Whether you’ve just started taking interest in content marketing, or you’ve been in it for a while, using the same approach, it’s always a good idea to revisit your content marketing strategy. Trends change rapidly and there is competition than ever before, so it’s very important to always stay up to date with your plans. A content marketing strategy has to be innovative and strong for it to succeed.
Here are 4 crucial steps to creating a successful content marketing strategy:
Planning
First and foremost you need a plan. Before you start creating content, there are many questions you need to ask yourself and develop a strategic plan – because not all content is the same, and it shouldn’t be.
What is your goal? What do you want to accomplish with content marketing? What sort of content works for your target audience? What sort of content represents your idea in the best possible way?
Content comes in several shapes: text, photos, video, and audio. Which form of content works best for your business? Should it all be about clever articles? Or maybe it should be all about educational/funny videos? Would your message get through to people more efficiently if it was told as an audio recording?
In addition, you also need to know what the best place for featuring your content is. Are you going to post it on your own site or maybe a third party site? How about social media? Which social media networks would give you the best response? The possibilities are endless, so you need to think everything through and create a plan.
Keeping it Fresh
You need to keep your audience interested in your content. Posting a single superb article won’t get you anywhere. You need to post amazing content regularly. Fresh content is a necessity. This doesn’t necessarily mean you should post daily, but having a regular schedule for your posts and keeping the game rolling is a must.
Fresh content doesn’t even have to be brand new. You can revamp old content and make it fit a new purpose. You can create a video based on a blog post, or turn snippets of a quality article into a slideshow. Don’t limit yourself to just one strategy. Explore. Innovate.
Trigger the Feelings
Engaging people’s emotions is by far the most efficient way of keeping their interest on your content. Tear-jerking posts, as well as funny videos, are going viral, and there’s a good reason for that. Activating people’s emotions is the best marketing trick since the beginning of marketing. Use it.
Make them Curious
Making people curious enough to click your post and pay attention to your content is crucial. Think of different ways to spark curiosity. Don’t tell everything in a headline. Ask a question instead. Give little info, but make sure they need to click and read/watch the whole thing to get all the answers.
Storytelling
The most powerful digital marketing strategy every successful company uses is storytelling. Your content needs to tell a story. It needs to answer important questions through a clever, interesting storyline. Storylines are easily remembered and they stay within people’s minds for a long time.
Creating an effective content marketing strategy might seem complicated, but in fact, it’s pretty easy: create great content, create it regularly and always try to be one step ahead of your competition.
