book, Digital Marketing Strategy.