Here are a few of the reasons why your content marketing may be falling flat- and what you can do about it.
Small businesses are seeing a great uptick in the amount of traffic they’re getting thanks to Google and other search engines push towards more localized results. However, if you’re not set up with content marketing, you may not be getting the full advantage of these benefits. Content marketing is an excellent asset for businesses of all sizes, you can use it to create, distribute and further your brand as well as building it if you’re just starting out.
Content marketing covers some wide ground, though. Whether you’re posting how-to’s, tips and tricks that are relevant to your business, or even just an inside look at it via YouTube, Facebook and other social sites, you can use this powerful marketing medium. The most common problem? When businesses engage in content marketing, some are finding that it does a belly flop. There are quite a few reasons why this happens, but focusing on a few great content marketing strategies can help you to get your message shared on a much wider scale.
The first thing to bear in mind about content marketing strategies is that it is important to have them. Sit down and brainstorm some ways- for instance, if you’re working with article marketing, think about some potential questions that your target audience may have about your products and services. An excellent way to understand what those questions are is in simply looking at your website analytics.
- What pages seem to be more popular?
- What pages are referring people to your site?
Pay attention to your analytics, and you will find at least ten subjects that you can write, YouTube, Facebook or explore in any content marketing medium. On that same front, if your business doesn’t have Facebook and Twitter, you’re missing yet another valuable asset. You can use both of those sites to ask your target audience anything you want to know- and they will answer. Not only does this give you the fuel you need, but it also creates brand trust in making them feel that their voices are heard.
One of the best ways to maximize the exposure potential of your content is to sort of spiderweb it all out from your site. For instance, Burt’s Wild Wings is holding a benefit dinner for the local food bank. Burt’s Wild Wings has an on site blog, and they initially make a post about it stating the time, place, and reason for the event. They can then utilize social sharing platforms- many of which are free, to spread the word via Facebook and Twitter. However, it does not stop there. Even photos, video, and more can be distributed across the web to maximize the exposure for both the event itself, and for Burt’s Wild Wings. (Note: Burt’s Wild Wings is just a fictitious business for illustrative purposes.)
This one event can result in a steady flow of ready content, and more importantly, content people will want to see and share.
It’s also a great idea to build yourself up a storehouse of blog posts. Certain platforms can be set up, in tandem with some great free social sharing tools (Hootsuite is excellent for this.) to not only automatically post, but to spread to your social sites as well. Don’t rely solely on automation though- simply have it all set up so that when you’re busy, your content marketing can still continue to move forward.
Also bear in mind as you create content, that it does not have to be a thesis paper. As a matter of fact, it’s much better to remain concise. According to Nielsen studies, users will spend less than a minute on a webpage- so you have that one hot minute to catch their attention and keep it. For articles, formatting is key, peppering blogs and articles with relevant images, bold titles, bullet points and other ways of breaking it up can help.
