The Content Marketing Party – Are People Avoiding Your Brand?

I love writing, I love communicating in general, really, but creating content for E-Power Marketing and our clients is a real passion of mine. Recently, I attended a networking event here in Oshkosh. I was struck by the similarities between Content Marketing principles and the people I was meeting and talking to at the networking event. Think of the Internet as your own personal networking party, and your brand’s content as the conversations you have with industry partners, your existing clients, potential customers, and more. Your content goes beyond the words on your website, and a successful Content Marketing strategy can elevate your brand, so that your brand is the one everyone wants to talk to. Learn from the mistakes of the people you avoid in social settings and make sure your brand’s content is getting the job done. Take a look at your brand’s content across all of your channels, are you guilty of being any of these party-goers?

• • The one who likes to hear themself talk – Imagine you’re at a party and you’re stuck talking to the person who just likes to listen to their own voice. You know all about their upcoming vacation plans, their favorite restaurants, their problems with the venue, their cat Sugar, their other cat Spice… You’re bored, uncomfortable and probably not paying attention. It’s important to know when to stop talking, or at least when to refocus the conversation. The same principle holds true for content development.
    • Content Marketing Lesson – You cannot create or publish content just for the sake of publishing content, it needs to be interesting.

• The one trying to sell you tires at a technology talk – They are clearly there to sell to anyone and everyone, with no regards to the point of the event or the focus of the group gathered. Getting hit with sales pitch after sales pitch gets old fast. If you were looking for new tires, you’d love to hear this pitch, but at a party where you’re looking to network and get more information on the technology that will help your business run more efficiently, you don’t want to hear it.
  • Content Marketing Lesson – Sales focused content is great, but how and where you distribute that content is important. Not all content is appropriate for all channels.

• The one who cannot adapt – It’s easy to spot someone who is so focused on their agenda, they cannot adjust when the conversation changes course. You know the person, when you’re talking to someone at a party, and a new topic is introduced, do they listen and add value to the new conversation, or do they wait for the chance to steer the conversation back to what they want it to be about?
  • Content Marketing Lesson – Things happen quickly online, and it’s important that you can adapt your content to different audiences and new situations. Your content needs to be focused, but that focus should take aim at your subject’s intent. Talk about what your target audience wants to hear about, not what you want them to hear about.

Whether I’m writing for websites, Facebook, offline marketing materials, Twitter or any other application, I am always striving to create content in the voice of the brand I’m writing for, that is relevant, purposeful and effective. I want to produce the content that is going to gather an online crowd. I don’t want potential customers or website visitors to exit a website or unfollow a Facebook page because content is forced or uninteresting, just like at a party you don’t want to be the one everyone is avoiding eye contact with, or making up excuses to get away from. Do you think your Content Marketing strategy could use some help? Contact E-Power Marketing today for some fresh perspective and new ideas for generating better content that gets results.