Content Cluster: content ideation exercise
tool growth canvas
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Using the Content Cluster
This ideation exercise helps you as a content strategist or creator to map all different types of content by topics. The Content Cluster allows your team to analyse and ideate on long form content pieces, and divide them into multiple other pieces of short form content for different platforms.
For example, a keynote video can distributed on multiple platforms for video, your own website, and social media. This same video, can be used to create pieces of short form content such as pictures, text, stories, gifs, quotes, articles, etc.
What you’ll need:
- Pens (& Post-its, optionally to move ideas around the cluster.)
- A printed Content Cluster. It will boost your creativity.
- 1 to 3 people, at least one being the content marketer.
Persona’s
Who are you creating your posts for?
Online Brand DNA
What is your style of communication?
Content Tools
Which tools will help you?
Content Sources
What will you use to inform and inspire?
For every content core, you will have other persona’s to target, maybe even another style of communication or inspiration sources. These 4 fields help you structure your way of working for each content pillar.
Getting started
Start by defining your persona, as it will help you determine the tone of voice and style of communication to this target audience. Then, add what tools will help you along the way and what inspires your content.
Explore your content web
It’s possible to fill out multiple core’s, by having multiple clusters printed out. Each core topic is a pillar of your content. For example, as Apple, a Pillar could be the ‘iPhone’ or ‘Music Tech’.
When choosing a core, ideate on long form content. First individually for about 5 minutes, then going over your ideas. There is no need to go specific now, but it is a possibility. The cluster is meant to structure content, not ideate on specific blog titles. But should you choose to ideate on that, feel free to add it to the exercise.
When choosing long form content like for example, a blog post on smartphone trends, this can be divided in multiple items of micro content on different platforms. A post on Facebook, a story on Snapchat, a post on Medium, etc. Try to get as much pieces of content out of one piece of long form content. Good luck!
A filled out Content Cluster can be used to plan all ideas in your content plan. You now know the workflow, tools to use, traction channels, etc.
