Why creating a modular content strategy should be your primary goal

I'll try to explain the modular content approach from a totally different perspective.

Have you ever watched Kaleidoscope on Netflix? Besides great crime/heist drama stories, this series gained popularity for the fame of its structure: each of the episodes can be watched in any order, but they do add up to tell one story. Viewers can choose the order of the first seven episodes in the eight-episode series, which amounts to more than 5k combinations.

A pure example of modular content.

You have a story to tell, you have the narrative, and you allow your audience to suit their own content experience to their needs by consuming unique and once-created content.

If you want to learn how to incorporate that into your content strategy, keep reading.

What is modular content?

Modular content refers to creating pieces of content that can be reused, reconfigured, and repurposed across different platforms and formats. This approach is particularly useful in content marketing and web development as it allows for greater flexibility, consistency, and efficiency in content creation and management.

Put it simply: Modular content management focuses on content reuse.

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  Reduced workload: By reusing existing content, creators save time and effort that would otherwise be spent producing new material from scratch.


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  Consistency: Ensures that the same information is presented uniformly across various platforms and formats, maintaining a consistent message.


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  Lower costs: Reusing content reduces the costs of creating new content, such as research, writing, editing, and design.


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  Maximizing value: Extracting more value from existing content by repurposing it for different uses (e.g., turning a blog post into a video or infographic).


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  Improved search rankings: Consistently updated and repurposed content can improve search engine rankings by keeping the website fresh and relevant.


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  Broader reach: Different formats of the same content can attract different audiences, expanding reach and engagement.

For the developer team:

involves modular content. Structuring and managing different content types that can be easily reused, reconfigured, and repurposed.

Components of modular content

Content modules: These are the basic building blocks of modular content. Each module is a standalone unit of content that addresses a specific topic or function.

Examples include:

• Text blocks


• Images


• Videos


• Infographics


• Call-to-action buttons


• And so on

Templates: Templates provide a structured layout into which content modules can be placed. They ensure consistency and help streamline the content creation process.

Learn more: that can be applied to a wide range of media types, including those that will be used in the future.

To accomplish this, you'll need to understand how to use modular content fields, which define a dynamic area for better page layouts.

Implementation steps

1. 
   Identify content fields: Determine the core elements that can be modularized based on the type of content you are creating (e.g., blog posts, product descriptions, landing pages).


2. 
   Create modular templates: Develop templates that incorporate these modular content fields. Templates serve as blueprints for how the modules will be assembled.


3. 
   Populate content fields: Fill each content field with specific content. Each field should be self-contained and able to stand alone.


4. 
   Assemble content: Use the templates to combine the modular content fields into complete pieces of content.


5. 
   Repurpose and adapt: Modify and adapt the modules for different contexts or platforms as needed, leveraging the flexibility of the modular approach.

So, let's break down a simple example of creating modular content fields for a blog template. I'll create a few basic fields that can be reused and assembled into a complete blog post.

Blog template example using Modular Content fields (Step-by-step)

Populate content fields

Now it is time to create content for each field as separate. I’ll use this blog article as an example:

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  Title: Why creating modular content strategy should be your primary goal


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  Slug: modular-content


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  Created at: 30.07.2024


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  Updated at:30.07.2024


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  Preview title: Why creating modular content strategy should be your primary goal


• 
  Category: Content operations


• 
  Preview Description: Creating modular content means building small building blocks of content and then using them to construct larger pieces.


• Image:


• 
  Authors: Arso Stojovic


• 
  Content area: Blog copy

Assemble content

Combine modular content fields and blog copy ( with images, video, and call-to-action button) to complete content pieces and you are prepared for content production. The final result looks like this:

, ensure consistency, and maximize the value of their content assets.

Which content to modularize

Choosing which content to break down requires a strategic approach since not all content can be modularized. Here are some key considerations and steps to help you decide what content to modularize:

Repetitive content

Look for parts of your project that repeat often, like headers, footers, navigation menus in web development, or recurring sections in your blog posts. These are good candidates for modularization because you only need to create them once and then use them everywhere.

High-performing content

There is a good chance that high-performing content includes useful modules that could be repurposed. You'll need to identify content pieces that have performed well in terms of engagement, shares, and conversions.

Complex content formats

Consider the complexity of the content or functionality. Content involving complex logic or functionality, such as forms, carousels, or data-fetching components, is a prime candidate for modularization.

Best practices to create modular content

Ok, you identified and broked your content into pieces. How to manage those puzzle pieces? Well, you need “glue” that can bring those pieces together. Strong glue connection you can make with:

Content tags

As a collection of digital assets, the content library can be stored, organized, and accessed from a central location. It eliminates the need to start from begin with each content development assignment, saving significant time and resources.

CMS

CMS for modular content offers significant benefits, especially for those involved in front-end development and blogging.

Firstly, it ensures content reusability and consistency. By structuring content types that can be reused across different parts of your site, you only need to update a piece of information once, and it will automatically update everywhere it's used.

Learn more:

BCMS + Next.js:

BCMS provides content through a customizable API while Next.js can fetch this content and render it dynamically or statically based on the use case.

Learn more:  be your modular asset management platform.