Diving into the world of content marketing can feel intimidating at first. But like all things in life, developing a process makes it far easier. Here is a 3 step process for creating content that I hope will make it easier for you.
1. Content Research
The crucial part of creating an effective content marketing strategy requires getting to know your competition and audience. Only this way will you be able to understand and address the demands of your target audience. In order to make the research factual, you need to include some basic questions like:
- What kind of content does my target audience like and share?
- Where online does my target audience spend most of time?
- How can I best reach my target audience?
Since most traditional market research methods lack efficacy and reliability, the experienced marketers are increasingly turning to online communities to improve their research outcomes.
Unlike other survey techniques, social media, for example, analyses target users by the sets of their traits and interests.
A company that sells German Christmas Ornaments for example, would review their social media analytics to identify the common traits, interests and demographics of the users who most frequently buy their products.
These data points will enable you to identify your “marketing persona” of the people you’re trying to reach.
2. Content Creation
The first step in creating firm content is to choose its type in accordance with your demands. For instance, if you strive to increase signups, the effective content will include product demos, video tutorials, targeted social media campaigns and publications such as eBooks and white papers.
On the other hand, for the companies whose goal is to drive people to lead generation forms, webinars, live product demos, contests and gated content would be most effective.
Once you have determined the type of content that addresses your needs best, you need to make it as persuasive as possible. There are several aspects you need to keep in mind at all times:
- The schedule
- The idea
- The brief
- The creation
Furthermore, creating content is a complex project that entails various different elements, such as setting deadlines, hiring writers, copy editors and videographers.
Above all, it is of vital importance that each member of the team knows where they fit into the project and what their responsibilities are.
3. Content Promotion
Once the specific piece of content is completed, it needs to be distributed and promoted.
Search (search engine ads, SEO), video and social media are 3 of the primary online distribution methods
Social media has three distinct ways for you to promote your content via social media:
- Paid social media, which requires employing ads in order to attract attention to your content.
- Earned social media, which refers to organic shares and mentions that your content receives from other users on social networks.
- Owned social media, which includes using channels like YouTube, Twitter and Facebook to attract traffic to your content.
Apart from social media, there are other highly efficient ways of promoting content, including email marketing, articles on a website, case studies, research reports, podcasts and many more.
Although a sturdy content marketing strategy may be a time-consuming and complex process, it is often more than necessary. You owe it to both yourself and your business to do everything in your power to gain a competitive edge.
By following these three simple steps, you will manage to create original and persuasive content that will differentiate you from your competitors.
