Content marketing is what drives all your online efforts, as without it, your a virtual ghost with no trace or evidence. It’s also a fairly new concept, not the idea, but what’s effective and currently working to get targeted laser traffic to your site.
Those who have refined it, doing it well, are reporting exceptional results. Those who are approaching it wrong are continuing to miss out on a customer base which can grow their business or concern. Long gone are those initial face-to-face meetings and relationships between business and customer.
These relationships, at least the introductions are now formulated and built online, this by effective content marketing. So if you’re beginning or refining the process, what’s collected are a series of steps to take.
Reaching Your Target Audience
What content marketers need is to precisely research the exact demographics of both their current as well as their potential customers. The content provided should be equally balanced for their loyal followers, and those new visiting the site.
It needs to solve a pressing problem, while taking an educational and inspirational approach. Getting the ideal balance of content which appeals to all however, is the challenge. Finding that exact tipping point becomes the key.
Another issue that some content marketers overshoot is they casting their net too wide a customer base, attracting those who aren’t really interested in their product or service.
Use Proper Style And Tone
Make sure that the information you provide is conversational and reflective, this unless your readers are highly technical in nature.
So use simple sentence structure along with vocabulary. Use human interest in a first person tone, as it’s more intimate while developing a relationship.
What readers don’t want is to read through complicated structures, terminology, or industry slang and vocabulary that they don’t understand.
Provide Education And Information Instead Of Selling
A business gets brand recognition and loyalty by building relationships, this by providing information to what their readers are wanting, and not through the constant pounding of selling something.
For any type of tangible product that a business sells however, it’s also expected that they’ll eventually promote their product on the site, or in targeted emails.
The readership is usually composed of a demographic who are interested in new ideas, and may not be interested in buying right now.
So the content marketing strategy should by heavy on providing education, beneficial information, and new ideas. Also try injecting humor, inspiration, anecdotes, and photos which will market your brand, and not just your products.
Be Active With The Right Content
Websites need to be current, the design should be trendy while new content should be routinely posted on your blog. What readers expect is “new” information, and if a blog remains dormant, the audience and search engines will go away.
The readers also won’t arrive or stay if the information doesn’t deliver answers to what their looking for, or if the title is misleading. So strict research is needed to keep the content focused.
Even if it’s new and fresh today, it will eventually go stale unless it’s spread, this especially on social media. So publish “teaser” types of tweets regarding your new content posting, or do a Facebook “share,” drawing others to visit and read.
Cast Your Web
Your business or product blog should also be broadcasted on LinkedIn, or sent out to an email list, informing your audience that there’s new information on your site.
Inundating an audience too far can backfire however, so there needs to be a delicate balance knowing what’s too little or too much absorption.
There should be research placed on what type of content that your readers react to the best, and how they prefer to get their information. Some will prefer reading, while others like videos, or a combination of both.
What infographics for instance, does is it allows the marketer to formulate the same content in a graphical manner, which appeals to everyone of their targeted audience.
Not Promoting On A Regular Schedule
New content postings should be treated similar to a new product launch. Content marketers need to develop a routine schedule of publishing, while having a set method of spreading the content to the various online venues over a period of time.
Marketers should have a set method on how each and every post will be promoted on a set basis. This way, there’s an expected passage of promotion from you, every time that you post new content.
Know The Effectiveness Of Your Content Marketing
Content marketers need to precisely know which of their promotional efforts, especially if it’s a paid ad, are effective and returning ROI. The best way is tracking the traffic from each source and then measuring its conversion rate.
Know exactly the traffic that’s generated from your Facebook Fanpage posts, or from Twitter, from your email blasts, or from paid advertising. Google Analytics does an adequate job doing this, and it’s free.
There are also sophisticated more in-depth precise analytical services available, which are usually paid methods, but they offer far more accurate information and tracking.
Make Sure The Website Is Mobile Friendly
The use of mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets has grown exponentially, and can no longer be ignored, as there are massive numbers of people who now prefer their convenience. So serving this growing online audience becomes paramount.
Know what the exact percentage of your readers are using PCs, tablets, or smartphones, as well as what time of the day that these devices are in use. Make sure that your blog is especially mobile friendly or responsive to all of the various devices.