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written by Aleksandar Debeljak
Do you like creating content but have difficulty attracting an audience that reads or looks at your material? Then working with content marketing would be a good idea. Content marketing is the use of a clever strategy and editorial ability to create content that your target audience is interested in.
It is important to consider what expectations you have on your content, because it is simple to set your goals too high that you can´t live up to them. Neil Patel touched on this topic about how it is easy to overestimate your goals, therefore it is important to be prepared that it may take time before you reach out to a larger audience. He goes through different expectations contained in content marketing that are unrealistic.
Expectations
One of those expectations is that you will only create great content. It is good that you want to keep a high standard of your content, but if you aim to, for example, write a blog every day, it can be difficult to keep up the pace. It is unrealistic and impractical to constantly write in-depth analysis or texts. Think instead of what’s best for your audience, sometimes it may be sufficient to create a short video or make a post on social media.
Another expectation is that the more content you create, the greater the SEO range you will get. Always bet on quality before quantity, do not rush out new content just to try to be more visible.
[click_to_tweet tweet=”The expectation that the more content you create, the greater the range you will get is FALSE!” quote=”The expectation that the more content you create, the greater the SEO range you will get is FALSE!”]
It is also easy to expect that your visitors will love your material. Yes, it is great if people love your content, but would it not be even better to get a reaction from your visitors to create engagement around your content? By getting your visitors to react, this will increase the chances that they share your content to their network of contacts and give you greater exposure to a new audience as well as increase search engine rankings.
Speaking about getting a reaction, this is actually a common assumption that majority of people make by thinking that everyone would want to share your content. It takes time to be seen on social media. To succeed in reaching more people you have to actively promote your content, guest blog, and share it on pages that are relevant to what you’re writing about.
Last but not least, it is natural to expect that you will achieve success through high quality content. As I mentioned earlier, it is important that you invest in quality but it is time consuming and therefore you need to mix your content with other strategies.
To achieve your goals, it is important that you think about how you can use content marketing to your advantage. Here are some tips on how you can create interesting content that your readers will share with others:
- Establish a clear point on a story that you write about. For example if you write about a product that is environmentally friendly, it might be good to bring up the benefits and what sets it apart from other similar products. Make a comparison with other similar products and clarify why the product you’re writing about is the best.
- Remember to write about subjects that are popular online. You can easily see which topics internet users are searching for. Based on this information you can choose to write about topics trending right now, or if demand around a specific topic begins to increase. Using Google Trends, you can find these statistics about what subjects might be good to write about.
- Think about what you post on social media. The content you share should be relevant to your business. A good example of this is the company GoPro, they sell portable cameras that are easy to film with no matter where you are. On their Instagram account you can clearly see that their images and videos are relevant to their product. The photos and videos are not only beautiful and well-made, they are an excellent way to showcase their product to.
How to utilize content marketing
An interesting survey where over 700 marketers in Europe were questioned, shows how they worked with content marketing. The survey showed that almost three quarters produced more content in 2015 than the year before. Statistically, we can also see that only 12% of marketers felt that they had optimized their content marketing strategy. To help marketers get the most out of their strategy, there are seven steps to work from in order to become competitive.
These seven steps are:
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- Measure how your current use of content marketing is. Are you satisfied with the returns that your content generates?
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- Develop a strategy. As mentioned earlier, only 12% of marketers felt they had optimized their marketing strategy.
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- Understanding your customers and branding needs of your content. If you have a strategy in place, it is easy to see what may need to be adjusted or changed.
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- Make smart investments. Are you creating enough content to compete with others? Is Google Ads (PPC) a good investment for your business?
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- Use your resources properly. Sometimes you may need to pay for a program or tool in order to utilize your resources in the best way.
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- Create the most effective content. Your company creates blogs, newsletters via email and e-books. But sometimes it can be worthwhile to also test new content such as video content, create a forum or use user generated content.
- Measure and analyze your company’s ROI (return on investment) to know what parts of your content are doing good and what can be improved. It is important to know how well your investments are doing and what needs to be changed.
Conclusion
There is much to consider before you start creating your own content to attract a larger audience. When you adapt to using content marketing you will create relationships and grow your brand. By following these recommendations, you will hopefully get a picture of how you can create engaging strategies with content marketing and stop making rookie mistakes.
How do you plan to mix your content marketing strategies to your advantage? Do not hesitate to contact us or leave a comment if you have any questions.
