Back when Bill Gates said, “Content is King,” many thought content marketing would be a passing fad. Yet, here we are in 2017 and content marketing is one of the top digital marketing trends of the year. Content (which is the valuable free information you provide to your prospects and clients) and content marketing are certainly not a fad, but rather the future for marketing your business effectively to an online generation.
The Content Marketing Institute defines content marketing as “a strategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly defined audience—and, ultimately, to drive profitable customer action.”
According to marketing advisory firm Demand Metric, 90% of organizations market with content. Reportedly, 27 million pieces of content are shared every day (AOL/Nielsen).
But are people consuming content? Most definitely.
The 2017 Content Preferences Survey Report states that 51% of Business to Business buyers rely on content to research their buying decisions. In fact, 47 percent want to review three to five pieces of content before they talk to a salesperson.
The key tactics or content types are:
- social media content
- blogs
- email newsletters
- in-person events
- videos (pre-recorded)
- illustrations
- ebooks
- infographics
- webinars
To stay ahead of the curve as we head into the fourth quarter of the year, here are 5 things you should know about content marketing:
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Writing Quality Content Elevates Your Credibility.
Whether you’re a new business and need to build brand awareness or you’re a veteran business owner with established authority, content marketing can boost your credibility. You want to create content that showcases your knowledge and expertise and positions you as the go-to person in your industry. People still do business with those they know, like and trust. Establish that trust by providing content your audience sees as valuable.
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Start by developing a content marketing strategy.
For small businesses, creating and documenting a strategy for content marketing can seem like a daunting task. But the strategy is your roadmap to success. It does not have to be exhaustive. You simply need to know and outline your audience, your goals, who will create the content, how often it will be created, how you will get it out and how you will track and measure its effectiveness.
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When creating content think about Siri and Cortana.
In other words, craft your content with voice search in mind. According to Google, 20% of online searches are done by voice. By 2020, experts are predicting that 50% of searches will be done through images or speech. To optimize your content for voice search, write content using longtail keywords and phrases. Your tone should be conversational in nature, like you’re speaking to a friend.
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Live video has become a preferred content type.
Facebook Live is getting more than 8 billion video views from 500 million viewers per day. According to Livestream and New York Magazine Survey, 80% of people would rather watch live video from a brand than read a blog. This is a major shift in how people are consuming information. It’s also important to note that “compelling content” is the prime motivator for live online viewing. You might consider announcing new products and services, taking your viewers behind-the-scenes or showcasing customers.
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Create then disseminate your content.
All too often business owners spend a significant amount of time creating content but minimal time pushing the content out. Your prospects and clients won’t see your content if you keep it to yourself. And, you certainly cannot expect results if you do not do your due diligence in distributing your content. Consider aligning yourself with influencers in your industry who will share your content with their followers. Remember that on social media you’ll have to share multiple times. A single tweet won’t work. Depending on your budget, paid distribution, such as a Facebook ad, may be a worthwhile investment.
Content marketing is here to stay. It’s an inexpensive way to attract new customers. Demand Metric reports that content marketing costs 62% less than traditional marketing and generates 3 times the leads.
The question is, how will you maximize content marketing for your business?