"Content marketing is the marketing and business process for creating and distributing relevant and valuable content to attract, acquire, and engage a clearly defined and understood target audience – with the objective of driving profitable customer action"
The new business year is fast approaching and it's time to think about your businesses fitness and New Year's Resolutions. Getting your business in shape is extremely important and it needn't be too difficult and what better way to shape up and look good than through Content Marketing.
To save you a lot of time and research, I've put together my top 5 resolutions and the best part is that you don't even need to stick to them as they are easily delegated.
I Will Post On My Blog More Often.
Now, I'm assuming you have a blog here, as it's one of the best way to engage your customers and keep them coming back to you. So, even if you don't have a blog, let's assume that you do and we can sort one out for you at the end J
Like many blog owners that aren't full time bloggers, you might find yourself skipping posts and cancelling reminders as you have more important or urgent work that you have to be getting on with. Even though it can be difficult to post on your blog just once a week, you really should if you want to keep your readers engaged, informed and coming back to you. Eventually your readers will get tired of coming back to your blog and seeing nothing new, that they'll just stop coming altogether.
An easy habit to get into is to schedule a blog post to be released at the same day and time each week and be sure to schedule it in your To Do list. That way you'll get into the habit and even start to think about the posts before they are due, easing the pressure.
If you're still too slammed to do it, hire a social media professional or blogger to write the posts for you with plenty of edit time.
I Will Make My Posts More Informative.
Less isn't always more and it's definitely not what you want for your blog posts. Short posts can be great for tweets and quick updates, but when you want to get into the juice of a subject, don't scrimp on info. If your readers really want to get to grips with a topic, they'll love the information and if the information is good, they are much more likely to share it, save it and use it to help themselves.
So make it a goal to have a little more meat on your posts this coming year, you won't regret it.
I Will Promote My Blog Posts.
Now that you've spent the time writing your posts, make sure you take the time out to tell everyone about it. Your followers are already interested in what you do, so are very likely to check out your posts when you share them. Especially if you can grab their attention in the first few lines and solve a problem for them. If you stick to a set time and day for your blog releases and your social media posts, your followers will know to check back regularly for more great information and tips.
I’ll Make More Friends Online
Social Media is very much about making the right friends and nurturing relationships online. Connecting to your customers as well as your peers can produce great results.
Contrary to what some people seem to believe, guest blogging is not dead, even after Google’s most recent algorithm changes.
Posting guest blogs haphazardly on any website isn’t a good strategy for your search engine optimization, but posting guest blogs on industry websites and relevant blogs can be a good thing. Along with helping with search engine optimization, it can also help with establishing a good name and bringing in natural traffic from a well-targeted audience.
Plus, if you return the favour and let other people post guest blogs on your blog, you can take some time off from posting every now and then and can bring some refreshing content onto your site, which is always a good thing. This is also a great incentive for some of your partners or companies you’d like to be associated with. Try reaching out to them and offering them the chance to have their content published on your blog.
I’ll Plan And Bundle For More Opportunities
Coming up with fresh content regularly can be difficult without a plan. So instead of writing a series of unrelated blogs, think about putting together a series that leads from one subject to another. This will help to keep readers interested and coming back for more and it will also give you the opportunity to bundle them all together to produce a handbook or guide. You can then use that guide to gain more connections, build up your email database or have as a giveaway on a landing page.
Blogs can also be turned into slide decks, infographics, and datasheets. Instead of creating the same types of content over and over again, branch out and try your hand at several different mediums. If you're not artistic you can always hire a designer fairly cheaply on sites like Fiverr and Upwork
(formerly Odesk).
You Don't Have A Blog?
We've previously written an article which outlines 10 reasons why you should be blogging. You can find it here.