Content marketing hacks that’ll help you - Salmatmktg.salmat.com.au/.../8-Content-Marketing-ebook.pdf · 9 8 Content marketing hacks that’ll help you grow, faster ... Write a

8Content marketing hacks that’ll help you grow, faster

WELCOME TO THE AGE OF CONTENT MARKETING

MILLION27This is an age where companies talk in terms of hashtags, not taglines. Where beverage brands and supermarkets produce films and magazines. And where

It’s no wonder 9 out of 10 organisations2 are making content marketing an important part of their arsenal!

pieces of content1 are shared every day.

3 8 Content marketing hacks that’ll help you grow, faster

Traditionally, content marketing is defined asthe use of information, ideas and entertainmentto engage with consumers and enhance a brand.

However, that definition simplifies a phenomenon that has revolutionised the way companies communicate today.

In reality, content marketing lets companies connectwith people like never before. Brands can react in real time, be more transparent about who they are and how they do things, and tell a compelling brand story to people who care.

The best part is content marketing letscompanies do all this far more effectively and affordably than has ever been possible with traditional marketing tactics.

In this eBook, our experts reveal the 8 essential tactics to content marketing success.

So what is content marketing?

So how do you create killer content that cuts throughthe clutter and outperforms the competition?

Content marketing generates approximately

three times moreleads than traditionalmarketing and costs

62% less3


Before you produce any content, you need toknow who you are talking to. Think like a magazine editor; they know exactly who their readers are, what kind of content they like toread and why, their problems and daily habits,and so on.

Only with this in-depth understanding will youget content in front of your target audience that’smuch more engaging and targeted to their interests and lives.

KNOWYOUR AUDIENCE

The most effective way to understand your audience is to create buyer personas – semi-fictional representations of your ideal customer based on real data and educated speculationabout customer demographics, behaviour patterns, goals and motivations.

Creating buyer personas allows you to generate the right content that will most effectively attract your ideal audience, convert them into leads, and nurture them as loyal customers.

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CREATE ACONTENT PLAN2

The biggest fear in content marketing is producingcontent nobody wants to read. But if you have a content plan, this should never be a problem.

Your content plan should answer four key questions:

1. How will we create content?2. How will we distribute it?3. How will our content reach the desired audiences?4. How will our content build that audience?

Without this framework, you simply cannot expectto engage your audience and deliver business results.

of Australian marketers with a documented content marketing strategy said their content marketing was effective, compared with an average of 29%4

44%


Focus on the key planning stages of content marketing:

Define objectives Why are you doing this? What will the content marketing do for your organisation?

Find your POD What’s the one point of difference that will truly set you apart? Will your content be overly motivational, helpful, useful, inspirational, or something else?

Research Keyword research, content gap analysis, audience analysis and competitive reviews will help you understand the kind of content that will resonate with your audience, and where the opportunities and challenges are in your market.

Define audiences Who are your target audiences?

Define your metrics How will you measureyour success?

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4

32

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FOCUSON BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS3

Content marketing doesn’t sell. Let’s repeat that: content marketing doesn’t sell. It’s about buildinga relationship with your audience.

In many ways, content marketing flips traditional marketing on its head. Think like a publisher, not an advertiser. Talking about your product or service is just inappropriate. Instead, you focus on attracting the consumer to you, rather than pushing adsto them.

Of course, you should always keep your goal in mind: to deliver consistent, valuable information in an entertaining and interesting way that engages your buyers and rewards you with business.

Look at your own favourite content marketers andthink about why you are attracted to their content.Is it the topics, the tone or a combination?Then work out how you can focus on attracting your target audience, rather than selling.

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Good content marketing makes a

person stop… read… think… behave…

differently5.- Content Marketing Institute ”

“


BE AGREAT STORYTELLER4

At the core of all great content marketing you’llfind great stories – because that’s what it takesto engage an audience. So to improve your content marketing, simply focus on telling stories your audience can relate to and will find interesting.

Always focus on real stories that are heart-felt, genuine and inspirational. Better yet, find brand advocates who can tell these stories for you.

Before you can tell engaging stories, you needto find your brand voice. Each brand has a certain voice – it might edgy, nurturing, conservative, friendly, or tongue-in-cheek. This voice should

Storytelling (n.)Storytelling is a means for sharing and interpreting experiences.

be woven into every element of your content, making your stories sound like they come fromthe same person.

Innocent Drinks in the UK has a famously intimate and informal brand voice, along with exceptionally engaging content that tells you a lot about their identity, their spirit, and their personality.

Be inspired


Start with your brand story; this is the one thing that nobody else has, the one thing that truly setsyou apart from your competitors. If you can successfully uncover and tell one-of-a-kind brand stories, you will be able to attain the Holy Grail of content marketing – an emotional connection.

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Yet the most challenging part of content marketing is seen as producing engaging content6.

The number one goal for Australian content marketing is engaging

the audience. 87%

50%

Let us explore our potential through

words, words that soar off the page, fly out

of the screen, into the imaginations of others.

– John Simmons, Leading brand storyteller

”

“


GET THE FORMAT RIGHT5

Great content marketing isn’t just about what you say; it’s about how you say it. So, consider the format (blog, video, infographic, etc.) and channel (YouTube, Twitter, Pinterest, Facebook) before getting into the nitty-gritty of length, headlines and images.

To help, here’s our quick guide to format best practice:

• Length: To keep people engaged, there’s a fine line between too little and too much. Research by Medium shows the ideal length of a blog post is 7 minutes, which equates to roughly 1,600 words. But if your post is full

of images, this comes down to around 1,000 words. There’s also anecdotal evidence that article length can be a ranking factor with Google.

• Headlines: According to KISSmetrics, we generally absorb only the first three and last three words of a headline. So if you want your entire headline to be read, try to keep it to six words7.

• Structure: Nothing will send people away faster than an impenetrable wall of text. In addition to an introduction and conclusion, make sure you have short sentences, short paragraphs, subtitles, bullet points and lists (like this one!).

Get to know and apply these best practices for each of your content marketing pieces. You’ll soonfind it comes down to a lot of trial and error!

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MAKEIT EASYTO SHARE6

Social media needs content, and content needs social media. They are nothing without the other.So working out how to use them together is essential to your content marketing success.

Nowadays, your content needs to be designed and built for the social web. Here are some quick tips:

• Is the content published on a website you have control of? Populate and customise the open graph tags within the pages metadata to make sure it’s descriptive and accurate when appearing in users’ news feeds

• Ensure social sharing buttons are easy to find and use

• Show how many times the article has been tweeted or shared

• Share the right mix of content on each of your social networks, including testimonials, random (yet relevant) content, and your own original branded content

Look at every piece of content and ask:“Can the audience easily share this amongst their networks? And if shared will the image, headline and snippet attract enough attention to win the user’s click?”

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MEASURE CONTENT7

Content marketing needs to drive online conversions. Leads, closed sales, organic searchand referral traffic must be tied to real business results if you are to prove any return on investment.

This means your content must be properly optimised to convert and measure all traffic and leads, not just search visibility and ranking.

of Australian marketers struggle to measure the effectiveness of their content marketing8.

44%? ? ?


There are a number of simple ways to measure your content:

• Measure an increase of organic traffic from search engines to your website, and then measure the quality of user engagement (bounce rate, time on site, depth of visit). This determines whether your content is attracting the right kind of traffic.

• Measure whether the content you are publishing is attracting inbound links and citations. Craft content that attracts organic inbound links for blogs, forums and other websites, which can have a huge positive impact on SEO.

• Measure quality social interactions for each piece of content, so you can see if your content resonates with your audience.

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• Monitor the amount of tweets, retweets, shares, likes, mentions, comments, and more.

• Look at the on-site engagement generated by the traffic. Where is the audience going after they view the content?

• Measure increases in lead generation, subscriptions to email lists, and social media followers.

Finally, continuously test, measure, and refine your content marketing to get the best results.


REUSE, REPURPOSE, RECYCLE8

One of the biggest misconceptions of content marketing is that once a content piece has been released and promoted, it’s done with. Oh, whata missed opportunity!

Old content has the potential to be reused long into the future and in many ways. Don’t let your good content go to waste.

Use your content marketing schedule to plan ahead and recycle old content:

• Change the format: Transform a blog post into a presentation, podcast or video

• Refresh: Update content with new information or add new material

• Follow-up: Write a follow-up post about how things have changed since the original blog

• Link back: Continuously link back to old videos and blogs

• Socialise: Post social updates linking to older posts, thereby directing people to valuable content they might not find otherwise

• Expand your lists: Turn your “listicles” into individual posts

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THE FINAL WORD

Content marketing doesn’t have tobe difficult. Like all marketing, it comes down to good planning and a good dealof trial and error. To truly tap into thepower of content, you need to continually build and share quality content that truly engages people.Only then can you expect to build stronger relationships with your audience and stand out in our content-driven world.

1 http://www.slideshare.net/NewsCred/50-best-stats-presentation?ref=http://localvox.com/content-

marketing-is-the-secret-to-local-marketing-success/2 http://www.slideshare.net/NewsCred/50-best-stats-presentation?ref=http://localvox.com/content-

marketing-is-the-secret-to-local-marketing-success/3 http://www.slideshare.net/NewsCred/50-best-stats-presentation?ref=http://localvox.com/content-

marketing-is-the-secret-to-local-marketing-success/4 Content Marketing Institute and Association of Data-driven Marketing and Advertising (ADMA), http://

www.marketingmag.com.au/news/australias-content-marketers-urged-to-document-strategy-to-see-

improved-results-cmi-58803/#.VHFDBkvlfwI5 http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/what-is-content-marketing/6 Content Marketing in Australia 2015: Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends7 https://blog.kissmetrics.com/how-to-write-headlines/8 Content Marketing in Australia 2015: Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends

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Content marketing hacks that’ll help you - Salmatmktg.salmat.com.au/.../8-Content-Marketing-ebook.pdf · 9 8 Content marketing hacks that’ll help you grow, faster ... Write a