6 Tips For A Killer Content Marketing Plan
Posted by Stephen Moore on Mon, Oct 10, 2011
A content marketing plan is essential for online marketing success. Effective and educational content will provide more substance to your social media and search engine marketing efforts. It’s important for your content to be educational and informative because online consumers do not like being interrupted; they want to use the tools they have to learn more about products they are researching.
Content marketing is becoming more common and its proliferation is leading to changing customer expectations. Customers expect that brands and companies will put helpful information “out there” for them to discover. The growth of content marketing is also leading to a new dilemma: there are more sources, channels and types of content available for use in a content marketing plan than ever before.
Customers and marketers are changing and this evolution means that content marketing is becoming more sophisticated. Businesses with effective content marketing strategies produce different content for customers that are at different stages in the buying cycle. This practice helps micro-target customers and prospects and leads to higher conversion rates.
Given the growth and evolution of content marketing, it can be overwhelming for people who are attempting to develop content marketing strategies.
The most overwhelming part of developing a content marketing strategy is selecting the topic of your content. Here are six ideas to help you develop your content marketing strategy.
#1 – Be tapped in to your industry
You need to participate in industry events that are relevant to your business. The people that gather at and participate in these events are a wealth of knowledge. You need to note what others are discussing and learn how to communicate that in a customer-friendly manner.
#2 – Get on Google Reader
You don’t really have to use Google Reader, but you should be using some form of RSS reader. Using an RSS reader, like Google Reader, is a great way to get fresh ideas. You find blogs and news sites that are related to your business and have their new stories and posts sent to your reader. You have all the latest news on your industry sent directly to you and you can filter out the information that is not relevant.
The success of a content marketing plan depends on you staying up-to-date on your industry and having news sent directly to you lets you learn about developments quickly.
#3 – Forums
Before social media came forums. They are online meeting places where people with shared interests meet and discuss relevant topics; kind of like a primitive Facebook wall. Forums are a great way for you to stay current on topics in your niche and they are easy to locate: just perform a Google search for “[your niche] + forum” and you will have no problems.
#4 – Your blog isn’t a one person show
A lot of business owners and executives think that they are the only people that can contribute to a content marketing strategy; this is a mistake. It is a mistake because i the amount of work that is required can be overwhelming and it is a mistake because you are missing out on a potential pool of talented workers.
Executives and business owners need to reach out to their employees and engage them in the content marketing process. An effective content marketing plan involves all employees and empowers them to write content about areas that interest them.
#5 – LinkedIn
LinkedIn is the professional version of Facebook and (if used properly) is an incredibly powerful business tool. Once you join LinkedIn you are able to join and sort through groups related to your industry where people discuss matters pertinent to a niche or market. The most important part about joining groups is to identify the groups that are the most active and have the most members. These groups expand your personal network and increase the number of ideas and amount of content to which you are exposed.
#6 – Don’t forget your readers
Content marketing plans need to rely on the people that read your material; it is easy to forget this. People producing content are highly knowledgeable about a particular subject and think they know enough to produce the necessary content. However, a strong content marketing plan involves reaching out to your readership: survey your readers to discover what they want to know, what questions they need answered and what kind of content they enjoy the most.
An effective content marketing plan can begin by leveraging these six ideas.