There are a plethora of content marketing tips online. A lot would say that an ideal content would relate to your brand and is relevant to your community. And that’s right. However, the internet’s already brimming with so much content that nowadays, you have to shoulder your way out to emerge a victor from the competition.
We have previously linked content marketing to the idea of thought-leadership since the former (which takes on different multimedia forms like videos, infographics, webpages, podcasts, social media, books, and white papers) is often crafted to distinguish one company as an important thought-leader of a specific field. Truly, this is a testament to the effectiveness of content marketing!
To help you be on that same thought-leadership track, we penned 5 winning content marketing tips. Start planning and executing your content better now!
- Start with a clear monthly content plan
- Release “branded” content
- Try different types of content
- Adhere to best SEO practices
- Ensure your content’s credibility
Tip #1: Start with a clear monthly content plan
Possibly any content marketing tips article starts off with this—planning. Plans help you take total control over how you wish to be closer to your goals, and a monthly content plan does that. For social media marketers, a monthly plan clarifies deliverables that get you closer to your objectives. A good content plan provides a wider perspective on things and helps you organise your thoughts better. It weeds-out potential problems before they occur, providing an abstract picture of what needs fixing before you create the actual content.
For example, a concise content plan would have the following details:
Content Type
Many are familiar with corporate blogging since it’s one of the most widely utilised content marketing types, especially by B2B companies. However, remember that there’s a multimedia approach to content marketing. So, your content plan can be expansive and include exactly what type of content you’d be publishing. Labels could be as simple as “article”, “video”, “podcast”, “guest blog”, etc. Clarifying what type of content you’d be publishing for a month will help you measure how long it will take for your team to craft said content and adjust your timeline if necessary.
Brief
Think of the brief as that one-liner rationale that captures exactly what your content will be about. Daniel Hatch of Content Marketing Institute said that “Creating a thorough but concise content brief is an investment in efficiency and sanity,” (emphasis mine). Much like a general content plan, a content brief concisely sets your expectations so you don’t risk overreaching the goals of your content. Writing a brief results to more accurate and more effective content, one that saves from unnecessarily pounding on points that don’t get you closer to your aim.
Focus Keywords
If you haven’t been doing this already, then I suggest you start doing keyword research before creating any branded content. Keyword research lets you sift through the clutter and allows you to focus on keywords that actually generate traffic. Using the right keywords throughout your whole content is a must since it makes your content more reachable and available to your audience.
Word Length
We published an article that explores just how important content length is on digital marketing and we stand by our previous stance: length does matter. Ideal blog content can be read in 7 minutes and should have at least 1,600 words, while a lengthier post (one that can rank well on Google), is around 2,450 words. There are blog posts written in “short-form” (800 to 1,200 words) and the longer, more in-depth posts are referred to as “long-form” (1,200 to 2,500 words).
Target Post Date
A monthly content plan plots exactly what you have to cover for a whole month. Additionally, you must also plot exactly when and at what time your content will be published. This keeps you on track and allows you time to spread your content evenly and write a blog post without rushing.
Tip #2: Release “branded” content
Some topics are more interesting than others, and some content types tend to attract more people than others. While you need to publish content that your audience will find interesting and worth sharing, the end goal must be about weaving content that fits perfectly with your brand. This means creating something related to your niche and your audience’s expectations.
Additionally, you can even repurpose your content for greater SEO impact. Repurposing content helps freshen your previous content. It’s a way to “revive” a post, and it intends to boost SEO and amplify your brand’s message in a different format to possibly, a different audience.
Tip #3: Try different types of content
We, humans, are visual beings, so remember to also focus on content that has images, too. When you do content marketing, you’ll notice that a lot of those content that drives the most traffic has images. Take infographics for example. Since infographics break down information into digestible chunks, it has a wider appeal to readers who just don’t have the time to patiently go through lengthier content.
Then there’s video marketing. Videos engage people online better than other formats, enough for HubSpot to call it the strategy of the future. Our previous post deals with different video content tips and types you can explore, so be sure to check that out.
Additionally, you can reach the full utility of your social media handles by publishing content on your social media accounts! As a primary content marketing tool, social media platforms are proven to attract more audience back to your website (and subsequently drive more traffic). This is attractive to brands with either a small or a big following, as it builds up an audience pretty quickly. Sharing on social media is a form of promotion, and as with promotions, the “product” must be useful to people. Make sure people can see its relevance, and that it doesn’t feel out of place in your chosen platform. Do this by optimising your content in order to satisfy user needs better.
For example, we do most of our promotions on our Facebook account since we have a hefty audience there. We add a catchy caption and a few important hashtags to make sure people can find our content better. Finally, we include a link back to the original post within the website to encourage visitors.
Tip #4: Adhere to best SEO practices
One of the most vital content marketing tips would surely include a portion of SEO practices, and for good reason. For your content (and subsequently your website) to rank well (or even at all), it needs to adhere to best SEO practices.
Stuffing keywords into the content is still an important aspect of SEO, but no longer the holy grail. It’s an amalgam of so many aspects now, including on-page (creating content, adding keywords, optimising areas like titles and meta-tags) and off-page (commenting on blogs, guest blogging, link building, etc.) optimisation strategies.
For one, you should include both internal and external links. More links to a post, may it be internal or external, mean more value. Internal links help Google see the structure of your website and relates one content within your website to the other, adding value to your overall presence. For instance, good content must have both internal and external links. It simply leaves the impression that your content is not isolated from the whole landscape. External links build up your credibility and impress upon readers that you are relevant. It shows your niche and connects you with other content creators from within your circle.
Tip #5: Ensure your content’s credibility
Finally, remember that effective content marketing is a responsibility you need to uphold to a high degree. Since the world moves fast (and information changes fleetingly), you should pack your content with reliable and credible information that is up-to-date. So, fact-check; mere assertions wouldn’t convince people to believe in you, but credible, data-checked content will. Whenever you can, link back to credible sources. Finally, include well-researched statistics so you could be more convincing.
In another content marketing topic we released previously, we mentioned that you can gain credibility by association. This means doing plenty of research before putting words into (virtual) paper, interviewing thought-leaders, and cross-referencing. However way you wish to do it, ensure that your content is not built on mere postulations so you could build your credibility better.
Conclusion
Content marketing is an effective digital marketing strategy; it opens a load of possibilities for your brand and helps build and retain connections for you along the way. So, keep your eyes peeled for these content marketing tips now so you could move seamlessly with the whole landscape!
Never let your digital marketing efforts go to waste. Our team specialises in a methodical and structured approach to digital content marketing that generates leads and encourages conversions for brands!
