If you’re interested in growing your prominence in the online realm, you’re likely already familiar with that fact. While content marketing is incredibly important, it’s not easy to carry out properly.
Statistics show that B2C companies blogging 11 or more times per month get four times as many leads as the ones who blog only four to five times per month. Just 30% of marketers believe that their content marketing efforts are good enough. The main reason is that marketers find it difficult to set a measurable goal and to use the right data to assess results.
Is your content marketing strategy doing what it’s supposed to? Are you satisfied with the results? If the answer is no, you may be committing one (or more) of these four major mistakes known to stand in the way of optimal content marketing results.
No strategy
Before writing any kind of content, you need to have a clear idea about what you’re trying to accomplish. If you haven’t defined a clear goal and you are dubious about the metrics to rely on for tracking purposes, chances are that you’re not going to be satisfied with your content marketing efforts.
Even if you’re writing informative texts to add to your blog, you’ll still need to have some purpose. Are you using the blogs to build your brand’s reputation within your industry? Would you like to acquaint prospects with a new product? Are you expanding the scope of your clientele? Answer these questions before attempting to write anything.
A content marketing plan is a strategic document which every single business conducting content marketing must have. The plan should be based on extensive information about your audience, knowing what the primary goal of the campaign is and how you’re going to track its effectiveness.
No content promotion
Even the most unique and thorough of texts will fail in the absence of a promotional strategy. Content marketing doesn’t end once you’ve written a text. Your next goal is to reach the right audience and ensure your content is as visible as possible.
Content promotion is a major part of the process and can take place in a number of ways:
- Make sure all the text you write is search engine-friendly
- Build a sensible social media presence and share your content via each platform
- Use other promo tools at your disposal such as an email newsletter to let website visitors know you’ve published new content
- Try social bookmarking websites on top of your social media campaigns
- Encourage your readers to promote your content by including like and share buttons on your website and blog
- Contact industry influencers, partner up with them and ask them to help promote your most valuable content
Your content isn’t appealing to the target audience
You may be following both of the tips already mentioned above without getting the results you’re looking for. In this instance, you may want to figure out whether the content you’re writing and promoting is appealing enough to your target audience.
Highly relevant content boosts engagement, increases the amount of time people spend on your website and helps convert leads into clients. You build relationships through content by giving people something valuable.
If the audience you’re targeting doesn’t respond to your content in the desired way, you’ll see your strategy fail.
It’s relatively easy to assess the relevance of your content. All you have to do is ask your audience for feedback. The number of interactions you get is also indicative of engagement. When people refrain from commenting or liking, chances are that they’re not finding your texts relevant or compelling enough.
You may want to experiment with different topics and content formats to figure out which ones deliver the best performance. Google Analytics and the social media insights you get as a page administrator can provide a lot of useful information about what people like and what they don’t really want to engage with.
Content quality is subpar
A content marketing strategy will definitely fail if your content doesn’t adhere to industry standards. Today’s audiences are highly educated and demanding. People will quickly spot amateurish content marketing efforts and will treat them accordingly.
Indicators of inferior content quality include the following:
- Typos, grammar mistakes and structural errors that demonstrate a lack of attention to detail
- Run-on sentences and long paragraphs – nobody has the time to go through tons of fluff before reaching the actual point
- Lack of focus and clarity
- The use of too much jargon can alienate website visitors
- Lack of originality – you’re simply regurgitating the same idea
- Lack of supportive evidence
- No diversity in terms of format (it’s always a good idea to have images, videos and infographics supporting your texts where possible)
Good content takes time and effort. If you hire an inexperienced writer, chances are that your content marketing strategy will fail. The same applies to writing texts in-house if you don’t have the skills and competences needed to craft professional, appealing content.
Boring content, poorly written content and content that does not entertain or provoke an emotional response will make people leave your website and never come back.
These are just four of the main failings known to make content marketing strategies fail. A few other issues may be standing in the way of success, as well. To refine your approach, you’ll need to take a look at the content you’ve produced so far, the metrics you’re tracking and the needs of your audience. Use this as your starting point to refine your approach and give your audience more of the right kind of content.
