Content marketing – learn how to do it right in 2013
Are you getting the results you need from all your content marketing efforts? If not, what could you have been doing wrong all along? Are you simply not doing enough or are you missing out on some important points? To help you realize your shortcomings and to develop a more effective content marketing [3] plan for the future, here are some strategies you may need to consider:
Know your mission by heart. Do you know the main reason why you are writing and distributing all that content? What is your core message? If you don't have any idea about these things, then you can never hope to encounter any success from your efforts. You need to develop a content marketing mission statement to define why you are creating content in the first place. You need to define what your business stands for and put your readers' informational needs above everything else. Do it and everything else will fall neatly in place.
Strive to be the leading source of information in your niche. Now is the time to get serious. Rather than simply creating content, you should focus on being the leading source of information in your niche. Give your existing and prospective customers the information they need to help them make their buying decisions. Provide valuable information to make your customers' lives easier and answer their most pressing questions.
Develop unique and useful content. Find a way to incorporate your key messages to your content without sounding like an advertisement board. Remember, content marketing is all about building a solid relationship with your target market – something that you cannot get from using traditional sales tactics.
Pay attention to your titles. Create titles that grab the reader's attention, make a bold declaration and are tweet-ready. This is the most effective way to engage your readers right from the start.
Start curating. By curating content, you get to connect with other bloggers and content marketers, demonstrate your expertise on your topic, build your credibility, spread link love and get traffic in return, and spread your message across to a wider audience. For best results, follow the 80/20 rule (share 80% curated content and 20% original work).
Use a strong call-to-action. Take your audience by the hand and show them what they need to do next.
Share your work. Generate social buzz around your content by sharing them on your favorite social networking sites such as Facebook [4] and Twitter. Don't hesitate to get the word out.
Measure results. Determine the effectiveness of your content marketing efforts by keeping an eye on your page views, Likes, retweets and +1's. If your readers are taking the desired action, then that is a good indication that you are doing the right thing.
This is how you do content marketing in 2013. Follow these content marketing tips and you will surely start getting impressive results from your efforts.