It is actually imperative to create an awesome post or content that delivers value. For a marketer to succeed, he or she must be able to master the elusive art of addictive storytelling besides offering that wow-factor. Every form of content is pinned online and it is the quality that segregates ‘Great’ from the ‘Good’. However, most businesses already know all this but still falter in the long run. While it is actually important for the
#1. Identify the Publishing Frequency
A good post, once in a while, won’t be much use courtesy of the cut-throat competition. For Google to identify your creativity, a bare minimum of 3 posts are required on a daily basis— all high in quality. While some might argue with the ‘quality over quantity’ moniker, for Google both aspects are equally important.
For an impactful marketing strategy, it is necessary to determine the topics to write on and keep on bombarding them with precision. The online reader base is a voracious eater and it must be served quality in larger proportions. Opting for at least 20 weekly posts is important in order to make a lasting impact.
For a website to grow right from the day of inception, the content strategy needs to be laid out— well in advance. Bigger business with clearer visions opt for an exhaustive strategy towards content creation— some going up to 8 articles a day, for at least a year. However, very few firms have these kinds of resources to survive this long without making profits.
Then again, content marketing never promises quick returns. It is more of a build-up towards the brand value. Moreover, if a marketing team is looking to function like publishers, it must be able to outpace the existing ones in the market.
If you are looking to get quick attention without offering a lot of content, the strategy is at fault.
#2. Identify the One to do the Job
There are three options to go with— create content all by yourself, look for external copywriters or hire a team to write on your behalf.
For the first option, you would need massive levels of commitment. Moreover, you need to have great writing skills and higher levels of expertise to succeed in this quest. The next step is to opt for freelancers and copywriters, but the entire campaign will then turn into an expensive rant. The last resort is to hire interns, but then again, the content quality might be questionable.
Therefore, it is important to make a perfect selection– based on long terms goals and even finances in hand.
If you are confused about how to hire and initiate, rethink the strategy all over again.
#3. Identify the Promotional Channels
Things have changed recently as Facebook has tapped the promotional posts from brands for a more family-centric approach. This leaves marketers with selected options for promoting their content. While organic visibility is still a great way to make posts viral, for quicker results you must look towards paid promotions.
Platforms like Facebook, Google AdWords, Taboola are the more lucrative options, but the costs can be on the higher side.
It is slightly difficult for brands to show up on social shares and search engines which leaves them with the possibility of organic link-building and promotional campaigns.
If you are still looking to get unpaid attention over Facebook, you might run out of luck.
#4. Identify the Preferred Social Platforms
Content marketing isn’t restricted to the realms of webpages and sites. Apart from adding content to Instagram posts, Twitter and even Facebook, platforms like Google Duo, WhatsApp and the upcoming Allo can be moderately effective. Having a catchy WhatsApp status or an intriguing Facebook post is the way to go if the marketer is hard-pressed for funds, facilitating promotional content.
Content creation is useless if the same isn’t teased over the social channels. Not just the networking platforms, but good content holds its own even on YouTube and other video marketing channels.
#5. Identify the ROI of your Content Marketing
Apart from page views, likes, downloads and time-on-site, ROI is also a key metric when it comes to content marketing. Most businesses prefer skipping the same as ROI identification is slightly difficult as compared to another set of metrics.
ROI for the content marketing strategies is difficult to analyze and many firms take this concept out of the grid.
These are some of the mentioned areas which either make or break the content marketing plan. When it comes to a faulty strategy, some or all of these mentioned identification metrics might go wrong. It is therefore important to know the path as content marketing can be costly in the long run.
Here are the potential fixes which might be beneficial to the marketers and entrepreneurs alike-
- It is important to identify the perfect marketing strategy for your business which might not be related to content. Content marketing is money driven and the conditions need to be sorted, well in advance.
- It is a great approach to incorporate content marketing with other errands in scope. If your expertise is
SEO or online market place integration, adding content marketing might just be the perfect way to go forward. - Look for the ease of returns when investing in a content marketing hierarchy. Given the massive amounts of finances involved, it is often difficult for the smaller-sized firms to make profits. It is therefore important to look at the timeline as initially you won’t be making profit, at an early stage.
- The last fix is to be strong while initiating the move. If you ever decide to opt for a content-centric approach, there is no point pulling back midway. The key is to ‘be good’ and ‘be often’ when it comes to adding content to sites. Lastly, fire up the things with paid promotions, but not at the expense of quality.
If you content strategy is up to the mark, things can hardly go wrong, in terms of views, popularity and even revenue.
Image: ContentMarketing – Three Arrows Hit in Red Target on a Hanging Sack on Natural Bokeh Background.
