Content…some days it’s the be all and end all of our existence. We need to engage our customers, but creating thoughtful and relevant content is not only time consuming, it is a never ending project. One blog post today does not make for a successful content marketing strategy. Ongoing, meaningful and authentic content is needed to develop consumer relationships.
So, the question becomes how. How do you continually generate enough content to fulfill your objectives? It’s about strategy. A successful strategy for content marketing recognizes that content creation is only about 20% of the work. The distribution of that content fills up the other 80%.
Your first step is to recognize that you should not be focused on selling consumers when creating content. Your objective needs to be offering valuable, information rich content that consumers can find value in regardless of their need or desire for your product. Become a resource. Become an authority. Become their go-to source for information in your industry. As they start to rely on you for information and knowledge, they will come to you for your product or service.
Once you recognize that it’s not all about you, the next step is to find ways to maximize the distribution of the content you do create. For example, an auto repair company executive speaking to a community group on travel safety can use these strategies to maximize the use of his content.
- Write a blog post announcing the executive’s appearance at the group’s event. (A little self-promotion is ok.)
- Repost the announcement to LinkedIn and, possibly, Facebook and Twitter. Be sure to acknowledge the group you are meeting with to push a little promotion their way.
- Turn the speech into a blog post on travel safety tips.
- Post links to the blog post on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and other social media sites.
- Offer in-store events where travel safety tips are discussed.
- Take photos at the in-store events and post to social media sites.
- Create a presentation of those travel safety tips to post on SlideShare.
- Re-post each safety tip individually to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other social media sites. Perhaps use a “Weekly Travel Safety Tip” strategy to maximize the use of this content.
- Create infographics, videos or other images of travel safety tips that can be posted to rich media channels like Pinterest and YouTube.
- Post links to infographics, videos or other images on Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites.
- Host a Tweet Up where you discuss travel safety trips and strategies for safe travel with family, with pets, etc.
- Include links and hashtags so you can track the exposure of your content.
By using one topic in a variety of ways to increase its exposure, you can bring value to your content creation. Your focus on providing relevant and helpful information to the consumer makes you a thought leader.
Think globally across all media channels and you can maximize the 80% planning and distribution with ease. You’ll be well on your way to building loyalty and trust with consumers who use your product and with those who are just getting to know you.
