What is owned content? Here’s a 101 lesson.

I think I speak for most of the world when I say that COVID-19 kicked us into a realm of massive uncertainty, leaving control-freaks like me longing for the pre-pandemic halcyon days when things were, how do you say, normal. 

These days, owned content is one of the few places where you can still achieve complete and utter control. When it comes to developing original content, you’re in the driver’s seat. 

Chances are, if you have a content marketing strategy in place, you are already producing some level of owned content. But if you’re looking to beef up your practice or get started from the ground up, you may need a little bit of guidance.

The world is your content oyster, and it can get overwhelming if you let it. Elsewhere in The Gong Blog archives, you’ll find five helpful questions to ask yourself when starting any storytelling journey – this is a great place to start.

Top that foundation with some questions that will help you frame your entire content operation. “How much time do I have?” “What kind of resources are available?” The answers will help you narrow your focus – because if resources are tight, you’re not going to be producing dozens of videos, for example.

Once you establish the basics, you can start having fun and brainstorming specific topics and more general topic areas – and ultimately, content formats. Original, owned content can come in the form of:

• Social media posts 
• Blog posts
• Videos
• Infographics
• Case studies
• Thought leadership commentaries
• Whitepapers
• Webinars
• and e-Books

Depending on what you’re trying to achieve (e.g., awareness, top-of-funnel leads), different formats may be more appropriate. How you design these pieces of content is also an important part of your owned content strategy.

Getting started with developing owned content shouldn’t be daunting. You’re not going to dive right into a CRM, develop a lead-scoring schema, and start shoving people down your sales funnel via gated content. Start small, create measurable goals, and set yourself up for success by chipping away – blog post by blog post.