Publishing a blog without a defined content strategy is like setting sail without a map. You might move forward, but you’re going to struggle to get to your destination.
Instead, having a clear content strategy for your blog keeps you focused on serving your unique target audience, avoiding unnecessary work for your team and staying aligned on your goals. You’ll be empowered to say no to requests that don’t support your priorities. And you’ll know how your efforts are performing and understand where to make adjustments.
In just a few well-executed steps, you can create a successful blog content strategy for your health and wellness blog.
A successful healthcare blog strategy should engage, educate and inspire readers with content that aligns with their interests — on the topics, formats and channels they prefer. This builds trust and fosters a long-term relationship between your audience and your healthcare brand.
After years of helping health systems, hospitals, payers, non-profits and health B2B organizations craft winning blog content strategies, we’ve identified three essential steps for success.
Content strategists dive into metrics and uncover a story — the story of user behavior, search engine optimization (SEO) and engagement metrics. But you can’t just present executives with an Excel document full of data and expect them to understand it; instead, you need to translate that data intYour blog’s mission statement is the foundation of your content strategy. It defines the “why” behind your blog and ensures every post aligns with your organization’s goals. A strong mission statement keeps your content focused. This helps you determine which ideas fit your blog strategy and which do not.
Answer these questions when writing your mission statement:
Having a defined blog mission statement, such as this example from Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady Health System, contributes to a stronger and more cohesive brand identity. It communicates your values and goals, which helps establish your blog as a credible and trustworthy source of information.
Example of a blog mission statement, posted on Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady Health System.Get more healthcare marketing tips and best practices: Subscribe to the WG Content newsletter.
Your blog strategy differs from your overall website strategy. Its goal may not be to immediately drive a revenue-related conversion (such as making an appointment) but instead build brand awareness and domain authority for your hospital website over time.
Define what specific, measurable key performance indicators (KPIs) will show the blog is successful. Examples include:
Consistency is key when developing the content calendar for your health and wellness blog. Your calendar should include topics, deadlines and any promotional activities.
Prioritize quality over quantity — consistently publishing valuable content is more important than frequent but low-impact posts. Be realistic about your team’s capacity to produce consistent, valuable content and consider scaling up with external writers when needed.
But the work’s not done once the blog article goes live. Factor in targeted social media posts and email marketing to your audiences — and place them where those key audiences want to receive messages. Your content distribution strategy may differ based on the timeliness of the subject and your core audience’s preferred channels.
Want to enhance your content strategy? Learn how adding a content strategist to your team can accelerate your efforts.
Creating a memorable content experience for your readers starts with a name.
Shine, the name for Methodist Health System’s interactive blog and health magazine, reflects the organization’s overall faith-based mission to improve and save lives through compassionate, quality healthcare.
Screenshot of Methodist Health System’s Shine healthy living magazine.Choose timely topics that will resonate with your target audience and put your hospital’s spin on those topics. Here’s where a competitive content analysis is key: ideally, one that includes not only your direct competitors in the market but also larger health and wellness systems and even non-healthcare brands your team looks to for inspiration. What’s working well, and where are opportunities to improve or outperform competitors?
For example, while many hospital systems include primary care and wellness content, Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady Health System carved out a unique health niche with a college health article hub that provides information for college students and their parents. It’s about helping young adults learn to navigate the healthcare system.
To maintain content quality, regularly audit your existing blog posts:
Make sure your blog strategy reinforces your organization’s unique brand, voice and tone. Swedish accomplishes this goal in its health and wellness blog by:
A screenshot of a blog post from Swedish.Strategic messaging strengthens your health and wellness blog’s credibility and value, and ultimately establishes it as a trusted resource for health information.
Want to learn more about blog content strategy? Attend this webinar with Stella and AdventHealth’s John Katez.
Need help refining your blog content strategy? WG Content has 20+ years of experience crafting custom healthcare content and strategy. Contact us to learn how we can elevate your healthcare brand’s blog.
By: Stella Hart
The original version of this page was published at: https://wgcontent.com/blog/blog-content-strategy/
More than 20 years ago, WG Content became the first company to focus solely on content for the healthcare industry. Year after year, our ultimate mission is to put relationships at the center of al... Read more
