Last year a client was experimenting with AI and posted a blog post written by you know who. As the resident blog post writer, I initiated a conversation on how we would use AI productively in our editorial schedule.
But while I felt a bit offended to see a post written by a robot, I didn’t feel threatened. In fact, I felt like the client was threatening their own business (and told them so) because the blog topic was so generic. And it was also outside of the editorial calendar that we’d built for the year. These two factors made me think about how pointless it can be to post without strategy. As I reminded my client, a post can just be random unless it also fulfils certain strategic goals.
I’m talking content pillars, of course.
For those who are unfamiliar, it’s strategic to focus your content creation on the few areas where you want to build authority. What are the 4-5 topics where you want to be known for your expertise? As you write, you should ensure that every post falls within one of those 3-5 topics. Not to say that you can’t ever write about something outside of your focus, but if time is money, then a focused set of pillars maximizes the effort that you’re putting into your posts.
I had to follow my own rule recently when I had the idea to write about my love-hate, mostly hate, relationship with the ever-popular animated gif. What a good subject for a post, and I did have the rant in me. But then I considered what benefit I would be providing to my reader. Was I making an argument against gifs? No, some people love them. I was really just feeling ranty, and other than maybe stirring a bit of controversy, my post wasn’t really going to add any expertise to the subject. I was just out to complain.
So, I complained to a friend instead and found another topic. This one.
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