As we reported earlier – a survey by Econsultancy shows that more than 70% of respondents are looking to increase their content marketing budgets in 2013. Also, the latest Panda and Penguin updates to the Google search engine algorithm have changed the ways of SEO. The new updates mean that content is king and only good, valuable, original and relevant content gets top billing. Companies – especially small businesses are now in a hurry to produce as much online content as they can. However, this has lead to a lot of spammy content where the focus is more on volume and not quality and such content is not only ineffective but can hurt the content marketing campaign of the company.
Some content marketing myths
Myths about content marketing are rife and most companies ruin their chances of success by believing these myths. One of the myths that has lead to spammy and low-quality content flooding the Internet is that content marketing is all about creating and publishing large volumes of content. This is absolutely untrue. You will be more successful if you publish few highly valuable articles that people find useful from time to time. Low quality content that has clearly been copied from another source will not only put-off your readers but could also negatively impact the search ranking of your website.
Another common myth is that outsourcing content marketing is very expensive. Due to this myth, most companies have rudimentary in house content marketing teams who have no experience with creating or publishing content effectively. Content marketing is a complex task and there are many content writers and content marketing companies that offer various high-quality services for all sorts of budgets.
Most companies also believe that pieces of content can be used only once. This is untrue as the content that is in your archives can be given a brand new look and published again. We don’t mean that you re-publish the content in its entirety under a new title. You can take an article and expand it into an eBook or create a video based on it and publish it again.
How to create compelling content
To create compelling content, first and foremost – you need to be able to find out the latest trends. You can use social media platforms, Google AdWords, etc. to find what people are talking about so you can create content that has a huge demand. You also need to be mindful of what your customers want as they are the most important people that you need to cater to with your content. Creating tutorials, videos, infographs, eBooks, etc. for your customers will not only help with customer retention but also help you attract new customers. Your content should also help customers along the buying cycle.
Follow the golden rule of content marketing – storytelling. Your content should tell a story and this is the easiest way of creating compelling content. Instead of creating dry, jargon-filled content, make sure that your content pieces are easy to understand, address common problems and present solutions in an intriguing manner. You can give examples of loyal customers, your own experiences or stories of your employees. Such content will give a human face to your brand helping you create stronger relationships with readers.