You can follow this process during a time like the COVID-19 global pandemic that affects almost everyone. This article is helpful even if the news event is not that big.
Your content plan looks perfect and your content team is doing a great job.
Weekly topics align with your brand’s Buy email list content marketing strategy, with fresh topics every day to keep your audience engaged in the way they want. Next month's content is ready - approved by all stakeholders.
However, something beyond your control happens.
A helicopter crash in Los Angeles kills 9 people, including a basketball legend; lettuce is recalled due to E. coli contamination; an initiative against gender inequality and sexual harassment just launched just before Hollywood awards season...
In the beginning, hot news won't affect your content plan, after all, you are not in the business of helicopters, lettuce, or movies.
But they still spill over to you, the remembrance of the victims overwhelms the social activities, the searches about where the offending lettuce came from, and the conversation about offensive experiences in the workplace grow exponentially.
Unexpected bad news may not directly affect your brand, but it may affect your audience. That means you need to critically evaluate — and consider tweaking — your otherwise perfect content marketing plan.
Maintain the status quo, or change it quickly? Use your answers to these two questions to guide your actions.
1. From 0 to 10, how relevant is this news to the company?
In the case of lettuce, if your company sells another vegetable to restaurants, this would be a 9 or 10. But if your company sells tire valves to automakers, the score is zero.
0~6 points: No need to change the content, continue to the next question
7-10 points: Change your content plan