15 content strategy myths to debunk in 2022

Though today, people would not be searching for this kind of topic. Tomorrow, it might have excellent search volume.

That’s why it’s easy to get into the trap of thinking content strategy is for SEO. But, it’s not limited to SEO.

Let’s look at how it can be for every marketing platform and not just for SEO.

Content calendar for email marketing segmented from overall content strategy

Similarly, here is the email content planner segmented from the overall content strategy

I’m not showcasing the social media content strategy because that’s what I’m going to cover in the below point.

5. Content strategy = social media content strategy

No. Content strategy is not equal to social media content strategy.

We have met and seen some marketers and business owners have this misconception, especially in the e-commerce domain, as they largely depend on social media for business.

When you talk about content strategy, it’s an overall plan that includes auditing, researching, planning, developing, executing, managing, distributing content and measuring its performance to achieve business and marketing goals.

A social media content strategy is a segmented part of the content strategy. Once you know what needs to be promoted on social media, why and how, you can prepare a social media content strategy to achieve what you’ve set for social media.

For one of our clients, we created a calendar targeting different audiences for different platforms because they have the targets to achieve for both audiences.

While creating their social media content strategy, we separated the messaging, timings, designs, and goals, considering the audiences active on the respective platforms.

One part of the calendar targeted the Talent audience on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, who would sign up on their platform to seek remote jobs.

Another part of the social media calendar targeted the Companies as the audience on LinkedIn who would sign up on their platform to seek remote talent.

For such detailed social media content strategy creation, you need social media strategists or marketers who would take care of this. But, you cannot have social media strategists create the overall content strategy targeting holistic marketing goals.

If you still have this myth around content strategy, you would hire the wrong talent, ultimately impacting your ROI.

6. The content strategy emphasizes creation

Content strategy is not content marketing; it’s certainly not content creation.

While working as a consultant, whenever I used to ask the marketing teams to develop a content strategy, they would share with me a list of topics to be written and all information around it.

Honestly, it’s also about content distribution. Here is what your content strategy’s content marketing/distribution section should look like,

Content creation is a part of the content strategy. But if the emphasis of your content strategy is only on creation, you’re missing out on generating content ROI.

7. Content strategy is not for my business

I discovered this content strategy myth while conversing with e-commerce and SaaS founders.

During the discovery calls with SaaS prospects, we go through a detailed understanding of their audience, product, and business model. They don’t know what their product should be called most of the time. Let me tell you why.

They could be startups trying to solve a problem. If they are solving a unique problem, their product would also be unique and even challenging to be attached with an existing keyword having a decent search volume.

For example:

• We offer a CRM, but our product is not limited to customer relationship management but much more than that for the BFSI industry.
• Sales enablement automation is what we focus on.
• Our product is a sales acceleration platform.
• We offer a sales playbook.
• And the list is endless.

So they don’t feel the need for a content strategy as they want to create content only for the bottom funnel of the customer journey. Well, even if you target conversions, you need a content strategy.

If you create conversion-focused content without the proper distribution process, creating that content is a wasted effort.

Some niche e-commerce businesses wrongly think investing in content strategy is a waste of money. It isn’t. But you’re wasting money if you’re creating content without direction.

The content strategy gives direction to what you want to achieve – why, when and how.

The more niche you go, the more you need a content strategy as you need detailed research on how you’re going to bring your audience into the customer journey and convert.

8. Content strategy is one-and-done

Any successful website is the result of a content strategy. 

This is especially true for sites looking to rank well in search engines or generate leads and sales through any marketing channel. 

Your site will likely struggle to attract visitors and achieve its goals without planning what kind of content to create and how to promote it. 

Unfortunately, too many businesses treat content strategy as a one-time task. They develop a plan, implement it, and then move on to other things. I would call it not just the myth but even the mistake you make around content strategy.

If you want your site to continue performing well, you need to keep your content strategy going indefinitely. If you lose track, you might have to invest more to achieve marketing goals, resulting in low profits.

9. Content strategy is only about the short-term

Yes, a content strategy involves thinking about the short-term. But that’s not all it’s about.

A good content strategy is also about understanding what your audience needs, taking into account the whole customer journey, from first contact to post-purchase follow-up and then giving it to them in a way that’s engaging and easy to consume.

By thinking about your content in this way, you can create a more holistic and practical approach that will benefit your business in the short and long term.

It’s clear why so many people are confused about content strategy. I have met employers and prospects who think – “what’s in a content strategy? I don’t need someone specialized for that.” 

10. Content strategy? SEO can handle it

SEOs are the perfect people because they understand how search engines work and what users are looking for.

SEOs are uniquely qualified to handle both tasks simultaneously. But SEOs also have more complex things to look at, such as,

• Increasing competition
• Technical challenges of the website
• Google rewriting title tags
• Maintaining E-A-T
• Keeping their website safe from the Google algorithms coming every month
• Moving from Universal Analytics to GA4
• Google indexing issues
• And more

Honestly, creating a content strategy is a huge task because the one who creates it has to consider business goals, marketing goals, and segmented marketing goals to be achieved through the power of content at the right time, right place with the right marketing message.

Miss this and you’re wasting resources on content strategy and marketing.

11. Content strategists only create calendars

That’s a big misconception business owners have for content strategists.

They are often thought of as just calendar planners. While that is a significant part of the job, there is so much more to what they do. 

In reality, their role extends far beyond simply putting dates on a calendar and making sure things get published on time. 

Content strategists help brands create a plan for their content that aligns with their overall business goals and establishes a strategy for achieving them. They think about the audience they are trying to reach and develop formats and topics that will resonate with them. 

They also ensure that all of their content is aligned with the overall marketing strategy, helping to drive traffic, leads, and sales. 

This may include auditing the existing content, creating or sourcing content, ensuring it is designed per the expectations, optimizing it for search engines and social media, tracking how well it performs, and making notes for the next planning round.

12. The content strategist must be in-house

Some businesses have said this to me and came back to me when I launched my agency.

Content strategists can be in-house but don’t necessarily have to be. Whether to have them in-house or outsource them, you need to think of the following,

• What type of business are you in?
• Do you have huge marketing goals and budgets?
• Are you looking to set up the entire marketing team in-house?
• How big is your in-house marketing team?
• Are you able to find the right talent?
• Do you have time to do a trial-and-error with a content strategist?

The answer to the above questions would help you understand when to hire a content strategist in-house or outsource it.

13. Content writers should build content strategies

“Can you come up with content topics as well?” I’m sure most freelance content writers often receive this kind of requirement, as I also used to get it before my agency.

The thought of a content writer coming up with a content strategy may sound like a good idea, but it’s not. Here’s why: 

A content writer writes articles, blog posts, web copy, etc. A content strategist is responsible for planning, creating, and managing all types of content (text, visual, audio, etc.) to meet the specific needs of their company or client. 

Content writers are great at creating interesting and informative pieces that help businesses achieve their goals, but that’s usually where their skill set ends unless they are content strategists already. 

A true content strategist has a deep understanding of the bigger picture of marketing and how each piece of content fits into the puzzle. 

So, stop having this myth that content writers can create content strategies and stop asking them to do so. It will impact your business.

14. You can automate content strategy creation

WHAT? HOW?

I mean, today, everyone in marketing thinks of automation. But content strategy? Certainly not. 

Some tools and techniques automate a lot of content strategy activities to streamline your efforts, such as:

• Content ideation through the search engines, competitors, People Also Ask, BuzzSumo, Quora, etc.
• Content creation through AI using Jasper, Copy.ai, Rytr, etc.
• Keyword clustering with Keyword Insights tool and some Python scripts.
• Content distribution such as email marketing, social media marketing, programmatic ads, and more.
• Google Sheets formulas to automate many mundane tasks while documenting the strategy.

But, you still cannot automate some tasks while creating a content strategy, and they are:

• Understanding the audience
• Defining the brand guidelines
• Identifying the marketing messaging for each content
• Selecting the type of content and distribution platform considering the audience, their customer journey stage
• Creating content briefs
• Reviewing content and ensuring it’s as per the expectations
• Auditing the existing content for gaps
• And more

Content is at the heart of any effective marketing campaign and requires a human touch to create and optimize effectively. So, you cannot automate content strategy creation. Stay away from such a myth.

15. Measuring content strategy performance is impossible

“It’s easy to track the performance of the content but not of its strategy. How would we know if we have hired the right content strategist with no performance tracking?”

Business owners looking to hire content strategists for the first time always think they cannot track the performance of the content strategy and hence, don’t know if their content strategists would do any good. And that’s another big content strategy myth.

If your content is driving results, your content strategy is working. 

After all, the content strategy had the content topics, goals, marketing message, platforms, timing, and distribution process that made it drive results.

So, if you want to measure the performance of the content strategy, think of comparing the results of your content with the previous period and see how you’re progressing.

Don’t let your myths around content strategy affect your marketing ROI

The purpose behind highlighting these myths is to create awareness around content strategy, which it lacks. 

We all know that content is king, but you need the right approach, strategy, and talent to make your content king.

And these myths are the roadblocks to content coronation. Hopefully, now that these content strategy myths have been debunked, you now have clarity about content strategy.

Opinions expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily Search Engine Land. Staff authors are listed here.

About The Author

Himani Kankaria is the founder of Missive Digital, an organic digital marketing agency helping businesses multiply their organic visibility and conversions. She specializes in strategizing, creating, and optimizing content for users and SERP features like Featured Snippets. She is a speaker at global conferences and an author sharing her knowledge and experiences around SEO and Content at various publishing sites, webinars, podcasts and more.