Components of Content Marketing
Want to learn more about how to use Content Marketing to grow YOUR business?
And if you are in a situation where you have just been asked to create a content marketing plan , well, this article is for you too. Let's look at a definition of content marketing:
Content marketing is a strategic approach to creating and distributing valuable phone numbers philippines relevant and consistent content for the purpose of attracting and retaining a target audience, ultimately driving profitable customer action.
Let's look at five things you can do, starting today, to kick-start your content marketing strategy and become a great content marketing expert:
1) Editorial calendar: what is it and why do you need one?
Think of your editorial calendar as the dashboard of your content marketing strategy. This is where you and your team (even if that team is you for now) go to see what's on the deck, who's doing what, and when it's going to be published.
Having all this information in one place is key for several reasons:
Eliminate the stress of trying to keep multiple parties on the same page. Your graphic designer can see what they have coming up, your editor can know who’s producing what content so they can reach out directly, and your director can keep an eye on the entire group to make sure things are moving forward.
Having a solid schedule that everyone involved is aware of is the way to ensure that content is published regularly. This is the best way to ensure that your audience sees it as they get used to your schedule and tune in to see new content. If you don’t deliver on time, even just once, you risk losing them.
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2) Set your goals early and make them SMART.
This is true no matter what phase you’re in, whether you’re re-evaluating the direction of your existing content marketing strategies or creating a new one from scratch. Set your content marketing goals , set them early in the process, and make sure they’re SMART goals.
You may have been running for a while now, but your campaign's direction doesn't seem right. Maybe you're just not seeing the conversions you envisioned and you want to know why. Or maybe you're finding your trajectory is veering away from the mission you set out six months ago and you need to get back on track. Did you outline your goals on day one? No? Do it now.
The SMART goals framework is a practical way to ensure your goals are aligned with your mission and a quick way to check existing goals to make sure you can meet them. SMART stands for:
Specific : This is the who, what, when, where, and why of the goal. Define the goal with names, numbers, dates, and times.
Measurable : What parameters will you use to judge the effectiveness of this goal? How will you know when you have achieved them?
Attainable – Are you being realistic? Can this goal be achieved within the time frame you defined above? You may need to rethink things if you are aiming to increase your customer base by 10 times in six months.
Relevant - Are these goals appropriate for your content team to work on? Does the goal align with your campaign objectives? Does it align with your company's mission?
Time-bound – Does the goal have a start date and an end date? If not, set these parameters now or you risk distracting your team and missing the content calendar.
3) Align your marketing goals with those of your sales team
Both teams are working towards the same end goals, right? Customer development and retention should be a priority for both teams, so making sure the goals you’ve set above align with the goals your sales team is pursuing is the best way to ensure they’re not working at odds.
The problem arises when marketing says, “We have so many leads that sales can’t keep up.” And sales responds, “Your leads aren’t high enough quality to be worth our time.” Marketing’s goal is to ensure that sales is providing consistent information throughout the entire customer journey, and sales needs to know that marketing remembers to treat the customer as a person, not a statistic or demographic.
To truly engage customers on their level, you need to work with sales to align your broader goals.
4) Use social media correctly
There are currently over 2 billion social media users worldwide. If your social media voice doesn’t match the voice of your content, you’re missing out on a potentially HUGE market segment. A quick realignment can do wonders for your overall reach, engagement, and conversion on these channels.
There are two keys to making a social media strategy work:
Listen . Listen carefully. Start by monitoring your audience, your followers, and your feed. Listen and take note of things like when your audience is active on the channel, what they share, and who they share it with. You might find that LinkedIn lights up during lunchtime on the East Coast of the US, while your Twitter followers are mostly located in continental Europe and are most active during the evening commute. This information is crucial for setting up your editorial calendar and scheduling your posts on these platforms.
Be interactive . Social media is all about interaction between people and accounts. Take this opportunity to respond to comments, share content from your followers, and retweet memes (at least the appropriate ones). This puts a human face on your corporate image and highlights your employer brand.