The phrase “content marketing” is used to describe how a certain brand or business delivers their own, original content through different outlets (online or otherwise).
With millions of brands and hundreds of web outlets like blogs, social media sites, company websites, news sites, etc., it’s challenging to figure out how to harness the power of content marketing and get noticed. With all of these outlets focused on delivering quality information to your desktop or mobile device, it should be no wonder why content marketing is king. Finding the best delivery method and creating your own unique content are keys to online marketing success!
Your Custom Content
The bottom line is your content is what will attract your customers. Similar to, “You are what you eat,” your business is what it publishes. This means, with competition all across the web, your company needs to keep fresh, up-do-date content on its sites. The more you post, the more keywords you will have for SEO and the more likely it is that your site will come up when a customer searches for a product or service you provide.
According to Entrepreneur.com, “…people spend more than 50% of their time online reading content and an additional 30% of their time on social media, where content is being shared.” If you are creating content that is fresh and relevant, it is more likely to be shared on social media. This means that your content will have a further reach, especially during that 30% of the time where people are surfing social media sites.
Quick Tips
You have competitors. You will always have competitors.
Read their content.
Be involved.
Discover what is working for them and things that you do/do not like about their content marketing.
Take ideas that you love and ones that you may not care for and craft your own, custom content that will attract and retain customers on a long-term basis.
Your Content Marketing Strategy
The first step to developing a content marketing strategy must be to know and understand your target audience. Decide who your ideal customer is; define his/her gender, age, race, likes and dislikes. Cater your content to your designated niche market. This will give your content marketing campaign better direction. You can also craft unique content for multiple target markets.
You also need to keep in mind SEO strategies to rank on the major search engines. Effective content is well-crafted to appeal to real readers and attract the attention of search engines. Potential customers should be able to find your content when they are searching for certain words relevant to the content you publish. This expands the reach of the content you post.
Content: The King of Social Media
If your company has a Twitter account, you may have seen it get into a routine. The same type of promotional posts day after day will cause your followers to lose interest in what you have to say. It could even lead them to stop following you.
Social media is the key to getting people to share your content with others, perhaps persuading their friends or family members to try your product or service. Link your social media outlets together and mix up your posts.
Twitter is a great example of this. If you are not good at creating content in 140 characters, you may want to link that account to your others. This will allow you to share photos your post on Instagram, excerpts from blogs or even Facebook posts and online promotions.
This will keep your Twitter feed from always looking the same and give your followers clickable links to your other websites and accounts where they can view more of your fresh content.
Content: The King of Email Marketing
Your emails are your content. This may seem obvious but it still involves thought and planning. It is important to remember that your email content, like social media content, needs to remain fresh. If you have people that subscribe to your emails and you send out the same type of content that is formatted the same way in each email, you may see more and more people hitting the unsubscribe button.
Instead of always sending out promotional alerts, share blog posts or even a newsletter. Give them insights into your industry and Top-Ten lists that will more clearly define your expertise.
Create Content with Purpose
Each and every piece of copy that you publish should serve a purpose. Use your content to shape your image and create a positive reputation. Show that you are an expert in your industry and that your product or service will be one that they can trust.
Your content is 100% up to you. Whether you create a daily or weekly blog that you send out to your customers, or even if you decide that you do not want a social media presence, it is your choice. However, it is important to understand that the more purposeful content that you create, the more effective content there will be for your potential customers to find about your company.
By defining your target audience and your most successful web platforms, you can place purposeful content on sites where it will reach those who will benefit from it most. Discuss these topics with the team that creates your content. What do they think? What types of posts do they believe will be most beneficial for you? Do they agree that your company may have fallen into a routine? These are all things that need to be addressed when trying to create a content marketing plan that will truly be king.
Content marketing is one piece of a much larger strategy we deploy for a good number of our customers called Inbound marketing. This approach has massive potential for your online business and can redefine your marketing approach. If you would like to discuss inbound marketing and if it is a right fit for you please schedule an assessment call with us today.
