We thought you haven’t had enough content strategy by now, so we decided to publish yet another article, this time about some content strategy and content hacks.
How does content strategy relate to social media?
1. There is an undeniable link between content strategy and social media. Which is why you should start posting updates on a daily basis on your Twitter and Facebook profiles. As well as updating your blog content, don’t neglect to use as many social networks as you are able to. This is an indirect way of getting your writing out there, as well as a way of gathering an audience. Insightful answers will appeal to users that are actually interested in what you do.
2. Choose between various networks. Figure out whether it’s Facebook, Twitter, Quora, LinkedIn or any other social network you should focus your efforts on. Spending time on all of these may be counterproductive. Find out where you can actually sell your product.
3. Get to know the type of content the people you’re aiming at are most keen on. Are they into funny blog posts? Or are they interested in finding out about technical information? Would they want to learn something new, or relax after work? Do they enjoy watching videos and tutorials or are they prone to finding reading a little easier? This type of data can actually come from browsing forums and reading questions and answers on Quora, for instance.
4. Be sure you engage in real conversations with people that want to know more about you.
Blow visitors away with these simple measures
1. Focus on creating various types of content, such as videos, presentations and infographics. Images always attract the attention of viewers with the help of a catchy design and we’ll tell you the truth: not all site visitors are interested in reading long boring paragraphs.
2. We’ve told you before and we’ll tell you again: tone is extremely important. Try to use a conversational tone and write text that is accessible to most readers. However, if you desire to talk to a public that’s in the same industry as you are, you may use terms that are more or less technical. Just remember, there may also be regular users accessing your site. You wouldn’t want to scare those away, would you?
3. Create a monthly theme. Whether it’s the holidays, easter or any other sort of celebration that comes up every year, people are interested in researching topics concerning this type of events. Which is why, even if you’re creating rather complex products, you can still discover some features to these items that can be adapted to one month or the other. Features that will not only speak to site visitors but also to search queries.
4. Create personalized pages for your company and make sure to add photos of yourself, your colleagues or the entire team while working, having fun at the office or team-building. Photos turn you into a human being. Which is also why you should let people learn about your team and your colleagues, about those brilliant minds behind the products you’re creating. Put together a series of articles about who you work or collaborate with.
Victory is in the hands of your blog
1. Create a publishing calendar but also a detailed publishing plan of every post, such as: title of the post, where you’ll share it, what sort of content you’ll be publishing and how you intend to use it. Should it become viral, get you visitors and potential customers? Or should it address a public that already knows what you’re talking about? If the latter is the case, you should provide information that’s quite specific.
For instance, put together a simple sketch, such as the example shown below:
Day the article will be published
Title: Make sure you insert one keyword in the title, for the sake of search engine optimization
Category: Exists mostly for organizational reasons
Tone: informative; should provide useful information both for people in the industry and for possible investors;
Format: Text/Video/Image
Length: Depends on the category and on the tone. It is recommended that articles are rather short so site visitors don’t get bored, but it would be mandatory to write a long article every week or every month, to enrich the content and provide text for actual blog readers
Distribution: Twitter/Quora/LinkedIn/Facebook/Youtube/Pinterest etc
2. According to an analysis performed by HubSpot, 82% of the companies that published consistently on the blog acquired daily customers. Of the companies that publish content on a monthly basis, only 57% acquired customers with the help of their blogs. The data is backed by Joe Pulizzi, the founder of Content Marketing Institute.
3. After having contemplated the idea of a publishing calendar and after having made an accessible plan, you should start discovering your potential customers’ tastes. Don’t be shy. Ask questions. Getting relevant answers will define your strategy in the future.
4. For startups, it may be a good idea to get a content marketing team, for research and writing. If you can’t afford hiring a team, though, think about hiring a freelancer. But always keep in mind freelancers aren’t the most reliable employees on the planet. On the other hand, if you can’t afford content every day of the week, think about paying for 2 or 3 posts per week and take some time to write the rest yourself.
Patience is a virtue
1. We know you want results and you want them now. Who doesn’t? Try to stay focused, though, and start organizing your workflow. Do you write your own articles? If that’s the case, you’ll do this: jotting them down, proofreading them, publishing them, distributing them and interacting with site visitors. Quite a bunch of responsibilities, right? What’s worse is results will not come knocking on your door in a couple of days, in a couple of weeks or even in a couple of months. It usually takes 6 to 12 months for people to start finding you on the internet.
2. But hey, that’s not all! Your content must be unique and quite mind-blowing for people to read it. What’s worse is that you may indeed get site visitors, but if you haven’t optimized your website and if you don’t use inbound marketing at all, you may not even speak to the audience you’re trying to hunt down.
3. You should start suffering from chronic perseverance, because human interaction takes time and is probably the most important part of creating a relationship with potential customers. Also, your research has to be based on sites, blogs and other sources from the industry, but when you think about it, forums and comments are perhaps even a more reliable source, because they represent people’s tastes and desires. You’ll end up learning how to speak with the audience you’re targeting only after analyzing its behavior.
Keep your feet on the ground
1. If you’re working with a team of writers, track its responsibilities. If you’re asking co-workers or employees to write, communicate continuously with them, because people that aren’t used to writing will not do it out of passion. Use some tools to have control over your workflow, such as Google Drive with shared groups and documents.
2. Use analytics to determine your user’s interests and try to solve their preoccupations. Use keywords and hashtags and don’t hesitate to utilize them, whether you’re using Instagram, Twitter or Facebook.
3. Measure results every month. In the beginning, you may not get any results at all, but the usual plan should be as follows:
- generate shares
- attract or discover leads
- get sales
Ask yourself: how many shares did you get last month? How many leads did you discover and are there any leads that, in reality, discovered you? Did you get sales? If so, how many? Month after month, you’ll create statistics that will let you know if you’re evolving or stagnating. And with the single use of this data you’ll know if you have to change something in your strategy or if you’re on the right track.
4. Test the mobile market. If you don’t know by now, you have customers that access the internet with the sole use of their cell phones. Don’t throw all your money into an app or a mobile version of a website if you don’t know the impact they’ll have on your audience. Make some researches but keep in mind being mobile is the future, nowadays.
Content power!
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