Is your content marketing strategy doing enough for your business

Is your content marketing strategy doing enough for your business?

Let’s start this off by making a rough guesstimate about how many searches Google handles. Some analysts suggest that the search engine handles approximately over 88 – 90 billion searches each month, while some predict the volume to be 1.1 trillion searches in a year. Staggering numbers that can make a newly launched website feel as big as a speck of sand. So even you pick any number in between you’ll still end up with an astounding number of websites that are alive and kicking. Now consider that a good number of them are your rival websites.

Humbling as it is to think of it from this perspective, there is one thing that comes explicitly shining though- The world is on the web and your brand is trying to establish a connection with roughly 7 billion people living on this planet. In this scenario, the spotlight is trained on content and one cannot ignore the fact that content does indeed ‘rule the internet roost’.

Now the question is, is your content management strategy cashing in on it?

Why content shouldn’t play second fiddle in your online marketing strategy

Most businesses think that it is necessary to dole out some or another piece of content in the form of a blog, a tweet or a You tube video and that should be sufficiently enough. Truth is it isn’t. Content strategics shouldn’t be what you do after you have planned your online mar-comm strategy, it should be before you have planned it. For the sake of repetition, content is king on the net (and this king rules with a heavy hand).

Newer updates and algorithmic changes ensure that web users are not subjected to duplicate and repetitive content. So, it’s all the more pertinent that your content marketing strategy comprise of original, interesting, relevant and useful information. Rehashing and reposting or stuffing your blog/ site with too many SEO keywords may result in harsher penalties and a costly downtime with loss of business and precious customer loyalty.

Now that we’ve established why content strategics is important for a business website/ blog owner, lets look at the how you can get down to doing it.

Begin with a crystal clear motive

We have said it before and we’re saying it again, motive is important. What exactly are you trying to achieve by publishing that blog or posting that tweet?

If you’re planning to retain customers by posting timely tweets, then you need to ensure that the tweet info is worth tweeting, right? Inane things that won’t shake a leaf are better left ‘unsaid’.

Begin by chalking out the agenda for the content you want to post. While in some cases the final purpose may be brand recall and nothing more, in some other instances you may probably want to upsell and create some hype about it. As it may be, decide the end objective first and take every team member along while brainstorming this. That way you’ll have everybody on board trying to achieve the same thing.

Plan of Action (POA) and channel of communication

It’s amazing what a clearly worded content strategy can do for your business. You’ll understand what you want to achieve and how to go about it.

Remember to consciously avoid going the rote way of publishing your content, besides it’s not necessary that your competitors platforms will work equally well for you too. Begin to think differently and planning out a step by step plan of action on what you want to achieve and which platform can help you achieve those objectives.

Interesting Social Media conversations, Facebook, Pinterest and blogging do help, but you need to have a lucid fundamental strategy for your content. A clear idea about the target audience will tell you if Twitter will work better than You tube videos. Online contests and promotions with relevant ‘push through’ content are helpful when you are looking to achieve quicker results. Define a unique proposition that you will promote with the content you publish.

Stick to the plan

As far as possible don’t waver with the content marketing strategy and take every effort to project a brand image that is consistent and looks like it was tailor made just for your customers. Of course, review is important, so do ensure that you regularly check and update your blogs and tweets (handle negative feedback promptly though). This way you’ll stay on track with your content and channel strategy.