‘Traditional marketing talks at people, content marketing talks with them’- Doug Kessler.
The idea of content marketing is pretty simple! You don’t have to push people to become your customers, instead you give them a reason to become one. From brand building to lead generation, content marketing undoubtedly plays a crucial role in your marketing efforts. It helps you connect with your audience at a personal level and lets you understand their needs.
The best part about content marketing is, if you use this channel to provide value, you are building relationships which is necessary to foster trust.
But, generating content just for the sake of creating one more page on your website won’t serve you in the long run. You need to stay updated with your content marketing strategies for greater success. Here are some ideas that can help.
Make your blog stand out
So how many websites do you visit every day? Are you surprised to see that almost every one of them has a blog? Yes, with more than 440 million blogs in existence, the number is still growing. Today, everyone has a blog.
At times, it can be easy to get lost in the noise if you don’t have anything specific to offer. But here’s the thing, be creative with your content. It might cost you extra effort and time but will also reap you higher ROI.
Apart from this, there are a lot of different ways for your blog to thrive and survive amidst the crowd. One way is to post eye catching motivational creatives. This approach not only increases your visibility but also drives more visitors to you. Another way to draw an audience is via Infographics or captivating videos. Do you know that 70% of millennials prefer to check out company videos during online shopping?
Tell stories, run interviews, post listicles, create captions, accept guest posts from authors and other famous personalities in your industry. Remember, the possibilities are endless if you know how to put them to use correctly.
Take a look at the marketing elite, Apple with Taylor Swift promoting their new subscription music service:
Watch more here
Invest more on guest posts
Nothing can replace the huge potential of Guest posting in content marketing strategy. Did you know that around 3% of marketers write 100 or more guest blogs per month?
Finding relevant blogs and posting great content on them is an amazing way to attract new users.
While you’re at it, don’t forget that every blog has a different purpose and specific rules to abide by. Fail and your post won’t be accepted at all. Last but not the least, if you are writing a guest post make sure you are doing justice to it. Do not write for the sake of getting a backlink. Instead, provide value.
Master the art of storytelling
Remember the time when you asked your parents to read you bedtime stories and how you would connect to the protagonist of the story? That is exactly what happens when you narrate tales to your audience.
The goal of every brand is to build a connection that is not limited to business. Storytelling is the answer. In the current marketing scenario, stats show that 5% of your content drives up to 90% of engagement. This implies the need of storytelling for brands.
But here is the catch! If you think creating high-quality content will make it a good story, it’s not true. Nor will it be able to hold customers for long. Instead, great stories are those told well and only those have the capacity to drive results.
Stories are a way to let you connect with your audience on a mental, personal, and emotional level. Connecting on this basis can be a big boost to your revenue. There are a lot of different ways to infuse storytelling into your content strategy.
You can either stick to traditional methods like a blog post, or go for modern techniques like videos. The onus is on you.
For example, you could tell about how you started your brand in a story form on the ‘about us’ page of your website. Additionally, You can also start your storytelling in the form of testimonials. The social media platforms also provide you with many ways to express your story in the caption content. Instagram and Facebook stories can be a great start. Canva can create them in a jiffy.
Here’s why Airbnb storytelling hits the mark. It’s a stellar piece of content wrapped up in storytelling, welcoming New Years’ 2015!
Recognize and capitalize on events
Before beginning, let me give you an example. What time of the year do you see the biggest crowd at your nearest Archies gift store?
Yes, that’s right, during Valentine’s.
When is a jewelry store most crowded? It could be during a festival, or during the wedding season.
And what do these businesses do during those times? They punch out more discount offers to attract an audience. Similarly, you need to be ready too. You need to recognize your industry-specific events.
Be hyperactive to build your content strategy around them and leverage their potential. There are various approaches to capitalize on these events. For instance – Comment on public-consciousness events relevant to your brand.
But stay clear of any controversies. It can bring you unnecessary troubles.
Craft your statements keeping your brand in mind. You can also craft unique content on special occasions or events. Shutterstock followed this approach on Fire festival. See how it helped them:
Utilize the power of user-generated content
We all are aware of the influential power of UGC content in today’s world. Do you know videos created by users attract 10x more views on YouTube than the ones crafted by the brand itself?
These need not necessarily mean long blog posts. Instead, gather reviews and testimonials from your clients. Once done, either post them on your website or embed them in the form of video posts. You can also post these testimonials across your social profiles.
Contests are another way to interact and engage with your audience. Don’t forget to give out a valuable giveaway to the winner. This initiates immediate user action that increases engagement and traffic. And of course, later you can use the database to send out emails and brand updates.
Collaborate with Micro-Influencers
Since the advent of Instagram, influencer marketing has been generating unbelievable business. Micro-influencers are people with followers and subscribers ranging between 5k and 100k. These people are connected to their audience on a more personal level. Since they have a small audience, they are loyal and specific. This is the reason why they boast higher conversion rates than celebrity influencers.
You can pick your industry-specific micro-influencers and initiate a collaboration with them to get the word out. They are easy to find and are really humble people. They love their work as much as you do. Plus, they are cost-efficient. Campaigning with them is a great way to generate high quality leads too. Here’s the famous international apparel brand, Forever21, making a fashion statement with a micro-influencer:
The fashionista Kristal Heredia is known for flaunting her curves with around 14,000 followers on Instagram.
On a final note, remember ‘Content is the main reason why search began.’ So, give your audience the best results. Craft unique content that adds value for readers. Your aim must be to reach your audiences’ audience, not just your audience.
