Crafting Valuable Content Strategies in 10 Minutes

Creating a compelling content strategy can often seem like a daunting task. However, with the right approach, it can be simplified and even enjoyable. This is where the Content Matrix, a strategic framework designed by Justin Welsh, comes into play. It's an innovative approach specifically crafted to assist content creators and marketers in efficiently map out and organise their content strategy.

The Content Matrix employs a grid-based system, where one axis represents different styles or formats of content, and the other corresponds to various themes or key topics relevant to your niche. The process of populating this matrix requires a blend of brainstorming and research, aimed at generating a plethora of valuable content ideas that will captivate and engage your target audience.

In this concise guide, we aim to walk you through the creation of a brainstorming matrix in 10 minutes. Following this, we'll demonstrate how to bring this matrix to life with a practical content plan, encompassing a variety of styles or formats, such as newsletters, listicles, LinkedIn posts, and more.

Understanding the Axes

The Content Matrix is structured around two axes: the X-axis, representing the style or format of your content, and the Y-axis, representing the themes or key topics relevant to your niche.

The X-Axis: Style or Format

The X-axis can represent the style or format of your content. This could be anything from an inspirational story, an observation, a comparison, a list, or a breakdown. It's important to note that this axis is flexible and should be adapted to suit your specific needs and preferences.

For instance, if you're more comfortable creating video content, you can modify the X-axis to represent different video formats like tutorials, interviews, or vlogs. Similarly, if you're a writer, your X-axis could represent different writing styles like listicles, how-to guides, or opinion pieces.

The Y-Axis: Themes or Topics

The Y-axis of the Content Matrix represents the themes or topics you want to cover. These should be directly tied to your niche and should resonate with your target audience.

Creating Your Content Matrix

Now that you understand the structure of the Content Matrix, let's use an example to illustrate how you can create one for a human rights organization.

Defining the X-Axis

In this case, let's say we want to keep the X-axis focused on different content styles. Here are some examples:

1. Actionable: How-to guides or step-by-step instructions
2. Inspirational: Stories or anecdotes that inspire action
3. Breakdown: Detailed analysis of a person, company, writing style, etc.
4. Contrarian: Content that challenges the status quo or common beliefs
5. Observation: Insights or observations on a specific topic
6. X vs. Y: Comparisons between two situations, concepts, or items
7. Present vs Future: Analysis of current trends or situations versus future predictions
8. Listicles: Lists of books, podcasts, people, etc.
9. Tactical: Content demonstrating authority and experience
10. Lessons: Content focused on lessons learned from experiences or events
11. Benefits: Content highlighting the benefits of a specific action or concept
12. Reasons Why: Content explaining why someone should or shouldn’t do something
13. Mistakes: Content discussing common mistakes within a specific topic

Remember, these styles are just examples. Feel free to adapt them or come up with your own based on what you think will engage your audience the most. Here are more examples of content styles that you can use:

1. Instagram Reels: Short, engaging videos tailored for Instagram's Reels feature
2. YouTube Vlogs: Personalized video content sharing experiences or thoughts
3. LinkedIn Posts: Professional content aimed at engaging a LinkedIn audience
4. Weekly Newsletters: Regular email updates providing valuable information to subscribers
5. Case Studies: Detailed analysis of a project, event, or situation over a period of time
6. Expert Interviews: Content featuring conversations with industry experts or influencers
7. Product Reviews: Content providing a detailed review of a product or service.

Defining the Y-Axis

For the Y-axis, we'll focus on themes relevant to a human rights organization. These could include:

1. Gender equality
2. Human rights in underdeveloped countries
3. Sustainable social impact
4. Diversity and inclusion
5. Intellectual activism

Let's Create Your Brainstorming Content Matrix Together!

Include your company's background and your outcome in the prompt

I need your help to generate content ideas.
I help volunteers between ages 20-35 find meaningful volunteer opportunities and connections and networking with likeminded people. I mainly talk about how intellectual activism, human rights, sustainable social impact, gender equality, and inclusivity.

X-axis = Your content format, style

The X-axis has these texts:

1. Actionable / How can people do it
2. Inspirational / Inspire people to take action with a STORY or ANECDOTE
3. Breakdown / Do a breakdown of a person, company, writing style, etc..
4. Contrarian / Something you feel differently about vs status quo
5. Observation /Something you've observed that you can talk about 6 X vs. Y / Compare 2 situations for an interesting takeaway.
6. Present vs Future/ Compare how things work today vs future
7. List of things / List books, podcasts, people, etc..
8. Tactically / Demonstrating authority and experience
9. Lessons / Lessons learned about the topic
10. Benefits / Benefits of doing one thing related to the topic
11. Reasons why / Reasons why someone should or shouldn’t do one thing related to the topic
12. Mistakes / common mistakes people make within the topic

Y-axis = Your themes

The Y-axis contains:

A. Gender equality in the world
B. Human rights in underdeveloped countries
C. Sustainable social impact
D. Diversity and inclusion
E. Intellectual activism

What is the Outcome of this Prompt?

Crafting a compelling content strategy is a complex process that needs thoughtful planning and execution. Justin Welsh's Content Matrix serves as a powerful approach to simplify this process, enabling you to brainstorm and organize your ideas effectively.

Keep these crucial steps in mind to maximize the utility of your Content Matrix:

1. Understand Your Unique Selling Points: Whether you're a company or an individual content creator, it's essential to grasp your unique selling points. Understanding your mission, values, target demographics, and niche will help you tailor your content to resonate with your audience's needs and preferences.
2. Define Your Content Style/Format: Decide on the style or format that you'll employ in your content. This could range from blog posts, videos, email campaigns, newsletters, to social media posts. Remember, each style or format has different goals and engages audiences in unique ways.
3. Identify Relevant Themes: Pinpoint themes that align with your niche and audience interests. These could encompass industry trends, solutions to common problems, or insights into specific topics. Aligning these themes with your audience's interests will lead to more compelling and engaging content.
4. Leverage OmniGPT: Use the language capabilities of OmniGPT to generate content for each cell in your matrix. Ensure your prompts are specific to the style/format and theme, incorporating elements that reflect your unique selling points for relevance and brand alignment.
5. Evaluate & Refine: Review OmniGPT's suggestions for relevance, originality, and alignment with your strategy. Make necessary refinements to ensure your content resonates with your audience and effectively conveys your message.
6. Iterate & Update: Continually monitor and update your strategy based on audience feedback, performance metrics, and industry trends. Regularly updating the matrix will ensure your content remains fresh, reflecting evolving audience preferences and emerging themes.

By adhering to these steps, you can leverage the power of Justin Welsh's Content Matrix to create a comprehensive and effective content strategy. This tool will empower you to generate a plethora of ideas, organize them efficiently, and ultimately produce content that aligns with your brand and resonates with your audience. Here's to creating captivating content!