In the online world, it’s not enough to simply build a site and hope people will find it. If they know the name of your company or your direct URL, there’s no need to worry. But, do you want to be content with simply catering to your current customer base or do you want to expand and identify new prospects? If you’re leaning toward the latter, it may be time to consider the value of content management.

For those new to online marketing, content simply refers to the articles, blogs, press releases and any other text-based materials you use online to push out a message. The value of content management is found when partnering with a firm that can help you identify things to write about, create the content, post it appropriately and then use it to promote your message through multiple channels.

The name can easily be a misnomer – giving the impression that you need to focus on marketing the content you just created. On the contrary, you want to use that content to drive traffic to your site, your social media pages and to your blog to garner their interest and generate leads. The content you create is valuable, but only if it generates action. Will your readers come back for more? Will they contact you directly to inquire after your services? Will they share information with those in the same circles?

All of these actions can help drive business for you, if you develop a strategy, execute on that strategy and measure the results. To help in the process, here is a checklist to follow so you can truly leverage the value of content management:

1. Establish a goal – what do you want to accomplish? Do you want more traffic, more leads, more engagement? Identify the goal and make it achievable and measurable. If you haven’t drawn more than 10 people to your blog in the last year, don’t assume one change will draw 10,000 – be realistic.
2. Identify the tools – what do you want to use to accomplish that goal? Do you plan to write some blogs and then push them out to readers via social media channels? Do you plan to write a press release and distribute to national media channels? You’ll find the value in content management when you know what content to use.
3. How will you measure – measuring the impact of the selected tools and how close you are to your goal is critical. Marketing is a challenge within any company as the outcomes are not directly related to the inputs, making it more difficult to justify the investment. With content management, however, you can directly measure your number of hits, actions, responses and more.

This short list is just to get you started, but it forces you to sit down and answer the tough questions before you invest any time or money into these activities. And, keep in mind, that the true value in content management is knowing what content to use and what it should do. If you can’t answer these questions – it may be time to invest in a professional.