Nowadays, every business needs a crash course on content marketing 101. More companies see how much it helps them reach their business goals. Specifically, they prefer social media marketing for a variety of reasons.
We will go through the basics of content marketing and social marketing. Then, we will discuss why your company needs them and how they could help. More importantly, we’ll explain how you can start using these strategies.
Almost everyone in the world is on social media, so your business should be there too. It allows you to promote your products or services to a global audience. Social media marketing opens up new opportunities for your company.
It gives valuable content that your potential customers want. These could be ebooks, articles, blog posts, or other media. The Content Marketing Institute says it is:
“…a strategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly-defined audience — and, ultimately, to drive profitable customer action.”
This lets your targeted audience find solutions from your pieces of content. But, of course, it’s better if you provide answers they can’t find anywhere else.
As they refer more often to your content, you gain their trust. This helps in building relationships with them. Eventually, content marketing lets you get loyal customers.
This could help you boost earnings if you do it right. However, you’ll need lots of time and hard work. You’ll have to stick with it for a long time until it works.
Related Article: Why is Content Marketing so Important?
Statista’s study for 2021 shows why you need content marketing 101. It found out that it’s a growing trend among businesses. In response, your business should use it too.
Companies often use it for a better brand image. They want people to see their brand in a positive light. It makes sense since it helps connect with a lot of people.
As more folks see how good their brand is, they could get more customers. It’s another reason why companies like using this type of marketing.
To do this, they make sure their content serves specific customer needs. So, as we said, content marketing provides information that helps people.
As a result, people are likely to rely on their content. This helps in turning them into customers. This is why more companies want to use this kind of marketing.
They also want to get more customers. That’s why companies spent over 40% of B2C budgets on it. Also, they may spend more than 60% of their B2B budgets on content marketing this year.
Your competitors are already using this method. In addition, businesses outside your field now use it. In response, your company should adapt to this new trend.
There are many kinds of media, so there are various kinds of content. Therefore, your next step in Content Marketing 101 is learning your options:
Infographic – These are creative pictures that promote goods and services. They’re effective because people like visuals. That’s why most companies use them.
Video – Sites like YouTube make it easier to watch video content. What’s more, it’s a lot easier to make them too. If they like your videos, people could share them with others. In turn, they help you spread content.
Webpages – Most companies have websites nowadays. Also, they have pages on most social media. This helps them reach a wide customer pool. Even better, they could post other content on them.
Podcasts – These involve people talking about stuff on audio, just like radio shows. The hosts often read ad breaks in between. Your content is the podcast or is the featured sponsor.
Ebooks – People read books on their mobile devices instead of paperbacks. They could help people so that they may count as content. However, you’ll need more time and effort to make a successful ebook.
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Out of all the methods, why do we focus on social media? Well, billions around the world use it every day. You may even be checking it out while reading Content Marketing 101!
It lets us reach people from thousands of miles away for free. We could share our photos, videos, and ideas with someone far away in seconds!
This makes it great for promoting goods and services. Do it right, and your small business could sell to billions. As a result, more companies used social media marketing.
What’s more, it uses content marketing as well. These sites let you share your content with the largest customer base ever. Also, you could use it to boost traffic to your other content.
Let’s say your blog posts don’t have a lot of readers. You can post it on your social media page, so it reaches more people. Place a link to your blogs to make them more effective.
Other companies also prefer this method. According to Statista, B2B companies use LinkedIn more often. Facebook and YouTube follow it.
If you want to reach customers, it’s better to use these two. After all, more people use these platforms. Yet, you should be on the other sites that your customers often use.
Related Article: Why Inbound Marketing?
Here’s the best part of content marketing 101, learning how to plan it! Your first step is finding out your business goals. This will guide your content marketing efforts.
In short, what does your company get from this method? Do you need to spread brand awareness? Perhaps you want more traffic for your landing pages?
Moreover, go into the limits of your business. Most companies work with a set budget for a certain period. Find out how your strategy could work around them.
Next, you have to understand your customers. Find out their needs and wants to get content ideas. These could help in content creation. You could start by making a buyer’s persona.
It’s a made-up person that represents your customers. It will have their behaviors, wants, needs, and other details. This helps you get to know your target audience.
Let’s take Apple as an example. They wanted to sell their iPods to teens. That’s why they used ads with young folks dancing to trendy music.
What’s more, it can help in promoting your content. First, you’ll learn the media they use often. Then, you could put your marketing there. This way, you won’t waste time and money!
Related Article: How to Spend Your Social Media Advertising Smartly
Most businesses have mission and vision statements. People could read on their websites. Of course, your company has them too. See if your content marketing serves those goals.
We talked about short-term marketing goals earlier. Now, it’s time to think about the long-term ones. You may ask yourself the following questions:
What are the ideas that your brand follows?
How does your business make peoples’ lives better?
Does your company help customers?
But, unfortunately, content marketing strategy is a bit different from social media. That’s why we’ll go through it in the last part of Content Marketing 101.
It still involves the same ideas, but for websites like Facebook. The first step is choosing your platforms. It’s not enough to just be on the biggest one.
Nowadays, we often see new social media apps popping up. Aside from Facebook, there’s Twitter and Instagram. But, unfortunately, you’ll miss out on more customers if you use just one.
The buyer’s persona from earlier could help. Use it to figure out what platforms your customers use. Of course, this will depend on their interests, age, and other factors.
Then, it’s time for another important part of content marketing. You should make content that is valuable for your customers. The buyer’s persona could help with this too.
Remember that people are drawn to visuals. They prefer content they can see or watch. That’s why more companies use infographics and videos for marketing.
What’s more, you should schedule your content. If you give content at specific time slots, your customers could expect them easier. As a result, they may rely on your content even more.
Make a content calendar that shows when you’ll release your marketing materials. Of course, this will also depend on your customers. Make sure they can tune in when you publish content.
Related Article: Social Media and Lead Generation
Businesses help their customers band together. This helps in bringing more people closer to your products and services. You could do this by giving referral rewards.
Give a price for interacting with your content. For instance, customers could earn money if they refer your content to their friends. The goal is to encourage folks to check your content.
Also, you should get customer feedback. Let them send comments through your website. You may give them a survey to understand what they think of your brand.
Their insights could help you improve your content marketing strategy. Always look for ways to make better content. There’s always new stuff to learn and apply to your strategy.
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