Content marketing isn’t easy, even if you’ve been doing it for years. It’s a field that constantly changes and evolves depending on current trends; so naturally, keeping up is a hard task. If you’re a beginner, you have to deal with a lot of other factors like getting the audience’s attention, building a follower base and so much more. Most amateurs make mistakes in the learning process. To avoid these, they can hire external content marketing services to help them out. Here is a look at 5 common mistakes that amateurs must avoid:
- No Social Media Automation
Social media automation is a content marketer’s best sidekick. It has become a must for digital marketing of any kind. As a content marketer, there’s so much you have to do – you have to discover and curate content, schedule content, respond to comments and perform a ton of other activities just to remain relevant. To become influential, you have to do so much more. Most content marketers also have to handle multiple accounts for their company and its clients. As an amateur, juggling all these aspects will seem impossible but automation can help you thrive. With the help of content marketing tools that are readily available and inexpensive, you can co-ordinate all your activities across multiple accounts with ease.
- No SEO
Not optimizing for search engines is one of the biggest mistakes a content marketer can make. Ranking higher in a search engine is crucial as today’s audience has a smaller attention span and also tends to pick articles from the top of the list. If you ignore SEO, other posts that are better optimized for search engines will drown out anything you post. SEO is the bread and butter of a content marketer. Without it, their content will remain untouched and unseen.
- Lack of Persistence
Content marketing strategies take months to become successful. Most amateurs make the mistake of expecting immediate results, and when they don’t get the expected results, they tend to give up. You need to understand that content marketing takes time – you cannot build a strong audience base in a week or a month, it takes months to build trust and gain loyalty. Although, it is disheartening when your posts don’t get the expected amount of appreciation, you need to be persistent. Post consistently and share your content on your social media accounts more than once. You need to post at least 10 times a day to get your audience’s attention.
- Not Catering to Your Customers’ Needs
The whole point of content marketing is to connect with your audience. If you aren’t answering a question for your audience or helping them in any way, then you’re not content marketing properly. If you work at a health insurance company and post content about pharmaceutical drugs, your audience will end up confused. Instead, your posts should be about medical insurance and related topics like the procedures and risks involved. Remember, your audience needs answers and if you can’t provide them then maybe your competitors can.
- Bad Content
Content is king – you’ve probably heard this a million times by now, and that’s because it’s true. Without good content, all your marketing efforts will go to waste. No matter how much you post and promote your content, your audience will be dissatisfied and leave if your content is sub par. Make sure you create good quality content that is relevant to your audience. Good content is simple, visually appealing and written in such a manner that everyone can understand. It should capture your audience’s attention in the introduction and keep them intrigued till the last word. If your content fails, so will your marketing.
- Bad Headlines
Your headline is the first thing a reader sees. If it’s not done well, they’ll move on to something better. Your headline has to grab readers’ attention and entice them into reading the rest of your post. A good way to do this is to include numbers in your headlines. Big websites like Buzzfeed and Lifehack always incorporate a number in their headlines and as we all know, it is working wonders for them. Lists also make it easier for the audience to read and share content. Remember to add strong visual content to make it more appealing for viewers.
- Lack of Experimentation
How do you know what kind of content your followers like the most? The only way to find out is to post different kinds of content and see what works and what doesn’t. Many amateurs tend to stick to a formula that is preconceived and has a limited basis. It is important to try different kinds of content and move on from the same kind of posts. Create risky content that is more visually engaging or content that is completely different than what you usually post. Now, see how your audience reacts to it. The key is to never stop experimenting. Even if you get bad results it will allow you to understand your audience better and cater to their needs.
- Not Learning From Others
As stated earlier, content marketing keeps growing and evolving, content marketers that fail to observe other top contributors and their methods, often fall behind. Observing top contributors allows you to identify what worked and what didn’t, see if you can incorporate any of their methods into your work etc. It is a necessary tool for survival in the digital marketing world. Don’t just focus on your niche, look at popular sites for a variety of niches and see how what their content marketing strategies are, learn from them and use them if need be. It’s a good way to get an edge over your competitors.
- Not Using Analytics
Analytics help you figure out whether your content marketing strategy is working or not. You can’t just post, promote and hope for growth. You have to keep checking and make changes as you go, in order to see any kind of growth. Analytics will tell you if you’re actually converting traffic into customers so you can see how successful your strategy is. Analytics help you optimize your content better so you get more paying customers.
All of these mistakes are fairly common among amateur content marketers. The important thing is to learn from them and get past them. Doing your research and reading up on articles by influencers and innovators before you start, is the best way to avoid making these mistakes. As we mentioned earlier, you can also use content marketing services or social media management tools to avoid mistakes.
Image via Jack Moreh at Freerange Stock