Five Ways To Put Content To Work for You
In the great content marketing race, much emphasis is placed on content development. This can be great in many ways yet poses some potential problems if the creation and publishing of that content is not properly planned.
Following are five ways that you can get the most bang for your buck out of your content marketing strategy.
Leverage Others’ Content
No, I don’t mean that you should take someone else’s content and repurpose it. I mean that you should find good content on a good site and expound upon it. Good content should start a conversation and a good conversation can be good content. Comments that add value to an already existing piece can deliver just as much good for you as an original piece on its own. This is especially true if your comments stimulate other comments.
Curate, Don’t Just Create
The curation of content is often overlooked yet deserves serious attention as it offers tremendous power to engage audiences and keep them in one place. In addition to creating your own content, look for other content that aligns well with yours and adds a unique perspective. Post that along with your content for additional impact. The more you offer a reader about a topic they are engaged with, the less likely they are to go searching elsewhere for more information.
Give Kudos to Others
Nobody knows everything and you should not try to pretend that you do. Somewhere along the way, some of the concepts in your writings will have come from someone else. Instead of hiding from that, embrace it. Openly give credit to those from whom you learned something. You might just get attention from the person you credit. Additionally, if your source is highly credible, the citation can add to your overall credibility.
Get Out of Your Rut
Content does not always mean a blog. That seems to be the first thing that comes to mind when people hear about content marketing. If you want to truly satisfy people’s need for content, you must provide a more varied diet of that content. YouTube videos, pins on Pinterest, Tweets, Facebook posts, landing page content and, yes, blogs, should all be part of your content mix.
Be Scheduled
As much as variety is needed in the type of posts you make, routine is needed in the frequency of those posts. Your audience is highly “trainable” and will learn that you publish regularly and they will then come to expect that. When you fail to deliver on what is essentially the promise of new content on time, you let them down. Getting people back after this type of experience is harder than getting their attention in the first place. Make a content schedule and stick to it. It really is that simple.
You will notice that many of these recommendations force you to be less egocentric in your approach to content. Make sure your mix involves ideas and materials produced by others along with you own great stuff.
The best content marketing plans are those that focus on the customers’ needs first and what the business has to offer second. This essentially flip flops marketing of prior generations to better meet the needs of today.
