If your New Year’s resolution for work was to get involved in the $44 billion industry that is content marketing (and why wouldn’t it be?) you might be starting to run out of steam. Most New Year’s resolutions last little more than a month, so if you’ve made it halfway through the year well done – for sticking to your guns and for realising how important content marketing is when it comes to building brand awareness.
If you’ve stuck to the same content strategy since January, it may be time to hit the refresh button. Don’t throw out your strategy and start entirely from scratch, especially since you now (hopefully) have an idea of what works – and what doesn’t! Rather, breathe new life into it with these five top tips.
Brainstorm
Having a content strategy is absolutely crucial – but this shouldn’t be set in stone. Inflexibility can cause problems, for example you might be in danger of sticking with tried and tested content formats, which could result in monotony. This is not only tedious for your readers but also for your writers, and the lack of interest will be noticeable.
Sit down with the team and have a brainstorming session, encouraging staff to put forward all ideas, no matter how ‘out there’ they might seem. Alternatively, seek the help of a content marketing agency, which can incorporate fresh ideas into your strategy.
Experiment
It is very easy to get stuck in a rut, especially if you’ve been studying Google Analytics and taken note of what works and what doesn’t – and then stuck religiously to these formats. However, fear of the unknown is only ever going to hold you back, so be brave and experiment with some new ideas.
Don’t feel as though you have to stick with a formal, serious tone of voice to reassure readers of your competence and expertise. People like funny, quirky and the plain bizarre so don’t be afraid to get creative and give them what they want.
Embrace technology
Technology is a wonderful thing, so don’t limit its use to Microsoft Word and your in-house CMS. The content marketing industry is no place for a technophobe, so get to grips with the latest inventions and incorporate them into your strategy to create explosive content!
The popularity of video has shot up in recent months. Did you know that sites can double their organic search traffic by including a video thumbnail in search rankings? Or that the use of video content rose from 52% in 2011 to 70% in 2012? Experimenting with Vine on Android and iOS is a great way to ease yourself into video. A cool Vine could even go viral.
Love images
Give text a new lease of life. Text can be powerful alone but combine it with well chosen images and you might find traffic leaps skyward. Why? Images not only hook interest and encourage people to keep reading but also get picked up by Google, which can give your site traffic a push in the right direction.
You can also present an entire piece of content as an image. Infographics can be created yourself online, for example at Infogr.am, but your options are much more varied if you opt for a content marketing agency since they can come up with a great idea, an engaging design and an effective distribution technique.
New bloggers
Of course, content marketing isn’t just about great content – it’s also about amplifying that content and getting it out to the right people, so hit the refresh button on your distribution techniques as well.
Expanding your pool of bloggers can be a big help when it comes to the distribution side of things. Don’t abandon current bloggers as this could work against you later down the line, but casting your net a little wider and building up your blogger network for outreach could make a dramatic difference to your overall level of content marketing success.
Jenny Maclean
