This is a guest contribution from Nick Rojas.
Former United States Senator, businessman and lawyer, Rick Santorum was quoted as saying, “In the pursuit of bottom line profits in exchange for producing content, distributing that content and marketing that content to inappropriate audiences, that's a problem for me.” This statement is an excellent analysis of a successful online content marketing strategy.
One could also compare it to the age-old philosophy, if a tree falls in the forest, and no one is there to hear it, does it still make a noise? If you put content out on the internet and no one is reading it, does it really matter?
So how can we create an effective content marketing strategy and get the enormous online audience to connect with our material? Here are some words of wisdom for creating, launching and succeeding with this endeavor:
Infographic courtesy of: Demandmedia.
STRATEGY: Smart Insights tells us to, “Take control of your content marketing with a defined strategy.” Smartinsights notes that most businesses don’t have an effective strategy in place and they recommend:
- Determining where you need to invest to in order to compete within your market.
- Make the case for the business to invest in this strategy if necessary.
- Integrate your content marketing strategy with your business goals.
- Set these goals and link to a reasonable ROI by using analytics.
As Winston Churchill once said, “However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results.”
QUALITY: Social media expert Mark Schaefer coined the term content shock and said, “The emerging market epoch defined when exponentially increasing volumes of content intersect our limited human capacity to consume it.”
It almost goes without saying that quality is better than quantity in most instances, and content marketing is no different. While you should still offer your readers a wide variety of content to choose from, it should be of the highest calibre and not simply generated to fill up space.
INFLUENCERS: Best selling author, Jaachynma N.E. Agu, tells us, “Don’t blow off another’s candle, for it won’t make yours shine brighter.”
This rings especially true for the concept of using influencers, those who are well-connected and highly regarded in their field or industry, in conjunction with our own content. Similar to the use of quotes in this piece, connecting with these individuals will gain a larger audience for content.
SOCIAL: Father of the PC Bill Gates touches on the importance of social media when he said that it has, “Improved the world in just about every area you can think of. New kinds of entertainment and social media. Access to information and the ability to give a voice people who would never have been heard.”
Find your voice on social media with the distribution of your material on these platforms, but more importantly, stay relevant with trends and develop an audience here. Also of great relevance, don’t go after a hard sale on these networks right out of the gate. Instead, connect with people first, offer advice, respond to posts, answer questions and you’ll come off as a trusted advisor rather than a pushy salesperson.
VISUALS: One of the most visually renowned men in recent history, Walt Disney once stated, “Of all of our inventions for mass communication, pictures still speak the most universally understood languages.”
Last, but certainly not least, it almost goes without saying, but using visuals will increase total viewing of content 94% over those without. The more multimedia used in conjunction with your material, the more views you will receive, its just that simple.
About author:
Nick Rojas is a business consultant and writer who lives in Los Angeles. He has consulted small and medium-sized enterprises for over twenty years. He has contributed articles to Visual.ly, Entrepreneur, and TechCrunch. You can follow him on Twitter @NickARojas, or you can reach him at NickAndrewRojas [@] gmail.com.
