You’re cultivating a vibrant social media presence. You’ve got a healthy following on your email newsletter, and you’ve been pleased with the number of shares your blog is getting. You’re doing well in meeting some of your content marketing goals, but you may wonder if there are still ways you could step it up and get even more out of your investment.
Consider these four common mistakes companies often make in their approach to content marketing:
Watching the Competition: Of course, you need to be aware of what your competitors are doing, taking a few notes on how your target audience tends to respond to their content marketing techniques. But you do it with a constant awareness that their target market probably is a little different from yours, and there’s a reason you have your own distinct brand.
Don’t overestimate the power of tools and techniques in relation to the power of your brand message. Remember what makes your brand unique and keep your eyes squarely on your own paper (with just an awareness of what others are doing).
Not Paying Attention: You can no longer make assumptions or go with gut feelings when it comes to delivering what your customers want. If you’re not investing in the analytics that provides a detailed analysis of what your customers want, you likely won’t be successful in your content marketing.
You also need to be sure you’re measuring the right things. Everyone knows that likes on social media are a far cry from a sale, but there are plenty of other wrong ways to gauge whether your customers are being nurtured towards a sale. You need to dive in to understand customer goals and their motivation.
Not Having a Strategy: Content marketing may seem like something you can just do day by day. Your sales guys can jump on social media, and your founder can write a blog post and you’ll do a video now and then to shake things up. It’s not a bad idea, but it’s basically throwing some ideas out to see what sticks. You’re likely to have a poor return on investment.
A good content marketing strategy starts with goals and objectives, then develops the activities that help you achieve them. Sure, you should be on social media, but even that format requires a strategic approach. What is worthy of a post? How often should you post? What are your parameters for responding to comments? Once you start asking these questions, you can see why you need a comprehensive strategy.
Not Learning From Mistakes: Failure is simply part of content marketing; you often don’t know how a particular email newsletter will do at directing traffic to your site, or whether a blog on a controversial issue might strike your audience. What you can do is use analytics to understand how past activity has been received by your audience and whether it led to behaviors that support your goals.
For instance, you may find that asking a question in your social posts tends to stir up some engagement if you phrase it right. It would be a mistake to ignore this information, and continue posting without using questions. It seems obvious, but companies often lose sight of their strategies in the daily posting process.
If you’d like to get started with a content marketing strategy, but without these common mistakes, contact us at SJC Marketing. We’ve been developing a keen mastery of the science and art surrounding content marketing and we’re ready to put together a strategy for you.