Understanding Of Content Marketing Strategies

Content marketing is a must-do for companies in today’s world. Most companies have gotten the message, with around 86% of B2Bs and 77% of B2Cs implementing some sort of a content marketing strategy. But with the rise of content marketing has also come the increase in different techniques. Finding the right techniques from the pool of many can be difficult. To help you out, we’ve listed some successful and most recommended content marketing techniques companies often overlook.

Understand Where Your Audience Is:

It might sound surprising, but plenty of businesses overlook the importance of understanding their audience’s online use before using content marketing. To many, the Internet seems to be a magical, homogenous place where content marketing always finds its audience.

But the real world doesn’t work like that. You can start a blog or a YouTube channel and hope your audience finds you, but don’t be surprised, if nothing happens. Are you even sure your target market watches YouTube?

Different generations, consumer types and alternative types of businesses tend to hang in various places on the Internet. Some prefer to use LinkedIn, some vouch for Facebook; and you must know where the people are connecting online in order to reach them with your content.

Using Visual As Well As Written Content:

Content marketing is naturally reliant on good quality content and often the best way to create it is by written format, such as blog posts. But content shouldn’t just be about text, but also visual cues.

When we say visual content and cues, we don’t mean random images from Google search. Any visual image you add to your content should add something to the overall content and enhance engagement.

Instead of picking a generic photo that only represents something about the content you’re writing about, add infographics and charts to your post.

For example, if you are writing a post on using voucher codes for saving money, you might want to include a chart showing the amount of savings the customer can make. Visual images can make the main points pop out and engage the person to read more or to interact with your blog.

Creating Content That Goes Viral:

The above is an obvious tip: of course, you are aiming to create content to go viral. The problem is how you can do that. BuzzSumo’s analysis of 100 million online articles gives a clue about the characteristics.

In order to make your content famous online, you need to ensure it:

• Appeals to emotions
• Appears trustworthy
• Includes images
• Is longer length – 3,000 to 10,000 words
• Uses a how-to, list or infographic format
• Is shared by a famous online influencer

In addition to the above, content marketing requires constant promotion. You can’t just focus on the above, click the publish button and share your post once on social media. In order to get noted, you must keep promoting and shouting about your content on the rooftops.

Look Beyond Blogging:

Most people think of blogging when they imagine content marketing. But blogging is simply a method in the sea of content marketing strategies and placing your faith in blogging alone can be a mistake. Just like you need to understand where your audience is hanging out, you also need to discover the content that most appeals to them.

What are some other strategies you should use? You could start with:

• Writing an e-book
• Creating video content, such as YouTube videos
• Creating audio content, such as podcasts
• Organising webinars
• Focusing on infographics
• Introducing slideshares
• Using social media
• Promote your things with e-mail newsletters

As the above shows, content marketing can and should be varied. For instance, consider your audience consists of busy working parents. Instead of taking the time to engage with lengthy blog posts, they might be more interested in listening to podcasts or viewing the information in visual format. On the other hand, a business audience might prefer detailed webinars or even e-books.

Customise Your Content To Mobile:

Mobile search is the new king in town and if you want to succeed in content marketing, you have to ensure your content is available on mobile. Google’s decision to penalise websites that aren’t optimised for mobile should definitely be enough to convince you to start customising your content to mobile.

Ensure you don’t just focus on a single mobile device or platform. Take note of what Sagar Babber, CEO of Snyxius.com, told Forbes, “Mobile customers – and that’s getting to be just about everybody who carries a cell phone – want a congruent experience across all channels and devices.”

The above content marketing techniques should help you direct and focus your efforts on the right track. By following the above advice, you can ensure you are reaching out to the right audience with the kind of content they would like to engage with. Just remember: content marketing takes persistency and patience!