What is content marketing and why does it matter?
As social media users, we post content on a daily basis. We consume content in a variety of ways, from posting online to reading articles online and watching videos.
If you own a website, it is important that you post content that is relevant to your industry and that you always use targeted key words. This is because whenever we provide content and post it online, search engines start crawling looking for specific keywords. When they find the keyword that they are looking for, they rank your website.
Search engines are always searching for answers to questions that are being asked on the internet. When an answer is found, the search engines match those keywords to the questions. If your website has an answer to somebody’s question, then your website is matched. The more answers you can provide the higher your keyword ranking will be.
Your website is given a ranking depending on how valuable your content is. The higher your website ranking is, the more likely you are to be found on the first page of search results.
What is a Content Marketing Strategy?
A content marketing strategy is a plan that you create so that your content is consistent. It acts as a roadmap for your company to connect and engage with your customers. By creating a content marketing strategy, you are able to know exactly what to publish and when. Most importantly, you will know who is in charge of which task and how much it will cost you.
Before you create your content marketing strategy you will need to know your “why”. Why do you do what you do?
Once you know your why, you will be able to share your story with others. This is the beginning of content creation. There are a number of steps that you need to follow to create your strategy.
1. Create your marketing objectives. What do you want to achieve? Make these goals quantifiable and qualitative.
2. Audit your existing content. If you have been in business for a while chances are that you will already have content in place. Now is the time to do a SWOT Analysis and an SEO audit to see where you sit in the current market and identify any changes that may need to be made.
3. Create a buyer persona. This allows you to identify your target audience. List your ideal customer down to their name, gender, age, level of education, occupation, interests and values. Be as specific as you can. You want to be able to visualise this person in your head. This is the person who you are writing for every time you create a new piece of content.
4. Create a content strategy. This is the fun brainstorming part! Jot down ideas that will allow you to create content and think about which channels you will post it to. Writing a blog article? Consider posting it to LinkedIn as well as your website. Creating a video? Upload it to your website and Youtube. Taking a team selfie? Post on Instagram and Facebook. Do you want to use Pay Per Click ads or banner ads? Are you wanting to write an ebook for subscribers to download so you can connect with them? Perhaps you want to send out a newsletter once a month? Consider what form of content you want to create and how it will be distributed.
5. Create an implementation plan. Consider outsourcing if you do not have the required skills. This will save you a lot of time! This is also the time to work out your budget. Know how much money you can allocate for each task. Schedule in who is going to be doing which task and when it needs to be completed by.
6. Create a content editorial calendar. Knowing what content to produce each day makes life a lot easier. Write up a monthly calendar putting in the dates of key events. Create exactly what is going to be posted, on which platform and who is responsible. Remember to include lead times and allow for delays.
7. Set content marketing KPI’s. How will you measure success? What platforms will you use to measure this? If your marketing objective is to improve your search ranking, using sites such as SEMrush or Ahrefs will show your websites ranking. If your marketing objective is to increase website traffic, look at using Google Analytics to see if website traffic has increased over a certain time period.
Remember to revise your content marketing strategy from time to time. See what works and make sure that it always aligns with your marketing objectives and company’s branding.
The more content you produce, the easier your website will be found. Creating quality content that adds value to your customers allows them to connect with you. Once they have connected with you, they are able to build rapport and most importantly trust. When people trust, they are more likely to share, like and consume your content. From here, your organic reach will grow as search engines start to show your content to more and more people. Once your reach grows, you will receive more website clicks, sales calls and business growth.
