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Content Atomization: Your Content Strategy for 2022by@syedbalkhi
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Content Atomization: Your Content Strategy for 2022

by Syed BalkhiMay 22nd, 2022
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Content atomization is breaking down your content or a major theme into smaller, more manageable pieces. Todd Defren coined this term, and today, most brands use it to create content. Atomization means treating something as if it's made of small, discrete pieces. This makes it easier to create quality content that is interesting and useful to your target audience. How to apply content atomization to your business: Start with a broad theme. Identify sub-themes and topics and start creating a series of content series.

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In the never-ending quest for more website traffic, many business owners and marketers turn to what seems like a logical solution: creating more content. The problem with this approach is that it can quickly lead to information overload for your audience. They may not have time to read everything you publish, let alone remember it all. So how can you ensure that your content is being seen and used by your target audience? The answer is content atomization.

What is it, and does it matter for business owners and entrepreneurs? We'll explore the answer to this question in this post.


Let's break down what content atomization is and how you can use it to grow your own business.

What is content atomization?

Atomization means treating something as if it's made of small, discrete pieces. It also means to reduce to fine particles.


When it comes to content and marketing, content atomization is breaking down your content or a major theme into smaller, more manageable pieces. Todd Defren coined this term, and today, most brands, large and small, use this strategy to create content.


From a low-level perspective, content atomization could be turning a long pillar post into a number of new posts that focus on each aspect of the pillar content. From a higher-level perspective, this could be taking a broad topic that you want to rank for and creating an entire content strategy around it by breaking it down into smaller, more manageable goals. And you can even create smaller campaigns to target these goals.

Why content atomization matters

There are several benefits to using a content atomization strategy:


  • Allows you to focus on a single topic: When you treat each piece of content as a separate entity, it allows you to focus on a single topic. This makes it easier to create quality content that is interesting and useful to your target audience.
  • It's easier to measure success: When you have small goals, it's easier to measure your success. This is because you can track each campaign and see which ones are working and which ones need to be tweaked.
  • You can repurpose content: Once you have a number of smaller pieces, you can repurpose that content into other formats such as infographics, eBooks, and email courses. This allows you to get the most out of your content and reach a wider audience.

How to apply content atomization to your business

Now that we've covered content atomization and why it matters, let's look at how you can apply it to your business. These steps are guidelines for atomizing your content but what's important is understanding the goal of atomization - when you do this, you'll approach it the right way.

Step 1: Start with a broad theme

The first step is to start with a broad theme that's relevant to your business. This could be as broad as your entire social media marketing strategy or a particular area you focus on in your industry.


For example, a travel blog might focus on 'travel hacks'. And a theme like this has a lot of potential for content atomization. It could easily create content about leveraging credit cards, airline loyalty programs, and more.

Step 2: Identify sub-themes and topics

Once you have a broad theme, it's time to start identifying sub-themes and topics. For example, if we continue with the 'travel hacks' theme from above, a sub-theme could be 'airline loyalty programs. And from there, you can start brainstorming different topics such as 'how to get the most out of airline loyalty programs' or 'the best airline loyalty programs for international travel'.


Almost every sub-theme has the potential for further atomization. As a result, you have an incredible amount of content that you can work with.

Step 3: Plan a content series

Once you have a list of sub-themes and topics, it's time to start creating a content series. A content series is a great way to atomize your content because it allows you to focus on one topic at a time.


For example, let's say you want to create a series about 'affordable travel hacks' for your travel blog. You can easily break this down into several different posts, each focusing on a specific topic. And you don't have to focus on just blog posts either. There are other formats that you can use.

Step 4: Plan different content formats for your content series

Now that you have a content series planned out, it's time to start thinking about other content formats. This is where you can get creative and mix things up.


For example, let's say you're doing a series on 'affordable travel hacks'. You could easily create a series of blog posts that you write and publish regularly.


Another format you can use is an online course. Using an LMS plugin or a service like Udemy, you can easily create a course covering all the topics in your series.


But that's not it; you can also create podcasts, audio content, social media posts, and a series of email content for your audience. And if you're feeling adventurous, you can even do an ebook series for audience members who love and need more content.

Step 5: Starting creating content

Now it's time for the final step: creating content. This is where you put all your plans into action and start cranking out content.


If you're doing a blog series, start writing and publishing your posts on a regular schedule. Start recording your lectures and uploading them if you're doing an online course.

The key is to pace yourself and focus on hitting smaller goals along the way.


Another critical suggestion is to hire a freelancer or a content agency to help you with the heavy lifting. Just getting a little bit of help can make a world of difference to how quickly and effectively you can execute your content atomization strategy.

Step 6: Promote your content series

Once you have your content series created, it's time to promote it. In fact, atomizing your content naturally leads to compelling marketing strategies that your audience will love.

When you break down your overall theme into smaller sub-themes and content series, you make it easier for people to consume your content.


And when you launch a course or email series, you give people something to look forward to. Not to mention, you engage your audience over more extended periods.


So, make sure that you let people know that you're creating new content. Invite people to join your email list and share your new content on social media.

Do whatever you can to get the word out there and you'll be sure to see success.

Conclusion

Content atomization is a great way to make the best use of your thought leadership and business knowledge. It allows you to create more content, in different formats, and for different audiences.


Not only does this help you attract new readers and followers, but it also keeps people engaged with your brand over more extended periods of time.


So, if you're looking for a way to take your content strategy to the next level, consider atomizing your content. It's a great way to get more out of your content marketing efforts.