There was a time when a company’s content marketing was as good as the copywriter it hired to tell its story. Now, words are still as important as ever – in fact, with consumers demanding more value from branded content, quality control is imperative – and images and other visual content have become an essential part of the mix.
Whatever your approach to content marketing (and we can advise on establishing a content strategy whether you’re in nascent or advanced stages), all the effort will be for nothing if content isn’t discovered.
If you’re concerned about competing with journalistic content, try not to be defeated. The rise of social media and the fact that many web users completely bypass mainstream media channels means that a vast quantity of the content consumed online is now socially mobile, generated and shared within social networks.
A vital component of any content plan is facilitating content discovery. Customers are hungry for great content and it can be tempting to adopt a scattergun approach, seeding content in as many channels as possible. Effective content discovery, however, means taking steps to get content in front of the right people at the right time in the right channels.
5 innovative content marketing ideas:
1. Prioritise engagement over lead conversion
The biggest no-no in content marketing is to optimise for lead conversion, however tempting the short-term gains may seem. Think of content marketing as a marathon rather than a sprint, using metrics such as bounce rates, time spent on pages and number of page views per session to analyse effectiveness.
2. Create diverse content
Many companies fall into the trap of creating content within their comfort zone, sticking to just blog posts, or churning out endless reports. To maximise content discovery, aim to appeal to the varying needs and preferences of your target audience. One B2C brand doing this nicely with its visual content is Kraft. America’s favourite mac’n’cheese manufacturer creates appealing yet varied content across its Pinterest, Facebook and YouTube profiles.
3. Link to third-party content
It’s good to be proud of content that you develop, but only publish and share your own content and you run the risk of limiting your audience. To maximise your reach, aim to forge relationships with trusted third party content creators, linking to their content wherever appropriate. In return, they will also start to recommend and share your content helping it to be discovered.
4. Don’t obsess over a viral hit
Seeking instant online fame, many brands become very single minded about creating that one ultimate viral hit. They should rather focus on providing as much useful information as possible over a sustained period of time to create long-term ROI.
5. Create a single content engagement budget
When organising your content marketing strategy, try not to visualise separate silos for each channel, such as Facebook strategy, YouTube strategy, Twitter strategy and so on. Instead, create one pooled budget and resourcing plan for overall content marketing, and think of each channel as distinct tactics that will help you achieve your overall content goals.
As well as harnessing these tips, you can also take advantage of a wide range of content discovery tools that recommend content to visitors to your own site, or discovery engines that place your content on third-party sites. Some tools, including SproutSocial are designed purely for social use.
What steps do you take to ensure your content is discovered?
