5 Content Marketing Tactics You’re Still Getting Wrong

27 Jun 5 Content Marketing Tactics You’re Still Getting Wrong

By Mary C. Long

Brands and businesses are aware of the importance of content marketing, but many are still not seeing the return they’d like. Here are five common mistakes you’re still making and how to fix them.

Thinking content marketing doesn’t apply to your business

Just because you aren’t a major national or international brand doesn’t mean you can’t benefit from content marketing. It’s also not just for retailers and entertainment brands. Any type and any size business should embrace this modern tactic, especially when marketing on social media.

As John Rampton shares in the An Introduction to Content Marketing, “Technologies like social media create a better opportunity to connect with an interested audience. This gives marketers the ability to share more about their product or service and really tell their story.” And it’s all about the story. That’s the first step in connecting and building relationships with consumers.

When businesses do this, they “open the door to communicate with an offer to purchase exactly when [consumers] are in ‘buy now’ mode.” Or return to your site when they are. But, if you haven’t established a relationship, they’ll likely be elsewhere or won’t think of you when that moment strikes.

Making assumptions about your audience

If you’re sharing a ton of content but not seeing an uptick in engagement or sales, you’re missing your mark. It’s crucial not to “go with your gut” when it comes to content marketing, especially on social media. Modern consumers aren’t swayed by sales pitches, or anything generic. They want to be treated like individuals.

Getting to know them at this level requires social listening software to divide your audience into micro-segments based on common interests. And it’s also important to dissect the depth of consumer emotions, because when you know what each audience segment is most passionate about, you can craft messaging targeted directly at those specific feelings. The more personally, passionately targeted your content, the better the results. Make it matter, or don’t waste your time.

Forgetting about SEO

Google assigns value to websites based on their ability to meet the demands of search queries. So content must be intentional and organized by theme, topic or keywords to make it easy for search engines to recognize where you’re going, or it won’t be returning your jumbled mishmash in search.

Rampton advises, “If you know that a certain keyword draws a lot of traffic to your site, then you should focus your efforts on creating more content around that term. This will help you reinforce your relevance and boost your search ranking for that particular term. This should hopefully lead to more traffic and monetization opportunities for your efforts.”

If you don’t understand search engine optimization, it’s time to read up. View Full Article >>

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