When it comes to content marketing, there’s often more than meets the eye. It’s pretty common for newbies and outsiders to think that content marketing equals writing blog posts or articles, but in reality, blogs and articles are just a tiny sliver of the content marketing pie. If you want to make the most of it, there are a few other content marketing activities you need to participate in.
Make a Content Marketing Strategy
You need a content marketing strategy. Whatever other content marketing activities you had planned or were hoping to try, take a step back from them for a moment. You can’t go anywhere without a strategy.
Don’t believe us? Take a look at the stats. According to research from the Content Marketing Institute, nearly 60 percent of the most successful B2C content marketers had a content marketing strategy, compared to less than 20 percent of the least successful.
The stats are similar for B2B marketers: 62 percent of the most successful marketers have a documented strategy, compared to 16 percent of the least successful.
So if you haven’t already, press pause on your content marketing efforts and put together a strategy that includes a goal, a description of your audience, a plan for content creation, and a way to measure and analyze everything once it’s all said and done.
Have a Plan for Promotion
It’s not enough to make the content — you need to have a way to promote it so that it gets out in front of the right people at the right time.
Some marketers shy away from promotion because they don’t want to shell out the big bucks for it, or because they remain convinced that great content gets found on its own.
It doesn’t. In an era of declining organic shares and reach, it’s pretty likely that you’re going to have to dip into you wallet and pay the price to get your content out there.
Beyond paid promotion, there are a few other effective ways to reach an audience for free:
- Send an email newsletter.
- Reach out to bloggers and ask for a link or guest post.
- Leave comments on relevant or related blog posts.
Try a New Format
Is your content marketing still falling flat? It could be the type of content you’re producing. Maybe you’re busy churning out blog posts, and what your audience really wants is eye-catching infographics or witty videos.
Mix things up and take risks. If you try a new format and it flops, you won’t really have lost all that much. But if you switch to video and notice an uptick in views and shares, well, the gamble will have paid off.
Some content marketing formats to experiment with include:
- Video
- Live video
- Slideshows
- Infographics
- Long-form articles
- Ebooks
- Reviews/testimonials
- Print magazines
- Email newsletters
- Podcasts
- Songs
- Case studies
Be Social
Social media is a part of content marketing, but some people forget that, or seem to insist that the two are separate.
If your content marketing is going nowhere fast, it could be because you’re ignoring your audience. Get on your favorite platform and start engaging with people. If someone comments on a post you leave, respond. If you want to get really personal, thank people for following your brand.
There’s more to content marketing than meets the eye. If you’re not having much luck with it so far, don’t give up. Instead, try a new approach, or get more organized to see if your content marketing luck ends up changing.