Content marketing is an effective tool for sharing information, building an audience, selling a product, and more.
It allows you to reach a wider audience, build relationships with customers, and establish trust and respect in the community.
Here is how to develop a successful content marketing strategy.
Opinion Creates Recognition for Your Branded Content
Consumers are more likely to turn away from “canned” media than original pieces of user-generated content (UGC).
That’s why platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube and various other social media sites are great places to launch campaigns for products and services.
Utilizing these podiums to create awareness and share opinions about you and your company increases industry recognition while supporting audience interaction.
Let Your Customers Get the Word out
Opinions and reviews are a necessary part of creating “buzz” about your new products and services. Today’s social platforms put “word of mouth” advertising at the top of everyone’s list increasing awareness and promoting happy customers.
Many of which videotape themselves using the product or service you sell. This content becomes the face the world sees. Good or bad, they will remember you by the views of others.
Be Interactive
Engage on Facebook, YouTube or Pinterest by offering your customers a way to share their experiences.
When they post to your platforms, it gives you the advantage of free publicity as well as the opportunity to solve issues during an early release of your product or service.
Not only will this reduce problems, it creates positive marketing opportunities within an already established audience. Your customers recognize that you are acting on their issues for quick resolutions and it promotes the caring, supportive atmosphere they want.
User-Generated Content Increases Recognition
Since people inherently look for ways to make their lives better, positive engagements lead to quicker recognition of your products and services.
As your audience spreads the word, you become a familiar industry player. This is what social platforms do best; they spread your message using UGC in videos, photos, memes, vines and various other microsecond blasts.
Using this media effectively increases your recognition and builds your audience.
Use Glfs to Make Your Blog Content Social Media-Ready
One of the clearest emerging trends for effective content marketing is the demand for clarity. Viewers need to know what they re looking at the second they see it, and everything is about instantaneous access to knowledge.
If you’re in the middle of redesigning your site or want to add small adjustments over time, make sure every edit reduces confusion, gets rid of any potential frustration, and leads your audience to a clear resolution.
Here’s how websites are doing it with GIFs in 2018:
Use Glfs to Solve a Problem
Most search queries about are solving problems that your visitors can’t solve themselves. One of the best ways to transmit information on your website is to add GlFs that model an action or walk through a short process.
Visitors will click away from wordy posts, and GlFs can be more readily shared on social media.
You Can Add Gifs Without Slowing down Your Page Load
Websites were originally heavily based on text because that’s all that internet connections could load without delays. Then people added images and kept adding images until they became more popular than text.
Now, even free wi-fi connections on mobile devices can handle GlFs, which is great news because most people prefer images and video over text.
Provided you don’t overload a web page, which can clutter your site, everyone can enjoy a page with a few explanatory or humorous GlFs.
As internet connections get stronger and stronger and visitors are tapping into an interconnected network of wi-fi, you have fewer restrictions on the size of your content’s data than you did.
Take advantage of that to increase viewer interest and keep your content even more eye-catching and relevant.
Powering up Your Headlines
Whether headlines catch peoples attention, entertain, or simply summarize the first thing readers see before deciding whether or not to read articles.
Headlines are an important component in your search engine optimization efforts.
Here are some ways you could make your headline SEO more reader and search engine friendly:
Make sure your headlines aren’t too long and aren’t too short. You probably want to keep your headlines within a sweet spot of approximately six words, with engaging words at the beginning and at the end.
Be Clever
Here’s some good, basic advice: the most obvious headlines are probably already taken. Therefore, think about different ways of explaining topics that haven t already been thought of, while still incorporating some good keywords into your headline.
Create Action Items
A headline for an article could tell people to do something. This could engage readers and invite them to find out more.
Ask Questions
Pique the interest of your readers by asking a question in your headline. What do readers want to find out, and what do they want to know?
What are they searching for, and how does your article address their questions?
Define
Perhaps you are discussing a new topic that is constantly evolving. You may want to define an abstract topic in your headline to inform and to create a level of authority.
Be Creative
If you can brainstorm, you can be creative. Think about various words and themes associated with your article topic. How can it be reimagined, and how can your headline stand out from the rest?
Be Direct
If you can manage to create a headline that is direct and different from the rest, then perhaps that is your best route.
Use Parentheses, Colons, Dashes or Numbers
People like to speed read with their tech devices. Luckily, grammar provides us with many ways to phrase something. Perhaps create a headline that sounds like something one can really enjoy reading from their tech devices.
Use Literary Devices
Create an intriguing headline that looks out of the ordinary with interesting use of language. Perhaps create an analogy, metaphor, or personification. How could you describe something in a unique and intelligent way?
Finally, be aware of the distinction between a headline that compels and a headline that reads as clickbait. While not all clickbait is bad, it could detract from the authority or authenticity of your article.
How badly do you want readers to be lured by your headlines, and what is the intention behind your article? Remember, SEO is not only about keywords read by tech, it’s also about the value your content provides to people.
Brand Storytelling
Storytelling has been held up as an important marketing and branding strategy for the last several years, and it still is one of the best ways to gain followers and customers for the long term.
People want to know what your business is doing. Show them and tell them through great content that’s designed to entice readers to learn more and eventually become a customer.
What you cant do, however, is simply post to your blog occasionally or post boring updates on Facebook or Twitter. Everyone is doing that. You need
to tell your brand 5 story with modern techniques and that old blog of yours isn t cutting it anymore. Here are three ways to get modern with your storytelling.
Use Live Video
Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat. No matter what social media network you choose to use, you should be doing live video. Live video is quick and easy content to produce. It will take a few seconds out of your day.
It’s not edited and it can give your customers a unique look at your life or business. Live video has been around for a little while now, but few are taking full advantage of it. Why not do something your competitors’ aren’t interested in doing?
Document Your Business
Marketing Guru Gary Vaynerchuk is the master of documenting his business story. He does podcasts and video series that literally show what he does every day.
These aren’t elaborate productions. They aren’t heavily edited content. They re raw, honest, and show Gary’s fans and viewers what he’s doing and why.
Not only is documenting your story a great way to get plenty of content, but its also a way to bring customers in for the long haul. You don’t document for short-term gains.
You document to build a brand that lives on for years to come.
Be Authentic
According to Inc, in a time of fake news and alternative facts, authentic stories make a big difference. In fact, the publication notes that 80 percent of people say that authentic content can compel them to make purchases.
That means you need to be authentic in your storytelling efforts. Buyers are savvy. They know when you’re faking it.
When you fake it, your buyers will, at best, just not care about your brand, at worst, they will call you out for it, and then you have some work to do mending those broken relationships. Be authentic from the start and avoid any negative repercussions.
Improve Your Content Marketing Strategy
Content marketing is the latest bandwagon businesses are jumping on, and for good reason.
Traditional marketing is something people have built up a tolerance to, but if a business creates useful content (how-to videos, funny blogs, etc.), then that content can slip right past the audience’s defenses.
Contact us to learn how you can develop a supreme content marketing strategy.