fContent marketing is a strategy that helps reach potential customers with an offer, using a variety of tools with comparable effectiveness. Even the best content, if not properly promoted, will remain anonymous –on the Internet one will find many articles on the same topic, which are being promoted more effectively. Therefore, we must carefully select tools to create and distribute content corresponding to the image of the persona.
Choose an appropriate content marketing solution
A form of communication should be tailored to the needs of the target audience, their competencies, and preferences.
The most common ways to create media content marketing are:
- Article – the longest form of interaction with potential customers; can have an educational or entertaining purpose; a dialogue between the brand and the consumer is established through it;
- Pictures – graphics published separately in social networks or as part of the article that enriches its content;
- Blog – to create and publish engaging content; interesting blogs often attract a group of regular readers who write comments and share the content;
- Infographics, animations, and presentations – they provide an interactive way to illustrate the interesting facts about the brand or the industry in which it operates;
- Video – lasting no longer than 3 minutes, a light and humorous way to present content like, for example, a tutorial;
- Podcasts – audio portrayed with photographs;
- Webinars – a combination of web + seminar – a sort of Web seminar, a meeting transmitted in real-time via the Internet;
- eBooks – great method to create a database of mailing, as they are the most frequent gratification offered in exchange for signing up for a newsletter.
There are three areas of brand presence on the Web. They determine the methods of sharing the content with potential customers. Those are:
- Owned media (the channels that belong to the enterprise and are fully controlled by them)- website, blog or profile on a social networking site.
- Paid media (any presence of the brand on the Internet that the company had to pay for) – banner ads or sponsored articles
- Earned media (which include user-generated content as a result of their interest in the brand) – comments, reviews, and ratings.
Selecting a channel of communication directly determines the form of a published message since the channels differ in their methods to engage potential customers.
On the social networking sites, the full versions of copywriting texts will not get noticed, but the interesting graphics may do the trick.
Describing photos with a sentence expressing the main idea of a long entry is a good idea. Combining several channels of content distribution will help the message reach the even larger audience. The activities in the area of paid media are a good addition to owned media operations. They contribute to the acquisition of potential customers through advertisements that encourage further exploration of the brand on its own website.
Become the king of SEO!
The effectiveness of the content distribution on the Internet depends on how effectively it is indexed by search engines.
Finding a valuable content on the internet is facilitated by the SEO (Search Engine Optimization), which is the process of placing the company on the best position in the search results in terms of keywords.
It is responsible for directing traffic to our site straight from search engines. The most popular of search engines is, of course, Google – a huge web directory with the widest range of topics. It operates on the basis of algorithms that display results that best suit the keywords specified by the user. Pages are evaluated according to PageRank, which is determined by links that lead to a specific page and the reliability of these sites, where the links are. Google also sorts websites in terms of relevance; in other words – how they adjust to the desired keywords.
Creating unique, engaging that do not copy the already established routines should guarantee the higher position in the search results. Google algorithms are promoting high-quality entries, accompanied by photographs, films or infographics that can fully satisfy the users’ thirst for knowledge.
However, if the website is full of poor content, one does not carry much value, there is no chance for the site to be noticed.
The inclusion of appropriate content may not be enough to produce the desired effects if the structure of the text and the architecture of the site are not friendly towards the search engine (platforms such as WordPress enable automatic optimization for SEO, and offer useful plug-ins). SEO copywriter should ensure that the keywords appear in the title of the article, the subtitles, descriptions of graphics, and in the text that is accompanying the video.
While selecting the keywords for SEO, we should pay attention to what degree the used phrases are matching the general theme of the website and the industry in which the brand functions. Certainly, it would be helpful to pay close attention to the terms that users are searching for.
This is important mainly for the reason that the engaging content is not created for robots, but for potential customers looking online for the answers to their questions.
The group of keywords should include terms which are less common, but more effective – this method, called “long-tail search,” makes the use of a larger number of long words more effective than positioning short, but more often used ones. We should also take into account the level of difficulty of the selected phrases that informs the person who is positioning how hard it will be to get a high search result, using the given keywords.
The cooperation between the content marketing and SEO should be expressed mainly in the publication of such content that fully meets the needs of the target group. It is important that they are supported by all forms of multimedia and the links to other sites that present equally valuable content. Keywords should reflect the website’s theme and inspire us to create threads, which potential customers will find interesting.
Social is the Queen
When it comes to content distribution, we should take into account promoting the brand through social networking sites. They are an amazing source of information about Internet users – that is because, through them, users share information about their preferences and needs. You may also consider content syndication to amplify the reach and effectiveness of your content.
To exist in social media, we must understand content marketing not as a desire to sell, but as a conversation that gives the possibility of making a direct interaction with a potential customer.
Engaging content published via Facebook, Twitter or Instagram is a great method of establishing an emotional connection between the consumer and the brand, as the consumers can identify with the published content. An example of such behavior may be a consumer’s reaction to the post presenting images of a woman doing yoga on a beautiful beach – the users imagine what they would do in such situation and share their thoughts in the comments.
A marketer should ensure that the communication in social networks refers directly to the fans of the brand, constantly reminding them of the fact that they are most important for the company.
Each social media platform requires from the brand a separate approach to a potential customer, and thus – another form of presenting the brand’s identity.
- In the case of Facebook, the best results are achieved by publishing short messages (containing one or two sentences) with graphics.
- For Twitter, the best is the link with a call to action, accompanied by two hashtags.
- A brand can use Instagram for posting pictures of regular people, which will show the consumer that it is close to him or her – a competition for the best picture related to the brand with a proper hashtag would work great on this website.
- Youtube allows marketers to present the brand in the film, which should not take longer than 3 minutes and must contain the most important information about the brand presented in a light, uncluttered way.
Go viral!
High-quality content which meets the needs of the target group is spreading virally.
The essence of viral marketing is, in fact, creating a situation in which potential customers will share with each other information about the brand and offered products or services.
Valuable content is perfectly distributed via social networking sites. If the brand’s profile posts an interesting video, which is actively commented and shared by the fans, the company becomes a trendsetter. It sometimes happens that the message is transmitted from the bottom up – a fan of the brand can post on his or her profile engaging content referring to the brand, which gains popularity when being shared by the group of the fan’s friends. A well-prepared strategy of viral content distribution has a long-term function because the valuable content is gaining popularity and stays in users’ minds for quite some time. This contributes to maintaining relationships with old customers and acquiring new ones.
The effectiveness of content marketing strategy is directly related to the proper selection of tools to create and distribute/promote content on the Internet. Even the best content will not get noticed if it does not meet the criteria related to SEO, appear on social networking sites and have even a bit of viral character. The measure of the success of content marketing is, in fact, the satisfaction of the customer expressed by establishing a solid relationship with the brand.