Content marketing is a commitment, not a campaign. It’s important to remember that as you ramp up your marketing efforts, especially for social media. A campaign is like a prepackaged product that you launch and then track the results. Content marketing is something you must commit to doing consistently, across all the appropriate channels, and you don’t stop. Unlike campaigns, which stop before the next separate campaign starts, content marketing does not. It evolves and grows over time, whether it’s new content or reusing existing content. Moreover, it is not always the same content even when it is published at the same time. This should vary slightly depending on which platform it’s published on, keeping that particular audience in mind. It’s complex, but it’s not complicated.
“Content marketing is a commitment, not a campaign.” ~ John Buscal, Head of Marketing Moondog
Good content marketing builds relationships, and relationships are built on trust. And trust generates income. Consistently producing great content = greater trust = greater ROI. The formula is so simple, but the practice of doing it is not always. That’s why we’re taking the time in this article to share our guidelines for effective content marketing. For example, did you know that not all of your content should be an attempt to sell your product/service? This is true; You don’t like being sold to all the time, and neither does anyone else. No matter how great your product is. “Content marketing is just like a first date. If all you do is talk about yourself, there won’t be a second date.” Words of wisdom from David Beebe, former head of content at Marriott. As a provider of virtual assistants with broad professional expertise, including marketing, we are happy to share the knowledge. Read on for helpful tips, best practices, and important infographics to save for your own future reference.
Why content marketing is important
- Educate your audience, potential customers and leads about the product and/or service you offer.
- Build healthy relationships between your customers and the business, which result in increased brand loyalty.
- Demonstrate to your audience how your product/service solves their problem or challenges.
- Create a sense of community and authenticity around your brand.
- Improve your conversions.
Types of content marketing
Marketing in social networks
There are over 3.6 million social media users globally. It goes without saying these days that social media is where any reputable business should be very active. But it’s important to remember that each platform has a different demographic of users. So while your message should always be consistent, your voice should adapt accordingly to the platforms.
Infographics
Infographics are amazing because they present content, information, and data in an easy-to-understand visual format. They are the perfect method to distill an educational or complex topic so that all audiences can understand it.
blogs
Blogs are powerful inbound content. However, don’t expect a strong ROI on blogs, as they tend to serve better as a means of supporting your other content. They are great opportunities to be more creative and experimental in their chosen purpose and subjects. Getting guest writers (or guest writing yourself on someone else’s blog) is a great way to increase exposure.
podcasts
A 2020 survey found that 49% of US 12-32 year olds listened to a podcast in the last month after the survey, with an average of six hours of listening per week. People like to consume content while multitasking, like driving, exercising or working. Podcasts are perfect for that, and Allow for more creativity and guest opportunities, similar to blogging.
Video content
as per This research, 69% of consumers prefer to learn about a product or service through videos. Like podcasts, they can be uploaded while someone is multitasking, or they can be short but sweet snippets of value on someone’s timeline. Use popular songs, showcase experts, showcase your culture and highlight customer journeys.
Paid advertising
The classic practice of paying for advertising is timeless for a reason. It helps you reach a wide audience and position yourself in all the places you want to be seen. Paid ads can be especially beneficial when combined with inbound marketing efforts. Just make sure what you’re paying to boost is proven content, sent to the right audience.
Below you will see our own content loop infographic. Our marketing team uses this graphic as a visual aid to remember the content process. If you follow the right path to content marketing, it should lead you in all types of content marketing. Furthermore, it should lead you back to the first step eventually. Remember; Effective content marketing is not one step; It’s a series of steps. Let’s walk these steps together, shall we?
Level 1
Producing engaging content. The first step in this loop is to create the actual content, once you’ve decided what it’s going to be about. for example; Video interview with one of your satisfied customers. They talk about their customer journey that led to your product, what the onboarding process was like, and how happy they are with the experience so far. They might even give you some statistics as evidence of how your product/service solved a problem or made things better for them. The video can then be used by your copywriter to create a case study or blog post about that client. The audio from the video can also be changed as a podcast.
level2
Create social media posts. This is where you break down everything you created in the first step and prepare to spread it across platforms. Cut sections of the video into bite-sized teasers, highlighting an interesting quote or statistic the client provided. A segment of the podcast can be played over a graphic image. The case study/blog should be published in places like LinkedIn and Facebook, and sometimes Twitter. So you’ll need to create captions/messages to accompany this content when it’s ready to be published. It’s also nice to pin a highlight to your Instagram where you can post relevant photos/clips accompanied by links to written content.
Step 3
Upload the full finished piece of content. This is when you are ready to share the finished product with the world. Upload the full interview video to YouTube/Vimeo and then share a link to it on Facebook, LinkedIn and your Google Business Page. Then post the clips to Instagram, TikTok and Twitter. These teasers should also include links to the full video, if viewers want to see more. The snippets can also become evergreen content that you can repurpose or republish as you wish, in the future.
Step 4
Create emails around the content you’ve created. Now that you’ve distributed this content in various forms across all of your social media channels, you want to spread the word to those on your email lists. Have your copywriter create short but sweet emails on the topic from your previous content. Maybe include a screenshot or GIF, along with Link to said content and enticing CTA These emails should be tailored to accommodate both cold and warm leads, and provide enough value to tease and entice a click.
Step 5
Finally, compiling this content into something downloadable. This could be an infographic/brochure of some sort, presenting the information from your video/blog in an easy to digest and readable format. Or if someone in the video outlined some strategy or guide, you can present it as its own value add for easy downloading and sharing. And at the very least, convert the video into an audio interview that users can download and listen to later. You can almost always find some value in your media content that can be turned into a free downloadable product.
This content loop guide is your plan of attack in the social media content wars. With this infographic above you now know what to create, how to create it and what to do with it. So it’s just up to your social media managers, sales reps, and even your internal employees to help spread that content like wildfire. Encourage employees to like and share your content. Give it all to your sales reps so they can use it to connect leads. All the while your marketing team monitors the results and reports accordingly. Because you can’t forget the analytical side of it. It is imperative that you track things like post engagement, shares, opens and clicks. Determining what content performs best, and when/where it does, will help you shape future content to be even more effective. Don’t just send it and forget it.
Content is a hot word these days, as everyone from billionaire CEOs to TikTok entrepreneurs are seizing the opportunity. You don’t have to be the first, you just have to be one of the best. And doing so is a full-time job in itself. This is where an assistant becomes invaluable. We at MyOutDesk are always adding virtual professionals with marketing experience to our pool of available assistants. So if you ever need help producing content, or at least just leveraging and tracking it, you can’t do better than a dedicated social media virtual assistant. Use the link below to Request a Demo We’ll answer any questions you have and make it clear how valuable we can be to you.
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