According to a recent study, more than 80 percent of businesses plan to utilize a content marketing strategy in the upcoming year. So how can your business stand out amongst the massive amount of articles and information that will uploaded?
To connect with customers and yield a marketing ROI, be sure to follow these five steps:
1.) Know your target audience.
To more effectively craft and distribute content to current and prospective customers, conduct research to determine the answers to these four questions:
2.) Focus on quality.
One way many businesses waste time and money is by failing to maximize the results in every post.
For example, some businesses see professional bloggers posting three times a week and assume this is what they need to be doing, as well. However, if you don’t have the time or subject matter to create three quality posts, your efforts are pointless. Traffic and audience growth comes from quality not quantity. Every piece of content you develop should provide value to your target audience.
3.) Utilize visuals.
Studies have shown that Tweets incorporating images see 89 percent more Favorites, 150 percent more Re-Tweets, and 18 percent more clicks than plain-text Tweets.
4.) Seek out topic ideas from your customers.
Writer’s block? Throw out a question on social media asking your Fans and Followers what they’d like to learn about. Not only will this provide you with topic ideas, but it could also highlight new business, service, or product opportunities. Plus, including customers’ input in your content development will help you better understand their needs and expectations.
5.) Re-purpose existing content.
When content you’ve published gets a great response from Fans and Followers, don’t just pat yourself on the back and move on! Re-purpose it! To reach an even wider audience, turn a successful blog into a webinar or an infographic.
