Perhaps you may have heard someone mention “content marketing,” and you got the idea that you should know what it means?
But, at the same time, you are embarrassed to ask? No need to worry! This post has the answer you’re looking for.
How do You Use Content Marketing?
Content marketing consists of marketing techniques meant to create and deliver relevant and valuable content to the target audience. You can do it by yourself, or you can hire a good content marketing agency to do this on your behalf. In the same vein, content marketing methods are advertising techniques used to:
- Increase brand awareness
- Create a better user experience
- Persuade customers to buy products or services
That said, let’s dive in: how do you use content marketing?
Well, with these seven steps, you’ll find it’s easy to use content marketing and meet your brand goals.
Know your audience
Knowing your audience is the first phase in formulating a marketing strategy. Get acquainted with the people you want to connect with, to deliver relevant content. Also, be able to create a buyer persona.
Understanding the audience is essential. Without customers, you won’t have people to help grow your brand.
Create a content strategy
After you’ve known your audience, find and create a content strategy to reach them. There are three ways to achieve this.
First, focus on your story. Tell a story that reflects how you started, your success, beliefs, and company values. With this, you’ll connect with the client on a more personal level than a business profile.
Second, choose the right channel. This can range anywhere from blog posts, video content, site page, case study, and even webinars.
Third, create a schedule. This is a roadmap to keep you on track. Stick to the scheduled plan of how you often post new content.
Use the company blog.
Use the company blog often to publish new, unique, and exciting content. The aim is to keep your loyal customers, and new visitors hooked into your site. In turn, this can help build an audience.
Never copy the competitor’s content. Instead, rework the ideas that they are using to connect with clients.
Engage the community
Engage the community in promoting your brand awareness by sharing photos or videos in action while in the community.
Use email newsletters
Use email newsletters to inform your audience about the company, tips that they can use to achieve their goals, free guides related to your brand, and other helpful information.
Do promotional content
Use sponsored content marketing on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to build your brand and reach a wider audience.
Analyze the results
After you’ve applied the above six steps, track the progress. If you notice more traffic to your website, content marketing is doing well.
If you do not see any positive change, do tweak the steps.
Examples of Content Marketing
There are many types of content marketing on the internet. What’s effective will depend on how you use these different strategies.
Blogging
The company’s blog or website ranks as the most influential marketing tool. Still, leveraging blogging and search engine optimization (SEO) techniques helps your website rank top in search engines and compete with high-grown brands.
An SEO optimized blog contains three content types.
First, it has informative content on the landing page (home page). This static content should aim at providing relevant information about the brand. The purpose is to educate visitors on what the brand is all about.
The second is educational content. This includes the use of e-books links, research reports, guides, and white papers.
Third, it has to have a flow of educational content. Use SEO practices in crafting your content to ensure search engines easily index it.
In turn, this makes it readily available for search engine users. Blog posts work best to achieve this.
Social Media
It comes as no surprise that social media is the most popular platform for content marketing efforts. With an approximate of 3.2 billion users, social media channels promote marketing efforts in two ways.
First, you publish actual content as either post, tweets, videos, photos, status updates, or dialogue with other users.
Second, you introduce your piece of content by linking it with blog posts, Whitepapers, and other media.
The wider audience could be the drive behind most B2B content marketers using social media to connect and engage with clients.
Email Newsletters
This type of content marketing method involves sending emails periodically to targeted audiences. The aim is to inform them about the brand’s latest news, tips, company updates, and more.
Remember, this isn’t a direct sale. Instead, it is an informational offer to your prospectuses. The end goal could be to persuade them to subscribe to your email newsletter and take advantage of new proposals.
Takeaway
Regardless of the content marketing effort or tactic you use, quality content is the key. Quality content involves SEO content, successful PR strategies, PPC, inbound marketing, and content strategy.
Now that you know the basics of content marketing, the success of your business depends on your efforts.
