In the crowded online space, creating great content that stands out and delivers results isn’t easy. Content marketing is an investment that takes a lot of time and effort. E/Power is a small business, so we understand that time and energy are valuable and budgets are tight. With that in mind, it’s important that you’re getting the most value possible out of every piece of content you create. We’ve put together a few tips and best practices to help you get the most bang for your buck with content marketing.
1. Create buyer personas.
Consider your boss, best friend, and your mom. While they may share similar interests and have similar needs, how you talk to them and what you talk to them about is probably pretty different. The same is true for your customers.
That’s why buyer personas (aka semi-fictional representations of your ideal customer based on research and data) are such an important part of your overall marketing strategy, and especially helpful for your content marketing. Well-crafted personas will help you hone in on exactly who you’re creating content for, allowing you to address their pain points and interests in a way they’ll understand and resonate with.
2. Conduct keyword & trends research.
Not only do you want your content to address the right people, but you want it to address the right topics and pain points — all at the right time! That’s where additional research and data comes in handy.
Through social listening, social trends, and tools like Google Trends, Google Search Console, Google Keyword Planner, and Moz, you can see what key phrases your customers are searching for and what topics are piquing their interest.
Overall, this helps increase the relevance and timeliness of your content, which in turns improves search rankings, clicks, and more.
3. Analyze competitors.
Your content will be a lot stronger if you’re keeping an eye on what the competitors are doing. Of course, you don’t want to copy them. Instead, you want to take note and then figure out how you can do things differently — and even better.
What topics are they covering that you’re not creating content about? How often are they posting? What keywords are they ranking for that you’re missing? What products are they highlighting?. Take this information and use it to craft content that blows theirs out of the water (and off the first page of Google!).
4. Make the content mobile-friendly.
Did you know about 60% of Google searches happen on mobile devices now? We all use our smartphones and tablets pretty regularly — and the experience is much different than a desktop or laptop computer. With that in mind, you really want to be optimizing your content for mobile if you want to see the most success.
Tips for mobile-friendly content
- Use subheadings and bullets that make content easy to skim
- Use eye-catching visuals to grab attention
- Caption videos or create them so they can be viewed silently (92% of consumers view videos with the sound off on mobile)
- Utilize white space to your advantage
- Write in short paragraphs
5. Have a clear call-to-action.
Every piece of content you create should serve to guide people to a clear next step that moves them further along in the buyer’s journey. That may be purchasing a product, reading another blog post, filling out a form, or signing up for your email list. Whatever the case may be, make sure your call to action is clear and concise.
6. Add metadata.
Your meta title and description are important pieces of the content marketing puzzle. They help search engine algorithms establish the relevance of the content of that page so they show it for the right queries, so it’s important that it’s well-written and contains the relevant key phrases.
In addition, your meta title and description also show up in the search results and are sometimes pulled when your content is linked on social, so it often serves to help hook the readers into clicking through and engaging with your content piece. If it doesn’t grab attention or address the main point of the content, they may pass it by or immediately bounce from the page.
7. Distribute your content.
You’re going to get the most value out of your content when more people read it. That’s where content distribution comes in handy. You want to be sure you’re sharing your content on the right channels so that it’s being seen by your audience.
There are a variety of ways to distribute content, including owned, paid, and earned avenues.
Owned Content Distribution Channels
Owned content distribution channels are platforms you have total control over and don’t cost you any more. These generally include:
- Your website
- Your blog
- Your social media platforms
- Your email list
Paid Content Distribution Channels
As the name implies, paid content distribution channels require money in exchange for helping you improve the reach of your content. In most cases, you do have control over when, where, and how your content is shared.
Paid content distribution channels include
- Paid ads on Google and other search engines
- Paid social ads
- Partners/sponsorships
- Influencers
Earned Content Distribution Channels
Earned content distribution is generally the most tricky and time-intensive, but it’s incredibly valuable. This is where others are promoting your content for you, generally just because they appreciate your brand or found your content helpful or interesting. You have minimal, if any, control over the messaging or when the content is shared. Earn content distribution includes:
- Social shares and mentions from customers, employees, and brand ambassadors
- Backlinks to your content
- Reviews
- Media coverage
- Guest posts
Some of these channels overlap a bit. For example, you may pay for a great guest post from a relevant industry resource. Or, you may get approached by a partner who would benefit from sharing about your business, but not want to be paid. It’s important to understand all your opportunities for content distribution to really take advantage!
8. Analyze the data.
Last, but certainly not least, you always want to be focused on the data. Tools like Google Analytics, Moz, and social media analytics can help you determine if your content is effective and reaching your goals or not. You can use this data to continue refining your content, pivoting your strategy, and even revamping content, which saves you time and helps increase long-term success.
Our team can help!
Need help developing a content strategy or improving your existing strategy? The team of digital marketers can help. We’re experts not only at content marketing, but at SEO, digital advertising, and social media too! You can rest easy knowing that you’re getting well-researched and optimized content, along with a well-rounded marketing strategy that gets results!
If you’re interested in learning more about how we approach content marketing or just want a fresh perspective on your content strategy, let’s chat.
