All too frequently in the world of digital marketing, we hear so much about content marketing and yet the actual article, presentation, white paper, blog post or Tweet is actually about content creation. Or worse, we hear only about content creation and little to assist with the marketing and distribution of this great content to an appreciative audience.
There is a chasm between creation and reaching your audience, bridged by marketing, to achieve wide-scale distribution of that fabulous content you created. It is simply not realistic to expect that you can write it and hordes will flock to your masterpiece to ooh and ah at your insights!
The skills required to write, film, sketch, photograph, present or design excellent content are far removed from those required to market it. This does not mean, however, that it is impossible for a content creator to also be an ingenious marketer. It is just that there is a different skill set involved, and while you may be a whizz-bang copywriter, artist, film-maker or presenter, you may find marketing tedious or uninspiring or just downright hard work.
However, in order to capitalize on the inspiration which led you to create your content, there is also (most times!) a compelling need to share it. This may be simply for applause and plaudits, but in the business world, there needs to be ROI from the content you are paying to create.
Distributing content need not be difficult. In fact, a recent survey of B2B companies revealed that 60% of those with a documented content marketing strategy rate themselves highly effective with their content marketing.
Steps to Extend Content Creation into the Content Marketing Arena
Step 1: Document your content marketing strategy. Don´t just talk about it, write it down!
Knowing who is likely to be interested in your content helps you to market directly to a willing audience. In the above mentioned survey, 94% of B2B companies are using LinkedIn to distribute content. Are you? Clearly, if you are in the B2B space, spending time marketing on Pinterest, Facebook and even Twitter may prove less likely to be worthwhile than a network, forum or event where business people congregate.
A recent online chat on Twitter #getreal invited SlideShare to participate and the results to the Q&A were extremely interesting. SlideShare and similar sites provide a content distribution option that is frequently overlooked, sometimes even by the most avid marketers. And yet, there is a clear audience within the site and with the partner sites, such as LinkedIn, who are actively seeking specific content. Perhaps your content too!
And if these guys are doing it, well, why can’t you?
Step 2: Think beyond the search engines and purely social networks for your content distribution.
Further evidence, if required, came in a discussion about how long tail terms are driving traffic to content such as presentations.
Much is made of the need to be constantly creating new content, but often, really great content on niche topics can be thin on the ground. Well-produced, high quality content can have a long shelf-life. Sometimes, it is not so important to get it out the door as fast as possible; it is more important to produce something of long-lasting value for your brand.
Step 3: Quality, quality, quality.
Always put quality with content first. Even that extra proofread or another pair of eyes to find typos, silly errors or a missed opportunity for a resource can make a difference in your ROI. Your SEO efforts should be good too; even in a Tweet as it can help reach more people.
And finally...
Step 4: Never, ever miss an opportunity to share your content.
In an ethical, non-invasive, no spam, carey-sharey way, of course. If someone is talking about a subject you covered recently in a blog post, ask if they have seen it and would care to make a comment?
Take criticism well if it happens to come your way, as this can be positive too. Learn from it, and you never know...that one share could lead to a wide distribution network you had no idea even existed.
Want to use content marketing to achieve real results for your business? Talk to us at MintCopy. Call us at 888-646-8003 or send us an email.