Did you catch #ContentWritingChat this week? If not, there’s no need to worry! We have a recap of our latest chat and it’s filled with amazing tips to help you take your content to the next level. If you’re ready to learn how to create content that builds community and generates leads, keep reading!
#ContentWritingChat Recap: How to Create Content That Builds Community & Generates Leads with Kathleen Burns
For this week’s chat, we were joined by Kathleen Burns. Kathleen is the Community Manager the United States Blog Editor for our friends over at SEMrush. She joined us to share her tips on creating content that not only builds community for your brand, but also helps you generate leads.
Q1: How can you create content that appeals to your audience? What steps do you need to take?
One key element in creating successful content for your brand is appealing directly to the people you’re trying to reach. Without creating the content that speaks directly to them, you’re going to wind up attracting all the wrong people or worse… No one at all! Here’s what you need to know about creating content your audience will love:
As Kathleen said, the first step in creating content that appeals to your audience is talking to them and listening to what they have to say. You can learn so much about the questions they have and the issues they’re facing by just asking them. Reviews, posts on online forums, and comments on your blog are also great sources of feedback from your audience. She recommends creating a reader persona so you know exactly who you’re writing for.
It always helps to address your audience’s key pain points. Not only will they appreciate it, but it’s the best way to provide tremendous value to them. They’ll want to keep coming back for more and more after that.
Julia agrees! Listening is key to getting to know your audience and understanding their needs. Treat it like a real life relationship and start making those connections through conversations and listening to what others have to say.
A1 – Step one is always the same: Know your audience. I mean KNOW them. Know what they care about and motivates them #contentwritingchat
James said step one is always to know your audience. Without truly knowing who you’re trying to reach with your content, you aren’t able to create the content that will speak to them. Get to know and understand your audience before you move forward with creating blog posts and social media content.
A1a: Know your audience. What are they talking about, what have they liked of your content so far? #ContentWritingChat
Kristi agrees that knowing your audience is the first step to content creation. She suggests determining what they’re talking about, but also what they have liked of your content so far. For example, see what your most popular blog posts are because it’s likely a good indicator that your audience would love to see more content that’s similar.
Bill’s advice is to learn the preferences of your audience as well as their pain points. When you know they’re preferences, you can determine what content formats they like the most and which topics are their favorites. Understanding their pain points gives you the opportunity to solve their biggest struggles.
Cassandra’s advice is spot on. If you want to get to know your audience, it helps to get out and actually talk to them. Strike up a conversation in your blog’s comments, on social media, or within your email newsletter. The options are endless. Figure out what they need and what they’re struggling with and then deliver exactly what they need.
As Jacob said, you want to understand the problems, desires, and wants of your audience. Once you have that figured out, you can create the content they need the most.
Q2: Why is it important to set goals for your content? Discuss goals to set for community building and lead generation.
The content you create should always serve a purpose, whether it’s a blog post, a video, a podcast, or something else. In order to determine if you achieved what you set out to do, you need to set goals that you can actually measure and track. Here’s what some of the participants in Tuesday’s chat said about setting content goals:
Kathleen said content goals provide direction and depth for content development. Here advice is to make your goals something measurable and define what a successful piece of content means for you. That could be different for everyone and could vary depending on the content. One blog most might be designed to drive email sign-ups, while another could be promoting a product or building brand awareness. It all depends what you’re trying to achieve.
Right on! If you don’t set goals, you have no way to measure your success. If you can’t measure your success, you won’t have any idea how to make improvements the next time around. And the reality is, no matter how great we think we are, there’s always room for improvement. You just need to know what to improve upon and you can only do that by measuring your previous results.
As Zala said, you don’t want to just push content out. Your content needs to serve a purpose so you should always have a measurable call to action (CTA).
A2: If it’s not getting results, it’s wasting time and money. Results are less meaningful without a goal to tie them to! #contentwritingchat
As Sarah said, if you aren’t getting results then it’s just a waste of time and money. You want to make sure you’re achieving what you set out to do after putting so much time and effort into creating your content. Setting goals and measuring the results is what will help make this all worthwhile.
She also mentioned that some great goals for community building include engagement factors. Is your audience liking and sharing your content? Are they leaving comments? Is your community growing? These are all great things to track.
Q3: What kind of content helps to build an engaged community around your brand?
Building a community is something pretty much every brand is after these days. You want to have a loyal audience who likes your content and trusts you. You want your audience to take that next step and engage with you. These tips will help you create that for your own brand:
Kathleen recommends addressing the needs of your audience with the content you create. You can share tips that will help them in some way, which they’ll find beneficial.
Jason said to post content that is relatable and shareable. Pictures and quotes are always a great way to go. When you share content that inspires them, they’re going to be more inclined to share it with their audience.
Jenn suggests sharing things like user-generated content, infographics, videos, and interviews. Content that is going to encourage a conversation between you and your audience is key here. You can always experiment to see what works best for your brand because it’s going to be different for everyone.
A3 User-generated content. If you want an engaged community, give them space to create it. #contentwritingchat
Lex also agrees that user-generated content is powerful. Encourage your audience to actually be a part of your community by inviting them to post content that is relevant to your brand. One of the best ways to do this is through a branded hashtag on Instagram.
If you want to build an engaged community, you need to provide value through the content you create. Debi’s advice is to create content that helps your audience by answering their questions. Everything you share should be relevant to grab their attention.
A3: Give them a reason to interact: poll, question, video. Sometimes you can gain info for a blog! #ContentWritingChat
Make sure you give them a reason to interact with you. As Kristi said, you can create a poll or ask questions to get feedback and to get a conversation flowing. It really is that simple! You just have to be willing to take that step to encourage engagement.
As Julia mentioned, live conversation is perfect for this. You can do that through your very own Twitter chat, live video, and more.
Q4: How will you know if your content has been well-received by your audience? What metrics are important to track?
When you’re creating content, one thing that’s important is making sure your audience actually liked it. But how can you tell if they enjoyed your content and received value from it? These tips will help you determine the success of your content, plus you’ll know exactly which metrics to track:
Kathleen said to ask yourself which metrics apply to your overall goals. Depending on your goals, you may want to track mentions, replies, social media shares, and downloads.
As Liliana said, it’s clear that your content was well-received when your audience takes some sort of action. Click-throughs, comments, and downloads are all metrics that are worth tracking.
A4: If your content is being talked about you see community growth, track clicks, shares, web metrics and sales #ContentWritingChat
Brandie pointed out that some common metrics include clicks, shares, and sales. It’s also worthwhile to monitor what your audience is saying. Are they talking about your content and if so, what are they saying about it? If your content got them talking in a good way, then that’s always a positive sign.
Keep in mind that everyone has different goals for their content and sometimes your goal can vary depending on the piece of content. Some common metrics are shares, conversions, and sales. When you see people converting on your content or making a purchase, that’s always a great sign that they received some amount of value. There’s nothing better than when your audience takes that next step with your brand.
Q5: What are key steps to take in order to generate leads from blog posts and social media?
One of the top goals people set for their content is lead generation, however many people just don’t know how to make it happen. So, here’s what you need to know to see results:
A5: What’s your CTA? Urge action! Provide an answer in your content, lead them to a solution or discussion in community #ContentWritingChat
Don’t forget that call to action! If you want your audience to take that next step, you have to be clear about what that next step is. Hold their hand and lead them exactly where you want them to go. Don’t count on them to figure it out on their own.
Jason also knows the importance of an effective CTA. Make it clear what you want your audience to do next so they aren’t left wondering. You have to capture their attention before they click off your page for good.
A5: Create a personal connection between audience/content, foster a meaningful and transparent relationship. #ContentWritingChat
Developing a connection with your audience is key in establishing trust. The reality is, people aren’t likely to buy your product or service after discovering you for the first time. You have to work to build a relationship with them and build trust before you can expect to generate leads consistently.
Engaging with your audience is a key part of generating leads. People are going to be more inclined to purchase from a brand that they have engaged and connected with. Chat with your audience and start building that KLT (Know, Like, Trust) Factor with them and you’re sure to see results.
A5: Engage with your audience, have authentic conversations, show you care. Follow up later. #ContentWritingChat@ExpWriters
Jeremy also agrees that engagement is important when it comes to generating leads. Make sure you’re having conversations with your audience, listening to what they have to say, and genuinely showing that you care about them and their needs. If they don’t take action right away, you can always follow up with them.
These are all essential steps that Lex suggested. She recommends listening to your audience and helping them in any way that you can, which then builds trust. You should also create CTAs and set goals for your content.
Q6: How does brand storytelling play a factor in community building and lead generation?
You likely hear people talking about the importance of “brand storytelling” all the time these days. You may even be wondering how it impacts community building and lead generation and how you can use your brand’s story to your advantage. Here’s what you need to know:
A6: Storytelling can bring a community coming together to tell a singular story with many voices about a brand #ContentWritingChat
As Kathleen said, storytelling can bring a community together. That’s pretty powerful for anyone who is trying to grow their brand and develop trust with their audience.
Overall, storytelling makes your brand feel more human. It gives your brand personality, a meaning, and passion. Your brand’s story is ultimately what will draw people in and what will help them connect with you.
A6. Humans connect through story. And people buy from people. The story is the common thread connecting sales to values. #contentwritingchat
As Brittany said, humans connect through stories and people buy from other people. A potential customer is going to be more likely to purchase from you when they feel connected in some way and when they’ve started trusting you.
Your story adds personal flair and character to your brand, which is what your audience will find relatable. It’s what will draw them in and make them love what you’re creating.
A6: Storytelling resonates with the audience. It helps create a connection with each person & makes it personal. #contentwritingchat
When your story resonates with your target audience (and it should), it helps you to develop a deeper connection with them. That’s only the beginning of the customer journey.
If your brand’s story isn’t worth following, why would anyone want to stick around? Your brand story needs to be compelling and should appeal to your target audience.
Q7: Which tools do you rely on to help you create amazing content?
While you’re totally fine to just rely on pen and paper, we have a plethora of amazing tools at our fingertips today. These are tools that help make the content creation process even easier, which is always a plus. Check out these tools for yourself:
A keyboard and a brain full of ideas is a great place to start when it comes to content creation. Plus, it never hurts to have a furry friend to bounce ideas off of.
A7. I’m also never without a notebook or my phone to jot down ideas when they come. #contentwritingchat
Brittany always keeps a notebook or her phone on hand to jot down ideas as she gets them. It’s so important to have a place to store those ideas that pop up when you least expect it.
Sabjan turns to BuzzSumo, Neil Patel, and our own Julia McCoy when he needs help with content creation.
Q8: What brands have built an incredible community?
And finally, we wrapped up the chat by asking everyone to tag a brand they felt has built an incredible community through their content. Here’s what some of them had to say:
A8: @buffer has really built an incredible community around their brand thanks to their amazing content. #ContentWritingChat
The Tentacle team thinks Taco Bell has done a great job at building a strong community. We look forward to seeing you at the next #ContentWritingChat! Mark your calendars weekly for Tuesday at 10 AM Central Time for great chats centered around content writing and marketing. Follow @ExpWriters to stay updated on our new topics and guests!
Our guest host this week was Debbie Williams. Debbie is the Co-Founder and Chief Content Officer at SPROUT Content.
Q1: Why is it important to create the highest quality content for your audience?
You hear people say all the time that you need to create high-quality content for your audience. Why is it so important? Here’s what some of the participants in Tuesday’s chat had to say:
Our CEO, Julia, knows the content you publish is a representation of your brand. Make sure you’re putting your best foot forward by sharing only the best with your audience.
As Atulmaharaj said, he feels his audience deserves the best. Your audience does too! Make sure you provide top-notch content every single time you publish.
A1: I guess my question would be, why wouldn’t you want to provide highest quality content? Strive to be the best! #ContentWritingChat
Kristen feels great content is filled with actionable tips, detailed examples, and explanations. When you go that extra mile, it really helps to build your authority.
A2. Go deep. Show your expertise with solidly-written case studies. Provide answers, become a go-to source. #contentwritingchat
Consider sharing case studies with your audience. Not only does it show off your expertise, but it helps establish you as a reputable source.
Q3: How can you figure out what kind of content your audience is looking for?
Now that you know why it’s important to create high-quality content, how can you figure out what you should create? Here are a few tips to find out what your audience is looking for:
Great advice from Debbie! She suggests reaching out to the sales team for your brand to find out what prospects are asking. Create content that addresses those concerns. If you don’t have a sales team, you can still tune into your audience by checking responses you receive on email or social media.
Sarah knows that it can take a little trial and error to figure out what your audience is truly interested in. Make sure you’re keeping an eye on your analytics to see what people are engaging with and where they’re converting.
A3: This is where engaging w/ your audience is huge! Either ask them, see which content received the most feedback, etc. #contentwritingchat
Quite a few of you had the same answer for this question. Ask them! Don’t be afraid to reach out to your audience and ask what they’d like to see. Ask what they’re struggling with and what they’re interested in. There’s no guessing involved here. They’ll tell you what they want.
Debbie recommends writing a great introduction to your content. You want to hook them in the beginning to keep them reading. She also said to focus on quality over quantity. Don’t add more words to make your piece longer. It’s just fluff.
A4 Being THE most in-depth piece on the topic. Taking the time, research, WORK to get there. Be the anti of superficial. #ContentWritingChat
You should also write in a way that’s understandable and relatable for your audience. Always keep them in mind whenever you’re creating content. Don’t forget to use proper grammar!
#ContentWritingChat A4b: Make a piece easier to digest by including HELPFUL elements e.g. image demonstrations, videos, examples, etc.
Debbie’s advice is to provide your own insights. Don’t just copy what has already been said many times before. Be unique. Make sure you also take the time to optimize your content for search engines. Debbie also said you shouldn’t leave your reader hanging. Tell them what to do next by providing a call to action (CTA).
A6. Never plagiarize, never steal, always give credit where it’s due. #ContentWritingChat
Our Content Manager, Katria, knows having a reliable and passionate team behind your brand makes a huge difference. They can help you create amazing content your audience will love.
A7. Don’t sacrifice quality for quantity. Posting often is great, but every piece of content needs to be ? #contentwritingchat
Jenn knows that it’s not just the content powerhouses that make a difference. The ones who see things differently and provide their unique views really stand out.
Here at Express Writers, we’re focused on having more team members contribute to our blog. It’s a great way for you to see who is behind the brand. Make sure you keep an eye on our blog for more!
We look forward to seeing you at the next #ContentWritingChat! Mark your calendars weekly for Tuesday at 10 AM CDT for great chats centered around content writing and marketing. Follow @ExpWriters to stay updated on our new topics and guests!
If you missed this week’s #ContentWritingChat, no need to worry! We’ve rounded up some of the tweets from this week’s chat so you can get caught up. Check it out and learn all about creating and promoting shareworthy content!
There were so many great tips shared: you’ll want to start implementing them today to grow your online presence.
ContentWritingChat May 3 2016 Recap: How to Create & Promote Shareworthy Content
For this week’s chat, Grant Simmons joined as our guest host. Grant is the VP of Search Marketing at Homes.com, a speaker, author, and a frequent Twitter chatter and social media expert. He shared his insights with us on creating and promoting content that will get shared across the web.
Q1: What are the key features of a shareworthy piece of content?
What makes content shareworthy? How do you create something that you know your audience will love and share online? Check out these tips from the chat:
Grant kicked things off by sharing what “worthy” means. It’s important to ask yourself if your content entertains, educates, informs, enlightens, or inspires. These are great characteristics of a shareworthy piece of content!
Sarah from ThinkSEM knows the importance of considering your audience. Before you start creating content, always ask yourself if what you’re writing will resonate with them.
A1: Shareworthy content is: scannable, inclusive of visuals, and gets to the point quickly! #ContentWritingChat
Don’t ramble on in your blog posts! Tara says your content should get to the point quickly. Remember to make sure it’s scannable, which ensures it’s easy for your readers to digest. Visuals are a must, too!
A1: I think a key feature of shareworthy content is that it stirs some emotion (joy, fear, sympathy, etc.) w/ audience #contentwritingchat
To put it simply, shareworthy content is relevant, informative, and helpful for your audience. A little humor can be great too if it suits your brand and readers! Spot on, Varun!
As Grant said, we all have different ideas of what constitutes shareworthy content. One thing that always remains the same is value. You should always add value for your audience. Aim to solve their problems and provide them with the information they want and need.
Q2: Discuss strategies to discover and tune into your matching audience.
How can you figure out who your audience is and how do you reach them with your content? Here are some great answers:
Grant’s answers were spot on for Q2. His first piece of advice: LISTEN! If you want to get to know your audience, you need to listen to them. Find them on social media and see what they’re talking about.
Also, you want to be tuned in to what’s resonating with your audience. Which pieces of content are they clicking on? What are they sharing and engaging with? When you understand what your audience enjoys, you can provide more of the same.
A2: You really need to be part of your audience’s community. If your passion for the topic is genuine, it helps! #ContentWritingChat
Varun knows the importance of social listening! Tune into your audience via social media to see what they’re talking about and what they’re sharing. You can perform A/B testing to see what they respond to. If you’re still struggling, just ask them!
A2: Nothing beats personal interaction w/ your audience. Be involved in relevant convos & know your topic. #contentwritingchat
Sarah said to figure out where your audience spends their time online. You want to invest your time in those platforms! Read articles, check hashtags, etc. to find your people.
A2: Any question your company receives is an opportunity to discover your audience since others probably have the same q #contentwritingchat
Brittany likes to use Twitter Analytics and Google Analytics to get to know her audience. Both tools will help you see which pieces of content they’re reading.
A2) Use analytics to identify, then talk to them and let them tell you what they want. It’s an #H2H World after all. #ContentWritingChat
Jeff also suggested digging around in your analytics. Your analytics can show you which posts are the most popular, which is very beneficial. Colleen knows it might not be the most fun task, but it’s a must!
A2: Competitor research is an obvious (but underutilized) strategy. Track competitor tactics to uncover new audiences #contentwritingchat
Andrew and Amel recommend doing a little competitor research to discover new audiences. Figure out what your competitors are doing and how their audience is responding. Use this as an opportunity to do better!
Before you create any kind of content, ask yourself if it’s bringing value to your audience. Grant says you also need to know the who, what, where, and why of your content.
A3: First, you must know who your audience is. What does your audience want to see/read? #contentwritingchat
Great advice from Kevin: figure out what their problems and questions are. Use your content to provide your audience with exactly what they’re looking for.
Both Kristen and Dagmar agree: have a goal for your content. What action do you want people to take after? What do you want them to feel? Having a goal allows you to create content that gets a specific result.
.@ExpWriters#ContentWritingChat A3. The platform. User intent. And goal of the content. What you expect to get out of it.
Content is consumed differently on each platform, so consider where you will be posting something. You need to adapt your content to the platform and your audience there.
A3. May I state the obvious? Grammar rules. Know them. Love them. Good content gets lost in bad grammar. #contentwritingchat
Tara said to make sure you’re considering the guidelines if you’re creating content for another publication. You want to make sure you have tailored your content to their website.
A3 Don’ create for the creation’s sake. Create with a purpose. Don’t add tot he noise, strive to add value 2 ppl’s lives #ContentWritingChat
Great tips from Grant! First, make sure your content is easy to share. If it’s a hassle to share your content to social media, your audience won’t be bothered. But most importantly, make it worthy of being shared.
A4: Start w/something worth sharing. “Would I share this?” Don’t expect others to share something you don’t/wouldn’t do. #contentwritingchat
Kevin agrees! It all starts with content that is worth sharing. After you’ve created that blog post, ask yourself if it’s something YOU would share. If the answer is yes, you’re good to go!
Kyle and Andrew agree it helps to get your audience involved in your content. Kyle suggested asking your audience for the opinion and allowing them the opportunity to share their voice. Andrew said quoting your audience members within your content is a good way to increase shares.
A4: Make your content interesting and easy to share. Utilize CTAs, social sharing, and always remember to engage! #contentwritingchat
Dagmar is spot on with her answer! Make sure you’re connecting with your audience on a regular basis. When you form a relationship with them, they’ll want to support you and they’ll be happy to share your work.
A4: Give your audience what they want and you won’t have to encourage them to share it. They will WANT to share it. #contentwritingchat
As Kevin said, make sure you’re sharing the work of others in your field. If you’re sharing their work, they’ll be more likely to share yours! Do YOU retweet?
Q5: What are some creative ways to promote your content on social media?
If you want your content to stand out on social media, you need to get creative! Here are some awesome tips for promoting your work:
Julia said to make sure you’re matching your content to the platform. Each social media platform is different and you want to make sure you’re sharing the right type of content for each one.
A5: Twitter’s 30-second videos are great for recording a short “promo” for your content. Pitch the value #ContentWritingChat
A5. Make a quick, funny, and engaging video to promote your content. Video content is trending now. #contentwritingchat
— Village Print&Media (@village_print) May 3, 2016
It seems video is a popular answer to this question! Not everyone is utilizing video to its fullest potential. Create an awesome video to promote your content and it’s sure to help you get noticed.
A5. Instagram contests let your users promote your content/product/services for you. #ContentWritingChat
Brittany said storytelling shares your journey and invites your audience along with you. Get them involved with your story and build that connection with them.
A6. Storytelling build anticipation and keeps the reader’s attention. #contentwritingchat
— Village Print&Media (@village_print) May 3, 2016
Storytelling can help build anticipation and keep the attention of your audience.
A6: Feel all the feels. Storytelling grabs peoples attention and conveys feelings. #contentwritingchat
Sarah said you should tell the story of how your customers are better with your product. How can you incorporate your customer and the benefits of your product/service into your story?
@writingchat A6: A story has to ~be engaging, be told through human so others can relate, motivate others to share… #ContentWritingChat
Q7: How can we create great visuals that are truly shareworthy?
When it comes to creating content, you can’t forget about the visuals that go along with your written posts. They’re just as important. Here are some tips for designing shareworthy visuals:
A7. Relevant. Relatable. Remarkable.
Images that are none of the above don’t deserve to be shared.#ContentWritingChat
Even more amazing brands from Jim and Julia. If you haven’t check them out, you definitely should! We look forward to seeing you at the next #ContentWritingChat! Mark your calendars weekly for Tuesday at 10 AM CDT for great chats centered around content writing and marketing.
Are you a business marketer new to content marketing?
If so, you probably already know that your best audience is found online, and now you’re trying to find out the best ways to attract them.
Content marketing is where it’s at today. Gone are the days of traditional advertising and outbound marketing. Paying for click ads is no longer a good idea either, the market is too thin and lean in PPC nowadays: you’ll likely overpay for a click and drive a great deal of traffic that ultimately doesn’t matter for your site. So what’s the solution? The answer is simple: content marketing.
In order to stand out in the field of content marketing, however, it’s important to develop an “expert voice.”
What is an expert voice, you ask?
It’s the tone and style of writing that comes from having a deep knowledge of the field and being very aware of what’s going on in your niche. It means staying on top of niche-related current events, technological shifts and important trends in your market.
Because today’s content marketing environment is so filled with great writers, being an expert voice is the only way to stand out. Not to worry, though, it’s easier than you think.
Let’s Define Good Content Marketing
According to Joe Pulizzi at Content Marketing Institute, content marketing is the “strategic marketing approach of creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and acquire a clearly defined audience.” Content marketing is called by many the “marketing tactic of the future” due to the fact that it’s significantly less obtrusive and more efficient than outbound marketing, which relies on tactics like cold calling, email blasting and traditional advertising to gain customers.
Content marketing, on the other hand, relies on creating useful, educational, helpful content that assists would-be customers in learning new things and solving problems. The theory behind content marketing is that customers appreciate great content and, if a company can establish itself as an authority in the field by creating helpful, useful, high-quality content, that company will be rewarded by more business and loyal customers.
What’s more, it seems to be working: 57% of businesses have acquired customers through their company blog and 42% have gained readers through Twitter. This just goes to show that, in addition to being a more evolved way to market, content marketing is also a very effective way to market.
What’s so Great About Content Marketing?
Traditional forms of marketing, like advertising and direct mail, are becoming less and less effective. It’s been obvious for a long time that people don’t like aggressive advertising and, when you take into account that 84% of 25-34 year olds have left a website because of an “irrelevant or intrusive ad”, it becomes clear just how ineffective outbound marketing is. The reason for that is simple: outbound marketing seeks to push things on customers while content marketing seeks only to provide value. That said, outbound marketing casts a broad net while content marketing simply means creating great content and attracting already-interested customers through web searches, search engine optimization (SEO) and word-of-mouth.
How Can I Start?
Although content marketing may seem involved and difficult, it’s relatively easy to break into the field and begin creating your own killer content. I’m saying this because I was able to get into it, leave a med school career, and teach myself content writing—then start a writing agency where 95% of our marketing is through content!
So, here are my top 25 tips to help you get started in content marketing:
1) Define Your Goals
If you’re new to content marketing, the first thing you need to do is clearly define your content marketing goals. Are you seeking to build brand awareness? Gain email subscribers? Increase conversions? Increase purchases across the board?
Regardless of what you’re setting out to do, you need to know where you’re going in order to ultimately get there. As you get started in content marketing, ask yourself if the content you’re creating will help support your defined goals. If it won’t, focus your energies on content that will.
2) Start a Blog—Now (And Stay On It)
If you’ve already got a website, link it to a blog that will feature a great deal of your company’s content. Blogs provide 126% more leads for small businesses than pages without one so it’s well worth your time.
3) Define Your Metrics
In content marketing, it’s important to be able to track the performance of your content. That said, you’ll need to establish some metrics to track things like the traffic your content garners, who is referring followers to your site, how long people are spending on your site and how many pages they’re visiting, what your bounce rate is and how many social shares your content is gaining. Implementing a set of metrics helps you better target your content and cater to customer wishes.
4) Calculate Resources
Resources, in this context, mean more than just money. Do you have several great writers in your company? Would it behoove you to hire a content marketing agency? Who will be responsible for each piece of the content marketing burden? Deciding these things now helps you have a clear plan going forward.
5) Write a Mission Statement
Every good company should have a mission statement. Like a road map, a mission statement defines where you are, where you’re going and why you’re going there. Each mission statement should answer one of these 4 questions:
What do you do?
How do you do it?
Who does it benefit?
Why is it valuable?
Although a mission statement may seem unrelated to content marketing, writing one can help you clarify your direction and become an expert voice on the web.
6) Develop a Target Persona
A target persona is incredibly important when it comes to knowing whom you’re marketing to. It’s tough to create great content without having a specific customer in mind and creating a target persona is a helpful way to understand exactly whom you’re talking to.
7) Develop a Content Marketing Strategy
Like a mission statement, a great content marketing strategy helps your company define what it cares about. For example, popular lifestyle clothing brand Anthropologie publishes regular, seasonal DIY cocktail recipes on the company’s blog. While it may seem at first like this is in no way related to clothing or home wares, these drink recipe mimic the feel of Anthropologie’s company as a whole: each drink is made with unique, high-class ingredients that appeal to Anthropologie’s customer base.
That said; a content marketing strategy doesn’t always follow a straight line. Rather, it’s the process of determining what your customers value and how you can provide parallel content that they will find valuable, interesting and unique and that is not a direct pitch for sales.
8) Define Your Niche
What makes your content special and how will it help people? Are you going to write how-to articles? Develop infographics? Record podcasts? There are many types of content in content marketing and it doesn’t matter which few you choose to focus on as long as you’re bringing a unique twist to your content.
9) Audit your Content
If you currently run a company, there’s a good chance you’ve already got some content on your site. Marketing materials, product descriptions, pre-existing blog posts all count. If you have content lying around, audit it to identify weak points and decide what, if anything, you can repurpose.
10) Start Social Media Accounts
Social media accounts are important in content marketing and, if nothing else, you’ll want to establish a presence on The Big 4: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest.
11) Compile a List of Ideas
Developing a list of content creation ideas based on knowledge, customer inquiry and market demands is a wise step that will keep you from scrambling for ideas down the road. Write about what your company is good at, for starters. An outdoor clothing company may write about the top 10 rock climbing adventures, for example. Write about what your customers are curious about based upon comments and inquiries on question sites like Quora and build upon old content. Consider starting a series or reviving old content for new use.
12) Start a Content Calendar
Developing a content calendar helps you stay onto of your content publishing activity and ensures that posts are published regularly and on-time. It also helps you keep track of what you’ve written and where there may be gaps in your topic coverage.
13) Make it Diverse
In terms of working with content, it’s important to mix your content up. Don’t rely entirely on blog posts or social media or podcasts. Instead, cultivate a mixture of everything. Your audiences will appreciate it and your content will be more interesting.
14) Decide on Distribution Channels
In order to decide how best to distribute your content, you need to determine where most of your audience comes from. Social media? Search engines? Create content for those sources first and foremost.
15) Determine Goals for Each Channel
If you’re distributing content on Facebook, for example, you might be seeking shares whereas if you distribute content on Twitter, you may be after favorites or re-tweets. Once you’ve decided how you’re going to distribute your content, it’s important to develop goals for each unique channel. This helps you gauge success and better cater to each channel’s unique distribution method.
16) Learn About SEO
This is an important step. SEO is huge in content marketing and, while you do want to create content for people, you also need to optimize your content so that search engines can find it. Optimize everything for SEO and you’ll be well on your way to drawing customers and creating more engagement.
17) Hire a Content Creation Manager
Content creation is a lot of work and, if you have the budget, it’s worth it to hire someone to oversee the process. A content manager can develop, prioritize and edit content as well as helping your company repurpose old content and schedule new pieces.
18) Do Keyword Research
Conducting keyword research is an important piece of creating great content. By knowing which keywords you’re targeting, you can create more specific content that better caters to your audience and is easier for search engines to discover and rank.
19) Create a Top 10 List of Your Own content
This can help readers discover even more of your content and is a great way to link back to old posts. Additionally, it increases reader understanding and makes your site more easily navigable.
20) Start Guest Blogging
Guest blogging is a great way to build authority and establish dominance in your niche. See this easy tutorial for more info on how to start guest blogging.
21) Build Your Community
Actions like commenting on other blogs, answering questions on Quora, guest blogging and sharing other guest posts are a great way to build a blogging community, which aids in your content marketing goals and helps you spread the word about your product, good or service via referral and mentions.
22) Listen to Your Audience
Once you’ve begun creating content, you’ll also begin to get audience feedback. This can help you determine what they like, what they don’t and what they want more of. By listening to everything your audience has to say, you can create content that they love and find valuable.
23) Produce Quality Work
Although this may seem excessively simple, it’s an important piece. When it comes to content marketing, it’s always quality over quantity. Never publish sloppy posts because you’re pressed for time. This will only diminish your authority and harm your reputation.
24) Consistently Assess Value
Remember that the #1 thing that sets content marketing apart from other types of marketing is that content marketing provides value to customers. While writing and distributing your content, ask yourself all the time if it provides value. If it doesn’t, go another way.
25) Incorporate Storytelling
By incorporating storytelling into your content marketing, you provide a better experience for readers and help draw people in to your content. The importance of storytelling is applicable to all forms of content – not just writing. Podcasts, infographics, video posts and visual content should all include great storytelling.
Conclusion: Welcome!
If you’re just getting started in content marketing, we want to welcome you. It’s an exciting world and my initial tips can help you get your feet wet and start your content marketing career on the right path.
Download your Free copy of #ContentWritingChat Recap: How to Create Content That Builds Community & Generates Leads with Kathleen Burns
