What is content marketing, and why should quality content be at the core of your social media marketing? If you’re new to content marketing, our guide is designed to answer your questions and help you get started.
What is content marketing?
Content marketing is the strategic marketing approach of creating and sharing quality content to attract and retain an audience. Instead of constantly pitching your products or services, you provide relevant and useful content to your customers and prospects. Content marketing establishes you as the expert, and builds trust and confidence in the eyes of your reader.
One component of content marketing is blogging. Writing a blog gives you the chance to provide useful information for your customers and solve their issues, and provides you with content to share across social media platforms and create awareness for your business.
Why should I focus on content marketing?
Businesses and brands who use content marketing benefit from increased sales, costs savings, and increased customer loyalty. Without quality content, marketing is nearly impossible—content influences every part of the marketing process.
How do I get started?
To create a successful content marketing plan, it’s essential to understand your goals and your core purpose and focus. Your goals may include:
- Raising awareness for your brand
- Engaging and building relationships with your audience
- Retaining your customers and driving revenue
- Building your email list
Defining your core purpose and focus will help you identify your audience, what you’ll deliver to your audience, and the desired outcome:
- Who can you help most with your content?
- What types of information will you provide through your content?
- What will your audience be able to do after consuming your content?
What types of content should I create?
Once you’ve clearly defined your goals and have a good understanding of your audience and the desired outcome, you can focus on planning content to support your goals, engage your audience, and drive revenue. Some of the most popular types of shareable content include blog posts, videos, and infographics.
How do I manage my content?
An editorial calendar can help you develop a consistent posting schedule and promote and manage your content. Sharing content more than once on social media sites is a great strategy, just be sure to space out your sharing and use an app like Hootsuite or Buffer to schedule your posts in advance.
Interested in content marketing, but don’t have the time to make it happen? That’s where we come in. We can help you build an integrated marketing campaign so that you can focus on running your business. Contact us today to get started.
