When planning a digital marketing strategy, you’ve probably heard of the term “content marketing.” The use of good content management is key to properly positioning your brand and increase traffic to your website and social networks. This is because the content is the most effective way for companies to communicate with their users.
That’s why it’s so critical to have valuable content, as this will directly affect your business’s sales. If we have more informed users and capture their interest, we will increase our business figures. We will explain everything you need to know to apply this content marketing strategy and have excellent results.
Let’s know what content marketing is
Content marketing is a strategy that aims to create relevant and valuable content for users. This is generated to reach and achieve the attention of your target audience. In addition, it seeks to attract potential customers for the company by implementing content on trends and others with relevance.
Content marketing focuses on the creation and distribution of original content. Not all content has to be part of content marketing, as this requires using attractive and creative language to capture people’s attention. Therefore, we can say that the main attribute of content marketing is generating elements of the impact that attract and retain customers.
This content can be generated through articles or blogs, social media posts, video images, and infographics. It should also be borne in mind that updates on social networks and platforms open up a world of possibilities for content marketing strategies. So, various impact content can be implemented on each of these platforms according to each format.
Is content marketing an effective strategy?
Today, we live in a world that offers us much information that is not always useful. Therefore, many users feel bombarded by advertising, which they did not ask for or request. This is where we need a content marketing strategy to create novel content that attracts people’s attention.
Many people consider that it is enough to create a blog on which they publish content, thinking that they will attract their target audience. However, this is a wrong thought since, to have good results, you need to use different channels and platforms. But before publishing any content, we need to think about whether our content is valuable and original.
For years, this strategy has been used by many companies worldwide to take effective online actions. And it has proven to be one of the most profitable and efficient ways to achieve the goal of the increasing website and social media traffic. Therefore, if we want to stand out on digital platforms and achieve good results, we must execute a good content marketing strategy.
The first steps to applying a content strategy for digital marketing
While you can not fall into generalities, there are several considerations that you should always consider to create an effective digital marketing strategy. For example, to achieve your digital marketing goals, we must have content that adds value to our brand. Otherwise, it will be very difficult to reach our customers, and we would be wasting marketing efforts.
That is why the first step is to get to know our audience in depth. This way, we will know what type of content is interesting to you. In this way, we will be focused on creating content-oriented to respond to your needs and questions. So, before we start applying our content marketing strategy, we need to answer the following questions:
- Who will create your content?
- Who is your target audience?
- What are you going to talk to them about?
- What are your brand goals?
- How often will you publish your content?
- What will be the channels for publishing?
- Why do you think your users will be interested in this content?
After you have answered these questions, you have to establish the indicators that will help you measure the results. These indicators can be the number of people who share your information, the number of comments you receive on your publications, the number of reactions, among others. The measurement of these indicators will always be based on the objective proposed in your content marketing strategy.
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Always think about the consumer and their needs.
The content marketing strategy focuses on the consumer, who usually looks for content that entertains and amuses them. If we want to be paid attention to, it is necessary to focus on responding to the needs of consumers. Let’s take an example: when you enter a social network, do you look for content from companies, or are you looking for entertainment content?
Certainly, not all users are looking for the same thing simultaneously. Therefore, you must have content that chooses you to provide that information when the user is looking for information about the sector in which your company is located. So, to execute a good strategy, you need to have valuable information from your target audience so that you know what they want and can offer it to them.
To get to know them, you can use the different tools provided by the same digital platforms. For example, Facebook and Instagram allow us to analyze the behavior of our users and their interactions. So we can see which posts have shown greater interest or which are the publications that have had the highest number of reactions.
In addition, it also tells you demographic data about your regular users, which can be segmented by age, gender, location, sentimental status, among others. This data helps to know the users. However, to this, you must add deeper data that relates to the practices. For example, you can put together a buyer persona that generates a user model that you can address in a personalized way.
Define the goal of your content marketing strategy.
It is extremely necessary that you can clearly define your objectives in any strategy so that they serve as a guide during the process. Having an explicit goal leads to the success of a content marketing strategy and avoids wasting your investment in time and money.
If you are a new brand, your goal can generate brand recognition and increase traffic on your digital platforms. Whereas, if you’re already a brand with a presence, you may be looking to increase conversions. Although they can use content marketing, the strategies will differ in both cases.
That is why it is necessary to know what you aim for with your content and what you want to get. Only in this way will you be able to direct your efforts to the indicated actions, taking full advantage of your investment in content marketing.
Sales funnel to generate better content.
The sales funnel an important tool for an overall marketing strategy. Especially when we are talking about creating relevant content that motivates customers’ actions, this funnel shows us the stages that our users go through to consummate their purchase.
With this tool, we can categorize the effective users and those in the early stages. In this way, we will offer appropriate content depending on each type of user at each funnel stage. Thus, we will be more effective in encouraging the sale of our products or services.
This funnel has four important stages: attract, convert, close, and delight. Let’s see the different stages and create better content in each of them.
- The first stage is to create direct and concise information relevant to a person who does not know your brand to be informed.
- In the second stage, we have users who have already visited our website, whom we have to continue knowing and delighting. For this, we need to obtain information from users to understand what they are looking for.
- The third stage is to incentivize customers to take action. This gets customers to purchase our product or service. Then we can offer them engaging content with call-to-action buttons.
- Finally, we have the user who is already our client. So, now our goal will be to retain you to continue to be a customer of our brand. We can continue to generate updated content, trends, and maybe some offers or news about the brand.
What are the digital channels you can use?
Now that we know the stages that users go through let’s see the channels to generate content.
Social networks bring users closer together.
These are some of the most used platforms by companies to contact their customers. In addition, they allow us to have closer, faster, and more entertaining communication. The social networks that your company has will depend on the objectives and the target with the greatest presence. Now, let’s see how we can have better results on social media.
Make interactive posts!
In social networks, interactive and didactic content that is easy to process prevails, so most users prefer to watch videos, photos, and infographics. This is a good technique to get greater reactions to the posts we publish. Currently, Instagram offers us greater interactions due to its interactivity in formats such as stories and posts in the feed. According to a study conducted by Buzzsumo, images posted on Instagram have 23% more interactions.
In addition, social media platforms have implemented interesting interactive elements to create content. For example, in Instagram stories, you can add question buttons, surveys, links to the website, among others. However, to gain easier access to these tools, you must have a professional account and many followers. Likewise, you can use Instagram and Facebook’s store versions for advertising your products.
Try to update your social networks.
You don’t have to fill your social networking sites with posts every minute, but it is recommended to establish a stable organization. Create a calendar of contents to distribute and schedule them according to availability. You should also be aware of trends to generate content with viral impact.
On the other hand, many experts say that a good time to publish is between 10 and midnight. You may be wondering why it is more effective to post at this time. They claim that these hours are less for companies that publish content. Therefore, the competition is less, so you will achieve greater visibility. However, this depends on the sector and the particular brand, so we recommend reviewing the metrics of your audience. In this way, you will know which schedules are the ones in which they are most connected.
Always listen to your followers.
This is an effective way to make your followers feel like part of a community. That is why you must ask them questions, talk to them, and solve their doubts on time and with a friendly tone. Start conversations with your followers through posts, so they feel like you’re listening to what they have to say to you.
In addition, you can ask them what topic they would like to talk about, so next time you will surprise them with related content. For example, many brands use stories with surveys of topics that users would like to address. This can be a useful tool for directing content to something relevant to users.
A blog is a powerful tool to attract users.
Without a doubt, this is a platform that can help us increase the value of our brand. In addition, it can help us attract potential customers and retain the customers we already have. However, our blog must be visited to achieve all these previous points. So you need to follow the steps below.
It has an attractive and impactful title.
If you want a person to be attracted to your blog, you need to work on the titles of your posts. Most users will see your headline first and then decide whether to read it or not. So, maybe even if you have great content, if the title does not reflect it or is not attractive enough, you will not attract people.
Keep in mind that users share a lot of content on social networks. So, if you do not have a good headline, you are making it difficult to virtualize your content. Having a good headline does more than half the job, so try to make headlines of different species and explain the benefit of reading them. In addition, these should always include the keyword you are looking to position for your brand.
Use a direct introduction.
You can create an introductory phrase that explains why the person should read the post. In this way, you give the user the perfect reason to spend their valuable and short time reading our notes. Then develop the main idea of the topic in an initial paragraph and introduce the user to the theme. For example, you can make use of questions to capture attention.
The user of social networks seeks immediacy and clarity in the information he reviews. That’s why you don’t want to spend your time looking at articles that don’t bring you anything. So you must ensure that the introduction includes the necessary justification to read it and that it is true. When users enter the content, they find the promise you offered in the introduction.
Use themes that attract people’s attention.
It would help if you focused on making the information you provide to your followers relevant and up-to-date. Otherwise, they will read one or another note, but it will not ensure long-term traffic. Therefore, you need to focus on creating content that answers your users’ questions and problems.
For this, try to put yourself in the place of your customers and ask yourself what they would like to know. In addition, you have to separate the users who are just getting to know us from the users who already know about us since both will have different needs and doubts. And if you want to be successful in this, you must also be aware of the trends and virtualization since these types of content will generate more traffic and visits.
Use emotion in your content.
Users are more attracted to notes and articles that make them feel different emotions. In addition, using emotions makes the brand more real, and people feel connected.
An essay with emotions will help you empathize with your followers, so you should make the emotion you convey positive. Although it can also help you mix positive and negative emotions to generate reactions in people, For example, it raises some social interest problems.
Webinars help us get better results.
The first thing you need to know is, what is a webinar? These are online sessions where academic and professional content is shared with an audience. These sessions are a kind of course led by one or more presenters who are experts in the subject matter.
Webinar sessions are interactive, and the exchange of knowledge between attendees is encouraged. Also, webinars allow you to create different sessions depending on your audience. to inform the client that they can acquire a product or service from the company.
Offering free webinars will make your audience interested in hearing what you have to say as it is a kind of test. By listening or reading you, they recognize that you have authority on the subject, they will feel more confident in acquiring a paid product. That is why a webinar is an excellent way to make yourself known, especially if you offer educational content.
Video marketing is the process of creating content in the form of videos.
Content marketing is not only focused on writing since we can also generate video content. Today, YouTube is one of the tools par excellence for the generation of video content. To this is added the video formats of platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, among others.
Many companies create channels on YouTube and upload videos with some frequency to generate a presence on this social network. However, few do this work strategically and generate an attractive ROI. What happens is that many companies do not plan the videos they are going to upload and do not employ a good content strategy. Here we will give you some ideas to achieve your goals.
Examine your YouTube channel.
It would help if you did a good analysis of your YouTube channel. See if your old videos have the right tags and check the titles. Also, analyze if the thumbnail of your video is attractive enough to attract people.
You should always monitor the interactions of your videos since this will help you see which videos have generated the most traffic. On the other hand, you will see what changes and corrections you need to make. You’ll also know that other types of videos may be of interest to your audience.
Plan the types of videos you’ll be posting.
This aspect is really important since we should not publish any content. Publishing just for the sake of publishing will not help us at all. On the contrary, it can make you waste effort. It is best to plan the topics you are going to deal with in your videos and direct them to a particular audience.
You can use many categories in your videos, such as industry news, tutorials, top tips, advice, recommended books, tools, resources, etc. This will help you get inspired, as you can create many contents using these categories. For example, we can use the category of tips and tops with social networks: Tips to have more effective ads on Facebook or the top 5 social networks.
Use data and tags to position your videos.
As we mentioned before, the title does 80% of the work. If you have a short and direct title in your video, the user will be more likely to be encouraged to watch it. You can also use a short title that explains the benefits the person watching you will have.
Keep in mind that your title should make real reference to what the user will find when viewing it. On the other hand, it is necessary to take care of the thumbnails of the videos, so when the user has that impact image in front of him, he can decide to watch the entire video.
Conclusion
A content marketing strategy is essential to help social media brands stand out with impressive, interesting, and quality content. To achieve this, it can be useful to take diplomas in digital marketing and inbound marketing, in which you will integrally see these strategies.
