entrepreneur.com
Promoting irrelevant content to your customer
base is as useless as bringing a knife to a gunfight. The question is
no longer whether targeted content is a competition worth entering, but how to
bring home the gold.
With 86percent of buyers “frequently”
using mobile phones to access business-related content, it’s no wonder
marketers and publishers are leaving their pay-per-click and display
tactics in the closet and opting for the gold medal of all advertising methods:
content marketing.
Here are some of the methods being used by winning
companies:
1. Leveraging influencers
Influencer marketing is the force of nature shaking
the online marketing world. There are two things to know when utilizing
influencer-based marketing: it's expensive and it works. With that said,
choosing the right influencer takes much more than a bit of YouTube browsing.
Successful influencer marketing doesn’t end once a video goes live. It is
important to follow up with comments and viewer queries across your
channels, as well as the influencer’s.
Recommended app: Mention allows brands to identify the best influencers for their brand
and, with tools such as the influencer scorer, to know the amount of traction
his or her brand will offer. The Mention dashboard also allows
for you to connect with users directly.
2. Making it move
Digital storytelling should be as engaging and
fluid as your content. Having a compelling user experience is exactly what
your brand needs to draw your customer in and retain them. Content should be
moving with your customer and enhancing their online customer journey.
Interactive content is also a highly useful way for
testing audiences’ online preferences, allowing for brands to elevate the
content they curate.
Recommended app: Apester allows brands to engage using personalized experiences such as
quizzes and interactive content.
3. Creating for your customer
A surprising 61 percent of consumers are more
likely to buy from a company that delivers personal content that is specific to
their wants and needs, according to Custom Content Council. Being that
content has such an impact on conversion and retention, having an awareness of trending topics and industry keywords is a great way of understanding what
your customer is searching for online.
It’s crucial to remember that content should be
targeted to your customer’s needs, not your own. While self promotion and PR
are huge forces in marketing, giving information to your clients with no
strings attached is the best way to organically reach your customer base and
keep them for good. By knowing your customers' personas and breaking down their
pain points, you can adapt your content to your target customer and create
deeper connections.
At the same time, if you are truly creating content
for your customer, it should never be a one-way street. Instead, your content
should be a catalyst for a dialogue. To make your content genuinely
useful, encourage your users to add their own insights. This not only enriches
the content itself, but it also empowers them to become loyal users.
Recommended app: Popular sites such as EW.com use Spot.IM’s social sidebar
to make such conversations easy and simple.
4. Letting the journey drive content
The competition for outstanding content begins with
a keen understanding of the customer journey, so that your brand can improve
it. By creating a road map for this epic, you can position your content to tell
a consistent story -- one that individually addresses each action and
motivation of your customer base. Much of the content story can be boiled
down to smart planning and a well-devised content calendar.
Recommended app: This one I haven't tried yet, but searchingthrough many blogs I've
found DivvyHQ to be highly recommended. With it, you are able to plan and manage
your calendar on one dashboard, allowing you to be ready for your
customers' journeys. Remember that the customer journey isn't necessarily
linear, but is constantly in flux.
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