Everyone who’s anyone in the world of marketing has heard of content marketing, but there are still a huge number of companies who haven’t come up with content marketing strategies. This could be because they aren’t sure what it means, or they may be happy with what they’re already doing and not see any need for change.
Content marketing isn’t a big, scary thing, nor is it a meaningless buzzword. It’s about having a cohesive plan that helps you to produce content which will work hard for your business.
Here are some things you must consider when you are thinking about your content marketing strategy.
What do you want to achieve?
Think about your objectives. Are you looking for brand awareness, increased traffic, or better SERP results? Targets will help hone your strategy.
Who are you targeting?
Identifying your audience will help you to consider what the content you produce should be. Look at your followers online, check who is opening your emails. What content you have already produced has gained traction? Create content aimed at these people.
What content should you be producing?
Make your content creative. Don’t just write blogs – use images, videos, graphics, or infographics to tell your story.
Research everything. Twice.
Research everything you’ll need, from topic posts to keywords. Analyse the content you have – where are the gaps? What is a good way to fill them? Have you created content that can be repurposed and made new? Ask other people in the business for their input as to what sort of thing you should be putting out. Ask the sales guys what would help them.
Content calendars are a must.
Being organised is a key component of your effective marketing strategy. Having a content calendar will help you with any important dates in your sector or relevant events which you can create content around. It helps you to work out what needs to be created and when.
Tracking your content.
Once you’ve created content and sent it out into the world, you still need to keep an eye on it to see how well it is doing. If something works well, you’ll want to schedule something similar in – likewise if something doesn’t, you’ll want to know to make sure you don’t try it again, or rethink that particular tactic.
Get your users to do some of the work.
User generated content is great. If they’re reviewing and feeding back, make sure you utilise this. Engage with their content – even if it’s a bad review, after all, how you respond to an issue is telling. If you do it well, you can still end up with bonus points for the brand.
Think long term.
Content marketing is about the long game. It won’t change your business overnight, but it will reap rewards for you if you keep at it. Learn from your mistakes and keep at it to get the benefits.
This article was syndicated from Business 2 Community: Content Marketing Tactics
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