Content marketing is one of the best ways to boost audience engagement and drive conversions. But what exactly is content marketing, and how can you get started? What follows are a series of questions about content strategy: what it is, how you begin, what content you ought to develop, and more.
What is Content Marketing?
Content marketing is a strategic marketing practice that focuses on the creation and distribution of relevant, valuable, and consistent content. The aim is to attract and keep a clearly defined audience and boost profitable customer action.
Content marketing could look like a blog, a social media presence, an e-newsletter, and more. The commonality is the content strategy – using copy and other forms of media to drive audience engagement and conversions.
For a more detailed overview of content marketing, check out our guide: Why Small Businesses Can’t Afford to Ignore Content Marketing.
Where Do I Start with Content Marketing?
The first step to a successful content marketing strategy is clearly defining your audience. You should develop a customer persona—a fictional stand-in for your audience—to whom your content will speak. By combining this persona with your brand tone, you can decide on your branding voice and the sort of content you’ll be creating.
Your content must be valuable, informative, engaging, and interesting to properly target your demographic. Once you start publishing, it’s imperative that you continue to tweak your strategy based on your audiences’ reception of it.
Does All Content Have to be Original?
Yes and no. Your content should be consistent, but there are ways you can simplify the process. One of the most effective is to repurpose content.
Repurposing content means creating content in one form and then reworking it for another. As an example, you might write a series of evergreen blog posts about an important industry topic. You can then take that series and edit them together to create an eBook.
Further, you could develop an infographic displaying the statistics mentioned in your posts. Or, you could create and deliver a webinar discussing the contents of your original posts.
This strategy doesn’t just save you time and effort, it also expands your audience. Some people may not be keen on a blog post but will happily attend a webinar, for instance.
How Often Should I Post Content?
This is a tricky question. Every industry and demographic sees separate content consumption patterns. In general, however, fresh content ought to be posted no less than twice a week.
But what about an upper limit? Well, there isn’t one. Posting once or even several times a day is a great way to drive traffic to your site. It’s simply a matter of deciding how much effort and time you can dedicate to content creation.
It should be said, Google is known to reward websites that frequently update their content. Social media algorithms are the same on most platforms.
Should I Be Using Social Media to Share My Content?
A resounding YES. Posting content to your website and hoping your users will find it is a fast track to frustration. You have to ensure you’re putting it in front of your audience so they can easily find and access it.
When sharing to your social media, ensure your content is optimized. Use OpenGraph protocol and make sure your title and description are keyword optimized.
How Important Are Keywords?
Having a keyword strategy is essential for any successful content marketing endeavor. You should target both short and long-tail keywords and ensure you’re targeting a mix of competition as well.
Just remember, when writing your content, you’re writing for humans first. Don’t try to stuff keywords into your content just to try and fool the search engine algorithm.
At best, you’ll lose your audience. At worst, you’ll be penalized by Google.
Should I Create Evergreen Content or Timely Content?
Both. It’s essential to have content that addresses new developments and current events in your industry – this will ensure you’re seen as an authority in your field. That said, it’s also important to create evergreen content – that is, content that will attract your audience for months or even years.
A good mix of the two will ensure your content has longevity while still staying relevant.
How Long Should My Content Be?
This is another question that stirs a lot of debate. Some gurus recommend short and sweet, affirming that an audience wants to skim shorter content and be able to absorb the message of it quickly. Other research indicates that long-form content is better for conversions.
Your answer? Figure out what your audience prefers through testing. Write some short posts and some long ones and see which are more successful. Once you have some data to back your decision, you’ll be in a better position to plan your content accordingly.
How Do I Measure My Content Marketing Success?
The success of a content marketing strategy is all in the number of conversions it creates. That said, it can be hard to track specific results as your audience will need several touchpoints before deciding to convert.
The main ingredient in measuring the success of your content strategy is time. Give your content a few months to find its feet and then look for an overall uptick in sales. Then you’ll know your strategy is working.
Vervology Answers Your Questions About Content Strategy
Great content will drive conversions and boost your brand awareness, but it can be difficult knowing where to start. With the answers to these questions, you’re in a better position to develop an effective content strategy that will boost your sales and drive audience engagement.
Looking to up your content game but don’t know where to start? Vervology develops and executes content strategies on behalf of our clients. Learn more about what we can do for you.