Search engine optimization, website design, blogging, article writing – all of these web publishing strategies had been around for many years. But content marketing didn’t have a name until 2012 when Seth Levine coined the term.
And his version of content marketing was built upon a strategy that has worked for decades: create great content. Then use specific types of hooks to attract and engage your audience.
Content marketing is not something new; it’s just a fancy word for traditional marketing techniques implemented by young people using online tools.
What can you make with content? Anything you want! From educational resources to how-to guides to entertainment articles. You can even make money using content created about yourself or about products and services related to yours.
The key to effective content marketing is creating quality materials that are helpful, informative, or entertaining. Most people who read blogs aren’t going to give as much weight to written articles. People who browse facebook pages don’t spend time reading lengthy novels.
You need to find ways to bring people in to your site via easy steps rather than asking them to search for your address.
That way they’ll be more likely to feel comfortable giving you their personal information. And if they do, then fine…but don’t think that simply having a good story will win them over. Content marketing is what makes or breaks an entrepreneur.
Twitter is a popular social networking website with over 40 million users worldwide. Started by Jack Dorsey in 2006, Twitter was founded to help people stay informed about what’s happening at this moment in time. People can follow accounts of public figures who they believe will provide a valuable message or insight.
By having someone send out information through Twitter, it was seen as ‘the tweet’ - something that you sent out into the world that everyone could read.
Because everything was written right now, there were very few events beyond tweeting about them that would hold anyone’s attention. Therefore, people focused on creating content for the instant share-and-go cycle.
In January 2011, someone named Justin Mersino created the first tweet. He tweeted about an ice cream truck coming down his street. Within one week, he had nearly 10,000 followers and the media began taking notice.
Within just 11 months, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg (who was a long-time customer of Mersino’s business) had bought 20000+ followers, and the rest of the internet started paying attention!
Content marketing really took off in the spring of 2012 when publishers realized that they could use Twitter to promote articles and inform readers of a story, event, or topic.
Media kits are very expensive nowadays to create, so don’t assume that just because you have an amazing media kit now, that it will still be effective at the end of your campaign.
Most business owners understand the importance of content marketing these days, but they may not have the time or money to put into creating quality content resources like blogs and social pages.
That’s where we come in! A lot of times, clients get stuck back at step one of the content creation process when they should be moving on to the next steps.
We help business owners through the start up cost of content creation. After researching and understanding customers and their needs, use our Beginner’s Guide to Online Sales to set up a Facebook page or buy blogging software to keep them updated.
Content marketing is one of the most effective ways to promote your business online. But what is content marketing, and how can you use it to attract customers and grow your brand?
Content marketing is an integrated approach to marketing that includes creating or curating quality content, launching paid ads next to that content, and promoting that content through social media likes and blogs.
You create the content, then figure out how best to distribute it. For example, write a blog post about a topic. Then, pitch your article to magazines or websites in your industry to publish it.
Later, you can spread the word via Twitter, Facebook, and other platforms. You also may choose to host live events where people can attend to learn more about your business.
All of these things are forms of content marketing. As with any form of advertising, the goal is to inform and persuade readers (and viewers and listeners) to think of you instead of as a vendor.
To make this work better, have materials available for visitors, sign-ups, or employees who ask for them. Most content marketing efforts fail because they don’t have a plan going forward.
Have a strategy, execute the plan, and watch everything come together.
Even if you’re not in the advertising business, there are still ways to test new products and ideas with your audience. You can try testing recipes or methods out in your kitchen, then putting up your findings to see which tricks work better.
You can also test how well products sell by trying to promote them more heavily and see if they get greater sales. This works best when you have a small number of projects so you don’t put all your eggs in one basket.
The reason this works is because people who buy things directly want to feel like what they’ve bought will help them solve their problem. If you make your customers feel like they’ll only use your product, it can be hard to win them back.
That’s why content marketing is so important. Not just for traditional blogs, but white label websites too. Your clients may already be fans of your content through social media channels, but eventually they’ll need to convert these fans into regular visitors, and then subscribers.
In order to measure the effectiveness of your content, you’ll need clear goals set out ahead of time. It’s easy to fall into the habit of posting weekly posts, for example, that take up most of your week instead of doing little homework tasks list-style.
Content marketing is a very active field right now, with many companies popping up every day claiming to provide quality
Customer communication is not new, but it’s become more prominent in recent years thanks to tools like Twitter and Facebook.
However, successful marketing efforts can’t ignore email. According to industry experts, over 80% of adults start their day by checking their emails.
That’s why giving your customers a way to contact you via email is such a valuable tool. Not only does it let them communicate easily, but it also gives you a way to stay top-of-mind when they need to find you (i.e., when they are shopping search).
You should make it easy for people to reach you, whether that means providing a phone number or creating a pre-made message. This helps reduce uncertainty and promotes customer trust, both critical components to achieving sales.
Content marketing has evolved over the past few years. Back in 2009, brands would create content like blogs and articles containing affiliate links to other products or services. This was typically used as bait to get people to click on a link and visit their website.
In 2013, content marketing took another swing. People started creating content related to their own brand or product using keywords. More often than not, these were original pieces of work.
2016 is going to be an important year for content marketers. Over the next 12 months, you’re going to see more traditional publishers enter the arena. What happened to all the content marketing tools?
Well, they are still here. But with so many new ways to share information available, more and more companies are looking towards becoming creators of content.
We are seeing it with anyone from grocery stores to corporate businesses.
Content creation isn’t just limited to publications anymore. It can be done anywhere by someone without any professional writing skills.
And while content sharing has been around a long time, what makes things even easier is that there are already established channels and systems in place that need improvement.
Brands need help getting their name out and they need assistance driving traffic back to their websites. That’s why there’s such a focus on improving content sharing platforms and how we interact with them.
There are only two players in this space who have helped drive
Blogging is an excellent way to connect with your audience and promote yourself as a person. Your readers will feel like they know you and that you are interacting with them through your posts.
Your content should be aimed at your target demographic, but don’t forget to keep things interesting for yourself. You want your audience to continue reading once they have read the first section of your article.
Provide more information than usual (that is what blogging is about) but also make it a goal to put out quality content. Quality here refers to the effort you take to add relevant content to the topic and help people in some form or another.
Be creative and use profanity where necessary, just avoid using it where kids may be reading your blog. Never talk about something dirty when you can easily get away with it!
The whole purpose of having a blog is so you can communicate new ideas every day. By not posting regularly, you waste a valuable resource. People miss your blog because they see no reason to visit it anymore.
Keep putting up fresh content and eventually people will return to their old habits.
Bullet point: Treat your team like a family
Paragraph: Another important element of leadership is treating your team like a family. Everyone contributes to each other’s success and this includes sharing knowledge and experience.
Teamwork makes projects go faster and organizations work better. If you need others' help,
Beyond simply having an online presence, you’ve made a choice to put your content out there for others to consume.
You’re assuming that people want to read it, and that they will pay money for access to it.
Content marketing has evolved since its inception several years ago.
Back in 2011, anyone could publish a blog and gain readers. It was easy!
But what most bloggers realize today is that publishing quality content takes time.
They may not be able to keep up this pace, but over time their efforts will start to pay off.
There are no shortcuts to success.
A decade ago, when blogs were just breaking into mainstream, people still assumed that your web traffic had to be millions of visitors to make any money online.
It isn't.
We love it when things get popular and go viral, but letting our thoughts settle in front of a blank screen can be very uncomfortable.
That's why we have writers - to take some of those same common ideas and help explain them for us.
