Today, there is something fundamentally wrong with how Digital Marketers are running their Digital Marketing Campaigns.
While they are busy building backlinks and getting social media shares, they forget a basic SEO – “Content.”
I have been following Digital Marketing for years as an Observer (earlier) and later, as a Digital Marketer. I can write with confidence, “without good content, there is no success in a Digital Marketing Campaign.”
Importance of Content Writing in Digital Marketing:
Content is what builds a relationship between you and your website visitor.
Content is what Google crawls to identify what your web page stands for.
In short, content is the medium of communication between a website and website visitors/search engines. I understand, no Digital marketer wants to talk about the importance of Content writing in digital marketing or why is Content so important in SEO?
The “content” talks are usually left to Content Writer or Content Marketers.
They are the ones who are left to write engaging content, which SEO optimized Content to appease website visitors and google equally.
The SEO guys and SMO guys want to focus on the technicalities of doing their job.
And I do not blame them.
They are just doing their job – Trying to get maximum exposure to their website in a minimum time frame. Unfortunately, most of them do is a common mistake – forget that it is good Content that gets you the maximum exposure on the internet through rankings in google and viral Content in social media marketing.
Why is Content Important?
What is the Importance of Website Content?
Website Content is important as it helps your website communicate your ideas and message to the end-user and search engines.
The level of engagement to a website’s content depends on the quality of Content. The better it is, the more are the chances of a website getting shared on social media, and there are good chances of the website ranking high in google for relevant keywords because of good Content.
This is the fundamental of Content Marketing.
Importance of Content in Social Media Marketing:
Producing good content is a task. No one wants to spend time on a task that is time-consuming and cannot be quantified.
Content loses importance in the world of social media, where you have to explain to your client, “How many likes, shares, retweets did their website get on social media?”
The other day I was boasting about the good work I have done with my startup blog in the last few months to a client. The topic shifted from blog to social media, and I was asked, “How many followers do you have on social media?”
Damn! Numbers. They are here too. Wherever we go, the numbers follow.
I use unorthodox marketing strategies like writing on Quora, etc., to drive traffic (i call them unorthodox because they are just not as famous as other marketing).
The number of followers I have on Quora will make the worst of Digital Marketing Experts look good. But then, I have never cared about the number of followers I have.
For me, the meaning of Digital Marketing starts and ends at “meaningful interactions” I have on social media. The same interactions I use to drive traffic to my blog.
Ultimately, it all boils down to a simple fundamental of producing good Content.
I understand the importance of digital content marketing. A strategy that relies heavily on producing engaging content.
Since I started learning Digital Marketing, I have never been a great fan of the “the followers” trend in the Digital Marketing space. I try to get some initial fans/followers using FB ads and Twitter ads, but I stop them as soon as the campaign reaches a meaningful number.
I couldn’t help but ask the other person, “Why so much fuss about the number of followers? Do they convert to traffic to your website?”
I have lazily (I have been very irregular in the last few months) built a good subscriber base to my startup blog just by writing relevant answers there.
Getting back to the traditional digital marketing methods, which includes the likes of Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, Instagram, etc., etc. (Quora is relatively new in the market. Most of the time I get “why you are on Quora” look from people when I tell them good things about Quora).
The social network today is a cluttered space. To validate this, all you must do is – open your Facebook account.
All you will see is a cluttered wall with news, videos, jokes, status updates.
There is so much happening.
The movers and shakers influence the social space, including various content creators ranging from a comedy channel pitching you their latest show to “the serious political guy next door,” trying to help you make an opinion.
The one thing common in between all of them is – sharing of Good Content!
The influencers are what they are because of the Content they write. Content marketing (intentionally or unintentionally) makes them a known brand name in their space.
The random thought sharers become a part of discussions when they can put across their viewpoint smartly in a Facebook debate started after a random post of theirs encouraged others to put across their viewpoints.
A good debate then turns from one comment to 15 comments, and before you know, random people are participating in the discussion.
Within a few hours, the debate has gone viral, with everyone throwing opinions.
In the background, you don’t realize what magic has the good Content done for the person who started the debate.
They are famous. From a nobody, they have turned into an influencer. Tomorrow, any post they write will evoke emotions and will lead to debates. They might have haters and lovers for their viewpoints, which is quite normal for anyone famous. But they are famous.
Such is the beauty of “Content.”
Importance of Content writing in SEO:
The importance of Content writing in SEO is paramount.
Content written with the right keywords and right % of keyword usage in the Content is quality content. Content that helps Google and other search engines crawl the website correctly allows the search engines to associate the website’s content with relevant keywords.
We have known this for years. Still, we write fluff and expect google to rank us high for keywords.
Most of you would agree that long-engaging Content is given more importance than short blogs by Google. Again, the focus is on “Content.”
I have personally followed the strategy of not targeting any keyword in google and writing blog posts around a topic waiting for google to suggest keywords in google webmaster.
I have purely relied on good Content to let google identify the right keywords for my SEO Campaign based on the Content posted by me.
All the above discussion makes me ask a simple question: Aren’t we in the time when Good Content beats all strategies?
The first lesson I learned when I started learning – how to use social media for online marketing was “Content is the backbone of your social media or digital marketing campaign.”
Years have passed. My fundamentals of Digital Marketing are still the same.
My teams and I are still “the old school” guys who believe good content boosts Digital Marketing Campaigns. We do keep ourselves updated with the latest methods of promotions, but fundamentally, we stick to good content creation.
One of my mentors still cannot forget, “Prepare useful content and see the magic happen.”
One of my blogs – Why do Startups fail, has 3000+ shares without a single penny spent on promotions.
I just shared the link on LinkedIn, and it went viral. I could see the ripple effect of shares for the next three days. The blog taught me the importance of Quality content & how important is content marketing.
One of the reasons I like Quora over other platforms is their priority over the number of followers.
You will see the newest of profiles getting thousand of upvotes on an answer—Quora created a level playing field for newbies and experienced Quorans.
Again, the importance is on Good Answers (good Content).
No wonder, in the shortest time frame, Quora has become the darling of search engines.
Type a question in Google’s search bar, and 8 out of 10 times, you will see Quora’s answer come at the top.
So, we have a social media platform that Google and its visitors equally love.
What does it tell us?
Content is still the King!
Content today has the power to inform, unite, and engage the readers.
I would not be wrong in calling Content the new form of communication.
Ultimately, a page with 10000 likes, followers, or whatever is the jargon to quantify the popularity without any content is a dead social media account if the Content does not get the followers engaged.
Without good Content, you do not know the right language to interact with them, and the lack of communication leads to users un-liking or unfollowing you.
How about you write some content? Let’s start a communication.
To prove my point further, here is a chart with some facts and % around the importance of Content in digital marketing:
(Source: http://gloriarand.com/why-is-content-marketing-so-important/)
Content serves as an apt weapon for companies to fight their competitors.
If numbers are to be believed – In the eCommerce industry, content marketing costs 60% less than traditional marketing.
70% of users prefer to learn more about a brand through posts than ads.
And, 60% enjoy reading from their favorite brand (source: http://blog.lemonstand.com/importance-of-content-marketing-for-ecommerce/)
Ultimately, the difference in content differentiates a successful digital marketing campaign from a failed campaign.
The influence of Content in any online marketing business can create a massive impact on business and customer satisfaction.
It acts as a pipeline where customers seek relevant information.
Here is a comparative analysis of Digital campaigns without content and with content:
| Online/Digital Marketing with Content | Online/Digital Marketing without Content |
| · Drives more sales, customers.
· Engages, informs, and unites readers. · Ranks in SEO with relevant content increases ROI. · Creates more web traffic and thereby engages more customers. · Content is surely the King. It acts as the major catalyst for any online platform to work. |
· Drive no sales, no customers · Vaguely engages any customers. · Falls off from SEO ranking; ROI is negligible. · Fails to drive any business and customer engagement. · Without any content, a website or any online marketing forum is like an empty vessel. |
You cannot ignore the relevance of “Good Content” in the world of Digital Marketing.
Campaigns with millions of dollars of expenditure have gone to waste because they could not connect to their user base. While social media users, pages have become an overnight success without spending a penny because of good Content.
In the ever-evolving world of Digital Marketing, Content was and is – still the King.
Is a Digital Marketing Enthusiast who runs a boutique Digital Marketing Agency – Monkish, in Melbourne, Australia. When not at work – he can be found participating in discussions on Quora or standing in a queue to grab the affordable 7-eleven coffee.
