In the age of social media, blogging, responsive web design, and mobile media, it can be hard to remember a time when marketing was simpler. Long gone are the days when your choices only consisted of radio, print, or television. However, perhaps the aspect of marketing that has evolved the most rapidly is content. Content marketing has moved beyond just captivating headlines. While there is still an art to catchy, noteworthy phrases that stick in the minds of your customer, owning an authentic marketing campaign means having content that keeps the reader’s attention beyond the headline.
Having meaningful connections with potential buyers has always been imperative for businesses. When other industries were clinging on to print advertising and commercial spots, others started to favor content marketing over conventional methods. They understood that new generations had grown wary of traditional advertising, and discovered that content marketing establishes their company as an expert in the field, adds content to their brand, and ultimately drives sales.
Facilitating informative conversations online with original content, distributed through blogs, email, and social media, builds brand loyalty and relationships that other media can’t. By crafting stories that engage the audience, potential buyers feel connected to the business. Of course, the goal is to entice a purchase, but if these customers feel like they are being engaged with helpful information, the process is faster and smoother.
Beyond these connections, content marketing provides the domino effect of sharing with other viewers. When someone shares your content, it means that they don’t only like it, but that they find it valuable enough to tell two friends, and they tell two friends, and so on and so on. Or, in the day of Facebook, they tell 1,000 friends.
What marketers aim to do is to create content that will be informative, entertaining, and thought-provoking. Go beyond information about the company, and expand on community events, industry news, and personal profiles. These blogs are then shared on social media to reach the maximum number of people, and are perceived as interesting reads and not blatant product pushing.
Content marketing is personal, not corporate, and while making connections is what it is about, technology also plays a major role in these campaigns. There are extremely useful ways to track digital marketing efforts, tools that analyze customer interactions, and ways to decipher social media campaigns. Using your web tools to view how many people came to your website is relatively easy, and the same can be said for blog views. If you share your content on your social media sites, they provide their own metrics in addition to views and likes. This makes your content campaign measurable and valuable.
There are several factors that drive brand performance, but if you are committing to a content campaign, it should provide a considerable boost. If your content is being shared, liked, and valued, then it should be producing leads, and eventually more business. Sometimes you may not know if those leads are directly from your content efforts, but if you have a clear vision of your objectives, then you can be confident your content is responsible for a large chunk of that success.
