Content marketing is yet another buzz term that is becoming ever more ubiquitous among online marketers, though the field is still actually one that has existed for decades.
The premise of producing interesting and original content that may or may not be about your core offering as a business has long been a tactic for marketers, but the advent of the internet, and by extension social networks, has magnified this effect dramatically.
So you need to drive visitors to your site, and you’re prepared to take the dive into content marketing to increase visibility of your brand – where do you start?
Resources
There’s zero point in planning to do things unless you can commit to actually producing them. How many staff writers do you have? What about multimedia producers, such as video or photographers?
Establishing a blogging network and other content partnerships is a great way to not only boost the volume of content you can produce, but it also increases the number of individuals/companies that are promoting it. Your SEO will be improved too.
Getting authors to write for you isn’t always easy. Check different sites and forums designed for finding writers, often based on a backlink-exchange, or see if any of your clients or acquaintances would be interested in a content swap deal.
Work out how much your team can commit to, and set yourself an achievable target based on your resource, be it just one blog post a week, or a comprehensive multi-media schedule of multiple pieces a day.
What, Exactly?
Well, this is the harder bit. If you’ve decided you’re going to aim for say, 20, posts a month, then what should they be about? It will differ greatly from company to company, but here’s a good way to start.
Analysis of Previous Posts
Look back over everything you’ve written before. Play around in Google Analytics and other tools to work out what was successful and what wasn’t. What trends can you spot in conversion rates and traffic stats for different types of posts? I’ve found that things like list articles, how-tos and infographics are the most popular on the Brandwatch blog, but have also found that writing about events tends to provoke less interest, and are now working to focus our attention on the right areas and changing our approach.
SEO Keywords
Almost every company will be interested in SEO, even if they don’t know what it means. Trying to appear as high as possible on search engine results pages is essential in generating traffic and leads, so tailoring your content around important terms and questions can be invaluable. If you’re a hairdresser in Sydney, for example, you might write articles around things your potential customers could search for – ‘deals on haircuts in Sydney’, ‘what colour should I dye my hair?’ or ‘haircut ideas for 2013’ would all be good starting points.
Your Product Roadmap
Is your company planning anything in the next few months? What can your CEO tell you about what’s coming up and what you should be marketing? Looking at release schedules, launches, partnerships, etc. will help inform your content plan, similar to how we write product updates and accompanying posts to feature releases at Brandwatch.
Missing Content
Is there anything your sales team needs to help them convert leads? Are there regular questions that your clients or customers ask your support team? Talk to other staff to find out common pain points or requests for advice, and plan for relevant content. Returning to the hairdressing example, this could be posts on things like ‘the best way to wash dyed hair’ or similar. Future prospects can then be pointed to this content, or even better, they will find it naturally before they need to ask.
Check back tomorrow for part two of how to write a content plan right here on the All Things WOMM blog.
