In May 2021, I wrote an email to my list detailing my content marketing ecosystem at the time. As I was going through old emails today, I saw this and realized it would make a valuable blog post, so here it is!
A couple weeks ago during coworking, we were talking about my content marketing ecosystems concept, and someone asked me what my ecosystem looks like.
And it led to some really interesting conversations, so I thought I’d share with you as well!
If you’re not already familiar, my Content Marketing Ecosystem framework is based on these core ideas:
- 1. All of the different places you publish content on interact and impact each other, because your audience is experiencing you back and forth across all of them, in no particular order.
- 2. Because of that, it’s super great if the content on each platform reflects the same ideas as the other platforms. That way, your messaging is consistent at any given time in all the places your people are experiencing you, and also it makes repurposing your content a gazillion times easier.
- 3. You don’t have to be on all the platforms. You just need to be on platforms you actually enjoy creating on, and you need to make sure you have these three content roles fulfilled: Leadership Content (where you put your stake in the ground and go in-depth), Relationship Content (exclusive content and conversations with your audience), and Connection Content (where you meet and connect with new people).
If you want to go in more depth, you can learn more about my Content Marketing Ecosystem framework here, and/or clarify your own with my free Content Marketing Ecosystem Workbook.
Let’s see how this plays out in the real world for me and my business.
Connection Content = Instagram
Instagram has been a really great platform for me. Feed posts for sure, but especially Stories. These have been a super fun and effective way for me to slowly nurture connections (people I meet and who find me on Instagram) into relationships.
More recently I’ve been dabbling with Reels to reach new people, and it seems to be effective, but until Instagram gives us some kind of analytics for Reels, it’ll be hard to know for sure.
I also use Instagram as a bit of a testing ground for new content ideas.
Very often, I repurpose content from emails and blog posts into Instagram content, but just as often I’ll test new content ideas on Instagram. If it does well as a caption or in Stories, the idea might get fleshed out into an email or blog post later on.
Relationship Content = coworking sessions and email list
Relationship Content is all about the exclusivity and the conversations you have with your people. It’s as much about conversation and listening as it is about content (if not more so).
In the last year since I first started hosting coworking sessions, it’s been the #1 most amazing way to develop real relationships with my people.
It’s wonderful! We talk about life as entrepreneurs (and also humans), support each other, get shit done, and people can ask me anything they want about content marketing.
As a strategic platform, it’s great because I get to hear how my people talk about their problems, the questions they ask (and how they phrase them), and which of my explanations or answers lands the most potently for them.
But even more than that, it’s just freaking fun! We laugh, we commiserate, we all support each other in our wins and losses, we talk about business and life in general. It’s become a true community, and I’m so delighted to have semi-accidentally created it.
I also have an email list (obviously, you’re reading this email right now!), but to be honest, I’m still mastering the art of email as a content platform.
Leadership Content = my blog
I’m a writer, so my blog is where I put my stake in the ground and create in-depth high value content that display my expertise, personality, and values.
The funny thing is, if you take a look at my blog, you’ll see that I don’t publish weekly, bi-weekly, or with any real consistent frequency (the consistency is in the quality).
The truth is, at the moment, my business is doing well without a weekly or bi-weekly blog publishing schedule. When I’m ready to level things up, I’ll step that up as part of the process, just like I do with my clients. But at the moment, my focus is elsewhere.
I create in-depth, high value blog posts when I have the bandwidth and/or when I have something important to say that deserves more than an email or Instagram caption.
My blog is a critical and important part of my content marketing ecosystem, but at the current stage in my business’s life, it looks different than it will at the next stage.
So yeah! That’s my Content Marketing Ecosystem for my business!
Is it the most perfect, consistent, optimized thing ever? No, because I’m a human, not a robot wizard.
But it works, and it works for me, and that’s what matters.