Topic-centred communication: Why the order is important

The wrong question on Monday morning

It is a scene that repeats itself regularly in communications departments and agencies. The team sits together, the monthly planning is on the agenda, and the first question is: "What are we posting on social media this month?"

It is not a bad question. But it is the wrong first question.

Because it starts with the channel, the distribution list, the medium, rather than with the content and the objective. What emerges from this is communication that fills the channel. Instead of communication that achieves something.

Topic-centred communication reverses this logic. It does not start with the channel, but with the topic. This is followed by the target group. And only then, as a consequence of both, comes the channel.

This sequence sounds simple. Its impact on planning, control and impact measurement is not.

What channel-first thinking costs

Anyone who chooses the channel first inevitably thinks in channel logics. What works on LinkedIn? What is suitable for the newsletter? What is Instagram-compatible?

These are legitimate questions, but they come too early. If they are at the beginning of the planning process, they push aside the actually relevant questions: What do we want to communicate? On which strategic topic? And who do we want to reach with it?

The result of channel-first thinking is often the same: communication that drifts away from the strategy in day-to-day business. The annual concept defines five strategic topics, but day-to-day business is dominated by those that are easiest to implement on the existing channels. Not those that would be strategically most important.

There is also a measurement problem. Those who plan channel-first also evaluate channel-first: LinkedIn reach, Instagram engagement, newsletter open rate. These numbers are not worthless, but they answer the wrong question. They tell you how well a channel has performed. Not whether the communication did what it was intended to do.

Topic. Target group. Channel, in this order

Topic-centred communication begins with a strategic decision: Which topics are relevant for our organisation, and which target groups do we want to reach with them?

These questions are not answered at the moment of planning. They are the result of preceding strategic work: Which topics are derived from our business strategy? Who are our relevant target groups, internally, externally, in the media? Which topics appeal to which target groups?

Once these basics are defined, planning changes fundamentally. Instead of "What do we post on Instagram?" the first question is: "On what topic are we communicating, and who do we want to reach with it?"

Only when the topic and target group have been determined does the channel follow as a logical consequence. Because not every target group is on every channel. Those who want to reach younger target groups will hardly find them on Facebook. Those who want to address decision-makers in large organisations are better off on LinkedIn than on TikTok. The channel follows the target group, not the other way around.

This sequence, topic, target group, channel, is not a theoretical model. It is a practical planning logic that has proven itself in daily work.

What changes in the daily work routine

Anyone who plans in a topic-centred way quickly notices: the work becomes more structured, but not more complicated.

The biggest difference shows in the monthly planning. Instead of channel-related lists ("5 posts LinkedIn, 8 posts Instagram, 2 newsletters"), a topic-based overview is created: Which strategic topics are being addressed this month? Which target groups are being addressed? And which channels result from this?

This creates clarity, for the team, but also towards the management. "We covered three out of five strategic topics this month" is a more meaningful statement than "our LinkedIn reach increased by 12 per cent".

Another effect: gaps become visible. If topics and target groups are recorded systematically, it quickly becomes clear which strategic topic has not appeared for weeks, or which target group was hardly addressed. This is valuable control knowledge that simply does not arise with channel-first planning.

Finally, collaboration within the team also changes. If everyone plans according to the same topic-target group logic, a common language emerges, regardless of who is responsible for which channel.

Topic-centred communication and impact measurement

The biggest leverage of topic-centred communication lies in the evaluation.

Anyone who records topics and target groups as the starting point for every communication measure can evaluate at the end of the month or quarter what channel reporting can never achieve: Which strategic topic received how much communication effort? Which target group was reached regularly, and which was not? Does the actual communication mix still correspond to the defined strategy?

These are questions that turn communication from a cost factor into a demonstrable strategy driver. And they are questions that enable a fundamentally different tone in discussions with management, moving away from reach and clicks towards strategic impact.

Topic-centred evaluation is not a question of effort. It is a question of structure: if topics and target groups are recorded from the start, the evaluation data is generated virtually as a spin-off of the planning process. What used to mean hours of manual work, merging, comparing and cleaning up figures from different channels, can then be read at a glance.

From idea to practice

Topic-centred communication is not a new concept. The newsroom approach, integrated communication, content strategy, all these schools of thought work with similar basic principles. What has changed are the tools that actually make this approach operational in daily work.

For a long time, the challenge was that although the idea of topic-centred communication was in strategy papers, it was barely feasible in daily business. Anyone working with Excel, email and various channel tools cannot simply switch to "topic-oriented". The infrastructure does not support it.

This changes when planning, channel control and evaluation are merged into a common logic, with topics and target groups as the central organisational principles. Then topic-centred communication is no longer an aspiration in the concept, but lived reality.

Conclusion

Topic. Target group. Channel. This sequence changes how communication is planned, managed and measured. It makes communication more strategy-compliant, gaps more visible and impact more measurable.

The question "What do we post on Instagram this month?" is not wrong. It just comes too early. If you clarify the topic first and define the target group, you answer the channel question almost by yourself, and with a significantly better result.