Everybody’s talking about it these days. It’s become much more than just a buzzword. It’s now part of our daily lingo.
It’s called Content Marketing. If you’re not exactly sure what that is, welcome to the real world…So, what exactly is Content Marketing?
Well, a definition by the Content Marketing Institute, states that “Content Marketing is a marketing technique of creating and distributing valuable, relevant and consistent content to attract and acquire a clearly defined audience – with the objective of driving profitable customer action.”
The key word here is “valuable”. This keyword distinguishes content marketing from other forms of communication, such as advertising and marketing. There are different kinds of content marketing. Some of these include Infographics, Webpages, Podcasts, Videos, and believe it or not, Books! Other content marketing examples include white papers, apps, presentations and blogs…the list goes on…
Now that you know what content marketing is, here are 6 main ways in which you can optimize your content marketing results. Most businesses do some kind of content marketing, but very few reap the results. These 6 tips will help you see your content working.
1) Build trust with your content: Before you can optimize for leads and drive sales, you need to build trust with your content. Blogs and articles are central to this strategy. Content builds trust and loyalty and helps to draw people in. So, do build some primary and secondary “calls-to-action” beyond the regular “Buy Now” button. This way, you can convert visitors into subscribers and buyers.
2) Use emails to market your product or service: Emails are still one of the most effective forms of marketing. This applies to big business as well as to small companies. With email you get direct access to a visitor or subscriber’s email inbox every single time. You can even send email just once a week and get positive results. You should put in a call to action and include incentives within your email. If you sell a product of some sort, enclose a discount code, or then, include an email address.
3) Depend on search engine traffic: Search engine traffic remains the major point of emphasis for most content marketing. Google search traffic is still the way to go and it’s highly targeted and often converts well. However, before you put your content out there, you need to run it through some search engine diagnostics. Search diagnostics includes in-depth keyword research (which will give you more content ideas), optimization recommendations, usability fixes and more.
4) Tap into social media: Creating shareable content for social media is challenging, but can give you great results if you do it right. There are tools that let you monitor what is currently hot in your industry. If you want to create something that typically works well, you should post social media content such as Infographics and Graphic Quotes. Infographics do well across all social media platforms and use text and visuals to effectively convey your message. Graphic quotes are very popular with influencers, so you can get your quote on social media shared with hundreds of thousands of people.
5) Connect with a cause: If you want to increase awareness for a particular cause that your company is championing, you should rope in influencers for assistance. You can introduce them to a new cause, or then, ask them to champion a cause that they care deeply about. If you do this right, you’ll see your content go viral in no time.
6) Use videos: You can’t ignore videos these days. YouTube provides you with a ready platform to showcase your corporate and other videos. You can connect with other video makers in the same genre and can also connect with other successful content creators already out there.
Content marketing isn’t easy, but if done right, can really help your business go places. This form of marketing involves a lot of experimenting and creativity, but the rewards can be great.
If you’re a small or medium-sized business, you can sign up with IntellaSphere for a Special Offer to get started at https://managed.intellasphere.com/.
So, what are you waiting for? Don your ideas hat and jump right onto the content marketing bandwagon. Here’s to great content!
For more information on how you can get great content marketing results, go to https://managed.intellasphere.com/ or contact us at support@intellasphere.com.
by Bruce Worrall, Aug-1-2016