Are you making any New Year’s resolutions for 2024?
How about New Year’s content resolutions?
As 2024 approaches, now is the time to reflect on your brand’s content strategy over the past year—to consider what worked, what didn’t, and how these insights can play into your strategy moving forward.
It’s also a great time to set goals. These goals will help you plan, stay accountable, and get inspired to make 2024 your year for high-performing content.
Here are 6 content resolutions to consider putting into action in 2024:
1. Use AI as a tool, not as a writer.
2023 may have seen the rapid rise of AI writing models like ChatGPT, but we’re hoping that bot-written content can be a thing of the past in 2024. We’ve written a lot about AI this year on the MarketSmiths blog. We even provided some tips on how to use AI as a tool—it can be surprisingly handy for tasks like brainstorming or outlining. But if you’re thinking of outsourcing some of your content writing to ChatGPT, think again.
Not only does an AI engine lack the warmth, candor, and emotional intelligence of human writers—all important elements that make your content stand out to readers—but using a bot to produce content can lead you into some sticky legal situations, like sharing incorrect information or even accidental plagiarism. So, this year, resolve to use caution with AI and always have a human writer at the helm of any new content you put out.
2. Stop siloing content by department.
Does your company take a cross-departmental approach to content creation? Or is it every team for itself? Siloing content between departments can lead to disaster—inconsistent brand representations that erode customer trust, costly redundancies, and squandered opportunities for synergy and alignment.
Making it a goal to centralize content creation in 2024 can help your organization produce consistent, aligned messaging that builds trust with your audience and performs every time.
3. Refresh your website.
How long has it been since you last updated your website content? While there’s no exact expiration date for website content, we recommend that companies do a quick, monthly review of their site to make any necessary minor changes and a full web copy review every one to two years for larger changes.
Updating your website can help you breathe new life into your brand, capture new leads, and continue to engage current customers. In 2024, resolve to give your website a fresh look and feel. Assess the relevance of your current content, update outdated information, and ensure that your messaging aligns with your brand strategy.
4. Vary your content forms and distribution channels.
In 2024, make it a priority to explore different content formats and distribution channels. As marketing trends come and go and channels ebb and flow in popularity, having a wide range of content across multiple platforms can help you reach new audiences, uncover opportunities, and future-proof your business.
If your brand wants to establish expertise, dive deeper into thought leadership pieces or consider writing an ebook. If social has been on the sidelines, it may be time to re-strategize and develop a thoughtful posting cadence. Keep your sales team ready for every opportunity with brochures for conferences, one-pagers for meetings, and email sequences for reaching out. Don’t be afraid to delve into new forms and channels—you never know who you might reach.
5. Get more mileage out of your content by repurposing.
Repurposing content is a great way to extend the life of your content and help your most impactful messages reach broader audiences. Consider how you can repurpose existing content for new channels. For example, you might turn a well-performing blog post into a series of Instagram posts, create an infographic from a whitepaper, or engage with your audience on topics from your latest thought leadership piece with a LinkedIn poll.
By resolving to get more mileage out of your content this year, you can reinforce your key messages and engage audiences in new and meaningful ways.
6. Strive for more authenticity.
In 2022, Google rolled out a series of search engine updates aimed at pushing authentic, original, and helpful content to the top of the search results. This means that unoriginal, generic content-for-content’s-sake isn’t just boring—it isn’t as likely to reach audiences.
This year, resolve to tap into authenticity, and in doing so, create meaningful, quality content that performs. Lean on experts within and outside your company to give first-hand perspectives on relevant topics, share human stories that resonate, and keep your voice consistent and your final drafts polished.
Ready to put your content resolutions into action?
At MarketSmiths, our goal is to help you reach your content goals. Powered by a centralized strategic approach, a team of elite writers, and a 35-point quality control process, we create quality content that performs.
MarketSmiths also runs Content CatalystTM, a cross-departmental content solution designed to help companies unify their brand voice while maximizing ROI. Contact the MarketSmiths team to get started today.
