It's about providing insight and information that your audience actually wants to hear. SMART content is designed for a specific audience, based on your understanding of their needs, preferences and intentions. Get to know your audience. There's so much more to it than keyword research. Where do your online consumers live? What is their intent when performing certain types of searches or engaging with your brand on social media? What actions are they most likely to take at this point? Understanding the audience you are writing for is the foundation upon which SMART content is built.
Uncover opportunities with topical search. How well do you understand the competitive environment in the verticals you create content for? Today you are competing for eyes and clicks. Your competitors may be other businesses, but you could be competing jewelry retouching service for space in the SERPs against media brands, bloggers, influencers and more. Without this bird's-eye view of relevant search and social spaces, you're flying blind. Assessing content gaps not covered by your competitors gives you the opportunity to create engaging content that speaks to people in the key moments that matter. Choose content formats wisely.
What media will you incorporate to best illustrate your message, engage your audience, and reach people across all platforms? Don't limit yourself; a single piece of content can incorporate multiple types of media, including socially shareable images, quick video clips, and embedded media, like SlideShares. This gives you different ways to deliver your message, but it also allows you to appear in different types of search results (like