Insight Series: What is a Content Blueprint?

In parts one and two of this blog series, we outlined how and why Metia’s Insight team uses digital data to understand the voice of the customer, and how we use data science algorithms to topic model social conversations and understand the most meaningful customer priorities. But once we have a data-driven understanding of what matters most to target audiences, how do we make best use of this information? 

This leads us to the tools Metia uses to turn insights into the desired actions via content engagement. These include content continuums, content archetypes, and content blueprints. 

Together, these tools help content strategists and content creators use data in their planning and execution of content programs. For our client’s messaging pillars and target audiences, they serve to identify and frame the fair exchange of value between what audiences are organically talking about and where there are opportunities to inject valuable perspective into the conversation. 

 
Content Continuums: A Framework to Support an End-to-End Content Journey and Drive Resonance  

In order to begin constructing any content plan that will resonate, we must start with a strong foundation of data-rich audience research. Metia’s Insight team utilizes social listening and advanced data science techniques to create a data-led understanding of what matters to each target audience. From this foundational understanding of our target audience develops the core framework we use to build a consistent, holistic, and end-to-end content journey: content continuums. 

Content continuums are reflections of the types of conversations emerging in the data. They are used to translate the data insights into an actionable plan for content creation and crafting engagement strategies. Content continuums are supported by sub-continuums that offer a more nuanced view into how target audiences frame the conversations that matter most to them. 

The content continuums also define four key areas, or content archetypes, with each one being distinct from the other. These content archetypes, once populated with themes and topics via the content blueprint, become four actionable ‘recipes’ that marketers can use as an in-depth guide for creating content.  

The framework below shows the general structure of the key content continuums and content archetypes that arise from audience research. 

We can then use these content continuums to understand and calibrate the full breadth of conversations that marketers should focus on when messaging and targeting a specific audience. Not all target audience members prioritize the same things, so there needs to be a range of content to fit varying priorities. From this foundation of content continuums and content archetypes, we can begin framing the content blueprint, or the guide to producing resonant content based on top audience priorities. 

Content Blueprints: Describing Audience-Centric Themes and Topics  

Content blueprints enable the evaluation of existing content and guide briefs for new content by providing an audience-centric messaging framework of the topics and themes in the conversation. 

There are three primary characteristics that determine each content blueprint: 

1. Topics: Framing topics translates insight into actionable content priorities. 
2. Themes: Themes represent the core ideas and priorities that are supported by the topics surrounding them.  
3. Proximity: The closer specific topics and themes are to each other, the stronger their association. Metia tools are used to determine this notion of proximity. Topics near one another can be combined or leveraged together in messaging to create practical synergy for authors within individual content pieces, as well as across content pieces to form a cohesive content journey. 

Actioning the Content Blueprint  

The underlying framework describes the range of conversations uncovered by research and insights into a target audience. Our insights define the key continuums (and sub-continuums) that we see each target audience’s conversations falling across, so you can understand the full breadth of mentions and target audience priorities. Using these continuums, marketers can understand the range of conversations to focus on when messaging the target audience. Not all target audience members prioritize the same things and there needs to be a range of content to address this variance in priorities. 

The content blueprint covers the key themes (and supporting topics) that fall across the continuums of audience conversations. Marketers can use these themes and supporting topics to understand the specific conversations members of a target audience are conducting. The content blueprint enables marketers to create content that touches on multiple topics in a relevant and cohesive way. 

Insight Series   

This post is one of a series in which the Metia Insight team explain the various tools, systems, research techniques and methods we use to help answer the challenges set by our clients.  

Read the series so far:  

What is Digital Data? 
What is Topic Modelling? 
What is the Content Resonance System?  

To learn more about how to utilize content continuums, archetypes, blueprints or other aspects of Metia’s data-driven content strategy expertise, simply get in touch.