Is content marketing becoming less impactful, meaningful and ultimately less successful for your business? There is a general feeling among businesses that this is exactly what is happening, so if multiple people are saying the same thing then content marketing itself must be becoming less relevant. Right?
The general consensus among marketers is that content marketing itself is not the issue; the method of execution is where the fault actually lies. Nobody is saying businesses are bad at this, but it must be conceded that the execution could be worked on. One of the major factors is of course developing content that people want to read and share, but what should you be creating and how should it be disseminated?
Google analytics is a powerful tool
You first have to know your audience, that goes without saying and we will just go right ahead and assume you know who they are and what they are looking for. Once you have that information to hand, analytical tools can help you find the right content to create. For instance, you can use these tools to:
- Discover which are your top read posts in the last few months
- What is the main topic of these posts?
- How are these posts presented?
This is important because it shows you what content your readers are enjoying the most and these are the readers that you want to be targeting the most. Also, how are these posts different from one another in terms of style and presentation? Try and cherry-pick the best style elements and use those in combination with one another going forward.
Sharing, syndication and finding relevant channels
When it comes to getting your content into the world beyond your website, there is much more that you can do than simply sharing. Content syndication, for example, is an excellent way to get posts noticed by readers and search engines. Now, syndication makes some people rather nervous as they assume search engines will penalise for ‘duplicate content’ but this isn’t the case.
Duplication is where you have the same content posted multiple times on the same website. Syndication is the same content posted to multiple sites / directories and this is an excellent digital marketing tool that should be taken advantage of wherever possible. You could, for example, publish to your website and then publish the content, in its entirety, to your Facebook page.
Social sharing, whether it be a link or entire pieces being shared via syndication, is an excellent way to increase your exposure and reach more people. You should however be brutal when it comes to dropping channels that just aren’t working for you. If you are not receiving any love from a particular site, Facebook for instance, then don’t waste anymore of your time on it.
Begin with maybe four channels and whittle them down as required – the initial time investment will be worth it in the end.
Some great places to start are, in no particular order:
- com
- Social Media Today (depending on your business)
Don’t be afraid to experiment and, again, kiss goodbye to those channels that don’t perform for you. Happy creating!