Choose your platforms wisely
It’s tempting to jump on every possible content platform available, but we suggest you start smaller, with platforms that make sense for your business. As your business grows, your content marketing budget will increase and you can start to include more platforms and content types.
But in the beginning, it’s all about researching where your audience is consuming content so you can make use of the platforms they use. You want to become part of their everyday scrolling routine, so start where they already scroll.
If you’re selling bracelets to teenage girls, Instagram is the place to be. But if you’re a B2B company targeting execs who look at emails all day, email marketing is a better option for you. If you rely on organic traffic, well-written blogs should be your starting point.
When it comes to creating content for different platforms, you need to take a close look at how users are engaging with each platform and tailor the content accordingly. So you can’t put the same post on LinkedIn that you’ve put on Facebook without tweaking it to suit Facebook’s best practices.
Be data-driven
Back in the day, marketers had to guess what their audience wanted. Now, we’ve got analytics tools that help us read their minds. Data serves as undeniable evidence of what your audience wants to see in your content marketing strategy, so it should be considered in every decision you make.
These are some of the analytics you should pay attention to:
- Social: Audience growth rate, post reach and engagement
- SEO: Keyword rankings, domain authority and backlinks
- Website: Bounce rate, traffic, and top traffic sources
- Email: Open rate, click-through rate and conversion rate
Most of this data can be found on Google Analytics which has a free option suitable for SMBs. When it comes to social media, you can view a number of analytics in one place with Hootsuite.
Once you’ve got some data, take a closer look at the content that performs well. Focus on things like the style, format, emotional appeal, and the call to action of successful posts so you can implement those success factors in your future content.
While you’re looking at the numbers, you should also pay close attention to return on investment (ROI).
The return is a goal that needs to be defined by the business, often its North Star or purpose. This could be anything from gaining new paying customers to overall revenue attributable to a specific channel.
The investment is the cost (made up of things like salaries, tools, advertising etc.) that went into the initiative aimed at getting that return.
If your investment is greater than your return, you're losing money and need to pivot — fast. Here’s how you work out ROI:
Source: Kodo Survey
Take smart shortcuts
Time is money and it always seems to be running out. In 2022, marketing budgets are smaller so we’ve got to get creative with shortcuts. However, bad content can hurt your strategy, so if a shortcut is lowering your content standards, rather don’t use it. These are some of the good ones:
- Content repurposing.
A good piece of content should be repurposed about 10 times. Not only is it good for your bottom line, but it also keeps things consistent across your platforms. One method you can use is called Content Seeding, where you scatter pieces of content across various channels. You can also use a pyramid method.
The pyramid method has larger pieces of content at the top which can be broken down into smaller and smaller pieces of content. As you move down the pyramid the number of pieces of content should increase because the effort required to create them decreases.
The popular approach is to start by creating one large piece of content, such as a Podcast, YouTube video or long-form blog article, and then break it down into multiple pieces of content which suit other platforms. However, this method can be expensive and time-consuming, and there are only so many ways to squeeze value out of an idea before it dries up and followers start to think your content is repetitive.
You can also start at the bottom of the pyramid with lean social posts such as Tweets and only make larger pieces of content for post topics that gain traction. This way, you’ll end up creating top of the pyramid content on topics you know your audience responds to.
- Hop on viral trends.
In content marketing, we all want to go viral. But it isn’t easy. Instead of trying to predict and create the next viral trend, hop on an existing one. Watch out for viral topics that your audience is talking about and create content about it. When Squid Game was trending, our team at The Delta threw this post together for LinkedIn:
We avoided the hard work of going viral, but we benefited from the traffic that Squid Game was receiving at the time.
- Tools are your friends.
There are so many free tools that can save you time (and money) in the long run. Here are a few suggestions:
- For quick keyword research: Ubersuggest
- For AI-generated copy: Copy-AI
- For automated social engagement: Phantombuster
Design content for humans, not search engines
It’s tempting to throw yourself into search engine optimization (SEO) best practices to vie for the attention of Google’s crawlers. Even if you rank first for your targeted keyword, a title that isn’t designed for a human won’t get clicked on.
Creating human-centred content starts with knowing your audience. Listen to your audience to find out what problems they’re having, what they want to learn about, or what kind of content they enjoy most. Don’t forget to look at your analytics to see what content they respond to best as well.
Make it your mission to deliver value with content that satisfies their wants and needs.
For example, a how-to or guide blog about gardening should be actionable, easy to follow, and encouraging so that by the time they get to the end, readers feel ready to start planting. And an Instagram Reel about how to style the clothes from your online store should leave viewers feeling inspired to copy or reinvent the outfits you’ve shown.
By providing value to humans, you begin to build a trusting relationship between your business and your audience. An amateur gardener who feels guided by your content will be more likely to buy your gardening tools, and a fashion enthusiast who looks to your Instagram for outfit inspiration will be more likely to buy your clothes.
Community marketing
The COVID-19 pandemic brought out a more human side of marketing as a response to the rise of niche-based online communities. Community marketing focuses on creating conversations between the brand and its audience and fits well into a content marketing strategy.
There are a couple of ways to hack community marketing.
- Let your audience drive decisions with you.
If you’re not sure what type of content to share with your audience, create a poll and let them tell you. If you’re deciding what colour a product should be, ask them. Let them feel like they’re an important part of your brand and they’ll start feeling loyal to you.
For early or startup businesses, consider building in public. This is a movement where startups are extremely transparent about their building process. With your audience following and getting behind your business from the start, you’ll have a greater chance of securing early adopters.
- Create interactive content.
The marketing world is noisy but interactive content can capture viewers’ attention and create a lasting impression. This type of content is good for community marketing because it allows for a two-way conversation.
Get your audience involved with a quiz on your Instagram Story or a post like this one from our LinkedIn:
Source: The Delta LinkedIn
- User-generated content (UGC).
With audiences craving authenticity, you can’t go wrong with authentic content generated by your audience. Ask customers to review your product or tag you in posts of them using it. Then include the content in your strategy. The customers whose content you share will feel seen and included by your brand, and a sense of community will blossom.
This free content can also serve as social proof. 85% of people trust content made by other users — people listen to people, not businesses.
- Create a community platform.
Beyond community marketing, you can make a community space that relates to your business. This can be as simple as a Facebook page for pet store customers to share pet selfies or an online book club for your bookstore.
Content Marketing is evolving
Like every industry post-pandemic, the marketing world is evolving. We’ve shared some of our golden rules for keeping up with content marketing in 2022 — if you’d like to keep learning with us, check out our LinkedIn.
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