When you are in the business of content, people always want to know how to increase traffic to their website/business quickly. Is there a right or wrong way of doing content marketing? So here it is – a list of what to do and what not to do when you are doing content marketing. One of the first things I do when I sit down with a prospective client to discuss content marketing is asking him what his goals are. Is it be
Do know what you want to achieve
From a client, that’s totally understandable, and yet I sit down another 15 minutes to make them understand that knowing what you want is very important since that will determine the content platforms and avenues that have to be used for the desired result. Each of the above goals will need to a slightly different, yet important strategy, which will drive in the results. For eg, for those interested in driving traffic to their website should use more content in their SEO strategy. In short, use more blogs, more social media sharing among relevant groups, invest in more fresh content on content-specific platforms like Quora, voice your opinions in relevant groups etc. The same sort of aggressive content generation might not be required if you are looking to just rank on the first page of Google for keywords relevant to your business.
- Successful as a brand
- To be on the first page of search engines
- Generate Leads
- Add more traffic to the website
Hence, the first thing to DO is to know your Goal. Once you have that clear, ask your content strategist to chalk out a detailed road map for the next 3 months. Think whats actually workable for the business as a whole. Also, try and stick to something that can be adhered to and is wholly sustainable in the long run
Don’t do what everyone is doing. Know who is your customer is and where can they be found
Content marketing should always be unique and fresh. The same package cannot usually apply to everyone. If you are doing social media, be sure you know why you are doing it. Will it help you reach your client? Yes, there will be a tendency to be everywhere – coz that’s what everyone is doing – but that does not help your purpose since your customers are unique to your business. Explore where you should be and ask yourself what sort of content aligns with your business. Ask yourself 5 times why you have chosen a particular medium.
The best way here is to get your team to look online at the various forums, online groups, discussion boards and websites, to know who is looking for your services. A few hours a week will immediately give you a sense of which platforms to target.
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Do build a community
Building a community around your product is the best and cheapest way to create momentum for your product. Here is how you should do it
- Look for pockets of active users who are interested in your product/service.
- Use emailers to touch base with new members, or even using your existing contact list to follow you somewhere else. Get more people to sign up for your newsletters
- Build content for your community – Once them sign up, you have to keep their interest alive. Create content for them, stuff that provides useful knowledge about your product, industry and how they can benefit from it. Offer ebooks, whitepapers and guides that
- useful for your community.
- content can be how-to guides, insightful researches, best practices and trends, anything that your user community sees value in.
- Make sure your members find value from their involvement with your community.
Do arrange industry events
Okay, this might not be for all, but it’s a great way of crafting a healthy networking path and engaging your community, ultimately leading to lead generation. Build social into your event and create as much buzz as you can about the event through Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Try getting a micro-site up, and linking your social media to it. When done with the event, always create a post talking about all the positive insights into the event, for people to help jog-up with the insights and inner happenings of the event. Do not forget to tag albums with people featured in them. You never know, you might be opening windows to new buyers and leads!
Don’t take the pushy salesman approach
Educate, inspire, enlighten and entertain your audience, but do stay away from acting like a pesky salesman. One thing that would resonate with your audience would be transparency – and in all modesty, please leave the used car salesman act at home. Think from the buyer’s angle, and be enlightening and inspirational, and provide value wherever you can.
Don’t forget to Explore
Content marketing, today, goes beyond the realms of blogging and has proved its prowess everywhere – from traditional data sheets, case studies and videos; to infographics, eBooks, SlideShares and podcasts; to tweets and Facebook posts. Be certain that you understand the pulse of every medium and give your audience a well-encapsulated experience, which will resonate leaving a deeper impact and impression.
Another good idea would be to get yourself enrolled in websites where you are most likely to get acquainted with professionals of your field. These platforms and discussion-based forums is a great way to build your brand identity, further on networking with the like-minded audience there. However, be sure to make the commenting on the forum approval based.
Don’t ever skip the editing of the content that you publish
Grammatically wrong, spelling mistakes and the content gap is simply not cool. Make sure you sift through tons of pages evaluating them both quantitatively and qualitatively. On-page SEO, keyword usage and hyperlinking to your main website/blog is a must. However, that being said, go ahead and use slangs and other informal speech conventions — do not treat this as your English term paper, after all!