Content Marketing: How does it benefit your business?
The “how” and “why” behind content marketing are two things that many companies wonder about. What they need to know is whether or not the content they produce is good enough. Are they providing value to their customers? Do they have the correct strategy for gaining their clients’ attention?
With content marketing, you are able to create not only good, quality content but also content that is appropriate for your audience. If your content is being shared, you may have more clients coming your way.
According to a report released by IBM, content marketing, in its simplest form, means:
An effort to produce and publish valuable and authoritative content on a regular basis
A direct response to the questions your customers, audience, and readers are asking about your company, your brand, or your product
Content marketing will not make you money, but it will also not make you lose money. If it can increase your sales and close more clients, then the effort is worth it. There are also some negative aspects of content marketing, however. It can be a very time consuming process. Also, you have to stay relevant and up-to-date. If you are not providing any new information to your audience, then you have become boring and your audience will leave.
However, content marketing isn’t as easy as creating a blog or a podcast. You need to ask yourself a few questions before you start. You need to know your target audience, your goals, and what information your audience is seeking. In a way, this is a part of the social media management process.
Start with a definition
If you are new to content marketing, the first thing you need to do is define what content marketing is. You can find a number of definitions online. I recommend using the following as a starting point. This can be changed depending on the market that you are addressing:
Content marketing is a planned approach to publishing and distributing content to reach a specific target audience.
Content marketing focuses on building trust with your target audience, whether by creating content, distributing content, promoting the content, etc.
Content marketing is a combination of content production and content distribution.
Content marketing is a specialized form of marketing and communication that blends traditional marketing with new media like social media and search engine optimization.
If you have been doing content marketing, you know how much work is involved. You need to spend time producing the content and then distributing it to the appropriate people. You also need to be aware of your audience and how they respond to different content. If you are working with a small business, you are still faced with a number of marketing challenges. The solution to this is content marketing. You don’t have to worry about SEO or Facebook ads because that is not your focus. What you do have to do is write and create content that will be picked up by the search engines, the Facebook newsfeeds, and other social media channels.
If you want to take a content marketing approach, you need to know a few things about your target audience. Do they engage with social media? If yes, which ones? Would they be interested in reading some educational content? Would they prefer a humorous take on things? You have to be able to provide content that matches their interests and that is of the right style and tone.
Use the right tools
The first step in your content marketing plan is to find the right tools to use. You can do this by looking at the site that already serves the content to your target audience. What kinds of content are they publishing? Are they using a content management system or WordPress? Do they use email newsletters or Twitter accounts? There are a number of free and inexpensive options for creating content for your business, website, and social media accounts.
As a beginner, you should start with the most basic options. A simple blog or website is great to start. You can always expand the site later when you have learned more about content marketing. There are a number of free tools that you can use as well. Some of the most popular and affordable options for these would be:
Blog
If you have a WordPress site, you can use a content management system to easily create and publish content. You can have a WordPress blog and create your content there. It will automatically be uploaded to the site and indexed by the search engines.
There are a number of WordPress themes available that will allow you to create a free or premium website. The most popular are Genesis and Thesis. If you are looking for a theme that will allow you to blog with WordPress
While we have a theme for free, we recommend Thesis. We’ve used it and know that it’s a great theme for the price that it costs.
YouTube Videos
YouTube has a system that allows you to upload your video into a channel. Channels can also have videos that they’ve uploaded. You can then share your content to these channels and they will automatically be featured in your videos’ watch lists. There are two types of channels: public and private. If your goal is to connect with potential customers, a private channel is the way to go. If you are just trying to develop your brand, a public channel is the way to go.
One of the most effective ways to build your brand is through video marketing. I know you want to get your business started, but video marketing takes time and you need to dedicate the time to do it right. There are some simple strategies that will help you get started, and I will teach you those in future posts.
Businesses with free accounts with YouTube can use the YouTube Music channel to create music-related videos. The music must be uploaded through the YouTube Music Upload tool. Other than that, you can record videos directly to the channel.
The ability to upload directly to a YouTube channel is one of the things that makes YouTube so successful and popular. If you’ve ever been on YouTube, you have seen that there are thousands upon thousands of people using the platform to share their videos. The reason why these videos are so popular is that they are shared and reposted among their friends. This is where content marketing comes into play.
A lot of content marketers swear by Twitter. This is because Twitter allows you to share content directly with your followers. If you are looking for a platform to promote your content, Twitter is a great place to start. You can share links to the articles you are writing, information that you are creating, or any other content that you would like to share.
Many people find it hard to generate their own content. They feel as if it isn’t worth their time. However, if you have the right information, it will work in your favor.