There is a difference between knowing what content marketing is and having the skills to deliver it. Content marketing has taken on a new meaning with the evolution of social media. Now it’s about telling stories that show your expertise and adding value to someone’s life.
The main goal of content marketing is to convert your audience into leads, customers, and evangelists for your brand. But to do this, you must be willing to put yourself out there and have a solid strategy. But a strategy cannot be spring forth if you do not know what content marketing or a content marketing strategy is.
What is content marketing?
Content marketing is a great way to build long-term relationships with your audience. It is also a great way to build trust, authority, and credibility.
Content marketing is creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and acquire a clearly defined audience; and ultimately drive profitable consumer action.
It is much more than blogging. When executed correctly, content including articles, guides (such as this), webinars, and videos can be powerful growth drivers for your business. In addition, Hubspot’s ability to grow its website traffic to 100,000 visitors a month using content is a great content marketing example.
While most people consider content webpage based, like blog posts, it also includes other digital assets like whitepapers and ebooks that can be utilized in email campaigns.
Why is content marketing important?
Consumers are in control now more than ever of what they purchase and when they purchase. They now push for quality information that helps them make informed decisions, not just ads trying to sell a product quickly.
The era of “push” marketing is over. Consumers are going out of their way to get accurate information on the products they wish to purchase, and if the data your brand has does not meet their requirements, they quickly move on.
That is why companies must focus on creating valuable content that engages consumers at every stage of their journey, not just when they are ready to buy a product.
The content you create is the foundation of your brand. It tells your story and gives people insight into who you are, what you do, and why you are unique. But how do you go about it? What is the best way to start?
What is the easiest way to get started with content marketing?
Common questions clients ask when they want to start in their content marketing jobs are;
How do I know what to write about?
What format should my content writing be in?
How often should I publish new content?
Should I write blog posts or create video content, or both?
While these are good questions to ask, knowing your audience is the best way to start.
Audience: Who are they? What do they care about? What are their problems, challenges, and fears? Once you know this information, you can begin creating content that helps them solve their problems.
Plan: It would be best if you decided what content will best suit your goals: blog posts, videos, or infographics might be best suited for specific situations. It would be best if you also determined how frequently you will produce new content and how often you will promote it through social media channels like Facebook and Twitter.
Once you know your audience and have devised a plan, implement your strategy by writing articles or shooting videos that showcase your expertise in your industry (and make sure those articles are well-written). Then promote those articles on social media channels like Facebook and Twitter or a business blog so that people can find them easily when searching online for information about your industry or company’s offerings.
Good examples of content marketing
Hubspot
Hubspot always tops the list of content marketing examples done right. They have turned their webpage into an educational content hub with growth tools that have increased their website traffic. Thanks to their content marketing strategy, a subsidiary of theirs, inbound.org, receives at least 300,000 visitors each month.
Apple
Apple uses its “shot on iPhone” campaign to increase its content marketing reach on social media. The campaign launched in 2015 featured photos consumers took using their iPhones on Apple’s billboards and social media pages. This video content marketing method increased brand visibility and inspired more consumers to purchase iPhones.
Coca Cola
In the game of using personalization to make your brand noticed, Coca-Cola has won the game. The “share a coke” campaign was a global phenomenon that had consumers worldwide buying Coca-Cola just to see their name on one. The campaign in Australia led to 250 million bottles and cans sold in one summer, at a ratio of 10 bottles to 1 person in Australia.
Buffer
Buffer uses guest blogging to increase the traffic to their websites. Guest blogging involves featuring someone on your blog or being featured on someone else’s blog. Through guest blogging, Buffer was able to gain its first 100,000 users. Next was to publish more organic content on their website and create transparency blogs. Both have garnered almost 1 million followers on social media and 400,000 subscribed users on their websites.
What are the types of content marketing?
The content marketing examples listed above clearly show that content marketing goes beyond blogs into product campaigns, pictures, and video use. The content marketing space includes various types like;
Blogging: This is an effective way to reach out to your current and potential customers. You can write about any topic that interests you and your target audience to grow your traffic organically. Blogging also helps you build a relationship with your audience, but remember that thought needs to go into the make-up of your blog post for it to deliver the desired effects.
Content curation: Content curation involves collecting and sharing relevant content, often on social media or other digital platforms. It consists in posting links to other websites or blogs which you think are relevant or interesting. This type of content marketing allows you to go beyond just writing your blog posts and instead focus on creating a community around your brand by providing value through curated content.
Infographics: Infographics are a great way to break down complex information into bite-sized pieces so your audience can easily digest it. They’re also great for sharing on social media platforms like Facebook because they take up less space than an article or video!
Interactive content: Interactive content is one where users can interact with it on their own accord. This could be as simple as having a quiz on your site where users answer questions about their preferences or interests (and then showing them how they scored). It could also be more challenging, like creating an interactive map that shows where people live in the world!
Email Marketing: Content marketing emails are sent to your subscribers to drive them to take action on your website or blog. These emails can include landing pages, product recommendations, social media tips, and more. You can also use content marketing emails to remind people about important dates or events in your industry.
Paid and Organic Social Media posts/Ads: Social media ads are another great tool for generating awareness about your brand and driving traffic to your website or blog. For example, you can run paid social media ads through platforms such as Facebook or Instagram on specific days when you feel like your content is not getting the organic reach you want it to have.
How to come up with a content marketing strategy?
Once you have settled on the type of content marketing your brand will use, developing a solid content marketing strategy is next. But how do you come up with one?
Your content marketing strategy should be based on several factors such as;
- The size of your target audience
- The type of product or service you offer
- Your industry and its consumer behavior
- And the current market situation
Without taking these factors into consideration, you might end up with a poor content marketing strategy that is bound to fail.
Once you have an idea of what these factors mean to your business and have devised a content marketing strategy, the created strategy should then fit into this standard business checklist;
- Does it fit in with your business’s values and mission statement?
- Does it tie in with the behavior of your audience?
- Does it summarize what your business is about?
- Would it achieve the goals and objectives you have for your business?
- Does the strategy fit in with the channels you wish to publish content?
- Does the strategy target your consumer’s needs and wants?
If the content marketing strategy you devised checks all these boxes, then you are well on your way to seeing the results of the effort you put into your business. Remember that the best way to use content marketing is by utilizing as many channels as possible. A content marketing example of strategy done right is SnackNation’s ability to increase their leads using content and an Optinmonster’s plan.
The best tools for content marketing
Content marketing is not just a one-time activity – it’s an ongoing process that involves continually creating, curating, and distributing valuable content. Some tools can help you simplify the process. Some of these tools are;
Google Analytics: Google Analytics can track the effectiveness of your content marketing efforts. It will show you where your audience is coming from, how they interact with your content, and which channels they use to access it. You can also use this tool to create custom reports based on specific goals or metrics.
Buzzsumo: Buzzsumo lets you discover which pieces of content have been shared most often across various social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest (among others). Businesses can use this information to determine what type of content performs well on each platform so you can focus on producing more effective copy for each social network.
Keyword Planner: This tool allows you to find relevant keywords through their website search bar or mobile app by entering a keyword or phrase into their search bar.
Hootsuite: Hootsuite is a social media management tool that allows you to publish posts from multiple accounts and schedule them for future publication, creating a more consistent
presence across all channels.
What does a content marketer do?
We will focus on the content marketing job now that we have established what content marketing is. Who is a content marketer, and what do they do?
A content marketer is a professional who creates, distributes, and manages content for a specific audience. They either work alone or with a content marketing agency to create content that is engaging and useful to the target audience. A content marketer also collaborates with marketing managers to help build a brand for their company. The key to being successful as a content marketer is understanding what the target audience wants from their brand; and how they can be reached through digital marketing channels, including social media like Facebook and Twitter.
Basically, content marketers create, publish, and promote pieces of content in the form of blog posts, articles, and infographics. If you have done any of these tasks for your business before, it might be time to revisit your job title.
Key takeaways
Content is the foundation of your online marketing plan, whether it’s brochures, social media posts, or blog articles. If you don’t have quality content, you leave money on the table that your competitors will pick up through advertising. It’s a no-brainer: if you want to see success, you need to understand the importance of content marketing.
Generations later would have a hard time understanding why people used to spend thousands of dollars on ads that consumers would ignore when they could put that same effort into creating content that would attack the mind directly.