Now that the holidays are over, the field is ripe for content marketing. During the last month and a half, it’s all been about retail, but now the money has been spent and people are back to surfing for interesting content. So, there are just a few questions: What are they looking for, where are they going to get it, and how are they going to find it? I’m going to address all these questions in today’s blog and show you how you can maximize your content’s exposure, so keep reading…
1. Remember That Timing Is Everything
If there’s one thing that people in content marketing understand, it’s that different types of content work at different times. That’s not to say that if you’re focused on one specific niche you won’t be able to market content all year long – there are just a few things to consider.
First, there is hardly a business out there that doesn’t benefit from seasonal positioning of content. People buy houses and sell houses all year, but there are spikes at specific times. The same is true with cars, bicycles, motorcycles, hamsters, liquor … the list is endless and ever-expanding. Your job is to do the legwork and determine what kind of content to promote when.
Since I mentioned motorcycles, it might surprise you to learn that winter is a great time to promote them. Prices are lower right now, and people who are buying motorcycles are also buying motorcycle equipment. It is the perfect time for an article on the top 10 motorcycle helmets or a how-to guide for storing your bike for the winter. When the snow melts, it’ll be time to focus on destinations for the ultimate ride.
Obviously, this is just one example, but it makes a point. Take a look at how your own business focus shifts as the weeks and months go by, and plan your content around what is going to interest your audience at the moment.
2. Understand That Original Content Is King
It’s not just about consistency. It’s not even entirely about quality. There are lots of quality stock images out there and loads of high-quality content just waiting to be curated. The thing is, though, your audience wants to hear from you. If you expect them to develop loyalty to your company or your brand, you need to produce branded content that they can connect specifically with you.
It isn’t as difficult or expensive as you might think. Do your homework and try to find a good copywriter or copywriting company to handle your writing. You can find local photographers and videographers on Craigslist and other sources who can help with visual content, and you can find some very talented people to voice your videos and VSLs.
3. Recognize the Importance of Knowing What Your Audience Wants
Far too many marketers spend a disproportionate amount of time developing content that they would want to consume without thinking as hard as they should about what their audience actually wants. Remember, you can’t dictate the market; the market will always want what it wants. Your job isn’t to dictate it but rather to figure it out. Once you do that, it will be much easier to hold your audience’s attention and provide them with a continuous stream of meaningful content.
4. Focus Heavily on Sharability
You should be creating content that is 100 percent focused on and optimized for social media. If you’ve built your site with WordPress, there are a number of plugins that can help you with this process. Content that looks good and loads properly on social media gets shared. It’s that simple.
Whenever you post anything to social media, it should come with a call to action of some sort, whether it’s to click through to your site or simply share your content with their friends and followers. You should also be making good use of the CTA button in Facebook. There are a number of options to choose from, and each one has a corresponding pixel that you can use to track its effectiveness (can we say split testing?).
5. Get Your Email Campaigns Back on Track
I’ll leave you with a bit of advice that can potentially blow your content marketing efforts wide open, and that is: Send some emails for heaven’s sake. It’s the cheapest, most effective advertising avenue available to you, and the potential for effective targeting is way better with email than with even the best PPC ad programs. If you’ve already captured someone’s email address, he or she has already gained exposure to your brand and has an interest in it. Capitalize on that.
Seriously, if you’re going to start anywhere with what you read here today, start with email and build on it. This is your chance to develop multiple funnels and deliver quality targeted content to everyone on your list. Don’t pass it up!