Did you know that nearly 60% of content marketers create one or more content pieces every day? Consistency is key to reach your marketing goals, but what is content marketing at the end of the day? Why do so many businesses focus on content marketing instead of something else to promote their products and services?
You might be happy to find out that designing smart content marketing strategies is key to achieve your business goals. Keep reading to learn more about content marketing, what it is, and how it can benefit your online business!
1. What Is Content Marketing?
In the simplest terms, content marketing refers to the creation and distribution of materials (written, audio, video, etc) on your website or blog/ the purpose of this type of marketing is to reach a broader audience, boost your sales, increase brand awareness, bring more traffic to your website, etc.
Content marketing involves multiple different “channels”. for example, one of the most popular types of content marketing consists of blog articles. You can also publish informative videos, tutorials, guides, podcasts, and even create audio files for your audience.
2. Why Should You Care About Content Marketing?
You should become interested in content marketing because the majority of your audience spends a lot of time online. By creating specific pieces of content that help your followers solve a problem, you connect with them quicker and have the possibility to improve the image of your brand.
3. Understanding The Most Popular Types Of Content
As mentioned earlier, there are numerous types of content you can focus on. Let’s take a closer look at them:
- Blog Posts – you create how-to articles or informative pieces of text to educate or entertain your audience. Blog posts should be written with SEO in mind and include a few keywords and images. You should see this guide to learn how to create high-quality written content.
- Social Media – you can also create content for various social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook or Twitter. This involves making live videos, writing short pieces of text, snapping beautiful photos, etc
- Infographics – These are highly appreciated because they incorporate multiple stats and facts combined with easy-to-understand graphics. Infographics can also be shared on Pinterest and this will automatically increase the exposure of your website.
- Video Content – what if you have a nice voice and want to film yourself while talking about your favorite subjects. You can also do video marketing which is highly appreciated and shared. Make sure that you have a good camera which films Full HD and you’re golden.
- Podcasts – more and more people create podcasts in which they talk about various subjects and topics. A podcast is basically a free discussion between two or more people shared on the internet.
These are only a few examples of good content channels, but there are plenty of others. For example, many people like publishing small e-books for their audience or even distribute memes for entertainment purposes. It’s a good idea to experiment with different content types and see what works for you the best.
4. How to Create Successful Content Marketing Strategies
Now that you know the basics of content marketing, let’s discuss the specific steps each business should follow to create successful content for its readers and viewers.
Set Specific Goals
You cannot get anywhere without setting goals. There must be a purpose for your content, you cannot just do your best and see what happens. Some of the most popular content marketing goals include brand awareness, boosting sales or website traffic, improving the image of the business, attracting more customers, etc.
Make sure that you set one or more specific goals and give them a deadline. The deadline will attach a sense of urgency to the goal, so you’ll feel motivated to accomplish it as soon as possible.
Focus on a Few Content Types
We talked about multiple types of content, now it’s time to narrow your options to 2 or 3 types. For example, you might want to focus on blog posts, social media, and/or video content.
Play with these 3 content options the most and see how they work for you. If one content channel works better than the others, focus on that even more to increase sales and boost your audience.
Brainstorm Ideas
Now that you have chosen your content types, it’s time to come up with a few ideas. This is an entertaining and exciting part because you get the chance to play with various trains of thought and see what works the best.
Do a few brainstorming sessions every month to come up with specific topics and subjects your audience might like.
If you’re not sure about the preferences of your readers, ask them. Create polls on your social media accounts and see what subjects are trendy. Once you have found out the answer, create elaborated pieces of content treating that particular subject. By doing so, you show that you care about your audience and they’ll love that!
Measure and Improve
Ideally, you would create and distribute new pieces of content on your blog and social channels on a regular basis. However, make sure that you also take a step back from time to time and analyze your key performance indicators.
For example, did you get more traffic in the last couple of weeks? Do you register higher profits? Do you have a larger fanbase?
If everything goes well, do what you did up until now. If you don’t experience much progress, reassess your strategy and be ready to change something. The road to success is usually paved with a lot of setbacks and obstacles, so be prepared to face them at some point in the future.
Now You Know What Is Content Marketing!
Hopefully, this article provided a detailed answer to your original question – what is content marketing? Now you know the basics and you can make better decisions when it comes to planning your next marketing campaigns.
But this is not all! We have more informative articles on how to refine your content strategy, how to engage your audience better, and what mistakes to avoid. Keep reading our blog to stay updated with the latest when it comes to content marketing.
