You might be wondering, What is content marketing? Why have I never heard of this before?
Content Marketing isn’t a new idea, but it is an idea that has become popular throughout businesses and their marketing strategy. Content Marketing focuses on the content of posts rather than the number of times you post or how cool your post looks. What is written and being said in the post is clear and understandable, but also filled with necessary information.
So, technically, what is content marketing? The Content Marketing Institute defines it as follows,
“Content marketing is a strategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly defined audience — and, ultimately, to drive profitable customer action.”
This definition is just a fancy way of saying that the content is more important. Instead of posting items to social media feeds haphazardly, you have a clear goal in mind that you want to achieve. Instead of writing a blog with no clear information, you write a blog with a purpose and goal in mind. Also, you have a specific audience. Who do you want to engage? Who do you want to entertain? This question can help your content be clear and meaningful.
Now you might be asking yourself, Okay, but why is content marketing important?
Content Marketing is important because it matters to consumers. Visitors and prospective buyers need good information before they make a purchase. It is easy in today’s day and age to compare prices and/or deals.
Content Marketing is important because it matters to search engines. Google’s algorithm updates have rewarded good quality verses quantity and bad quality. Up-to-date quality content is very important. Uploading fresh article and updating existing content will help show search engines that you have a strong voice and people will therefore continue to come to your page.
Also, Google tends to punish pages that look “spammy”. How does a page look spammy? Overloading content for optimizations sake. Always write for the reader and not the search engine.
Content Marketing is important because it matters to your business. This strategy will help show your expertise, gain trust, help highlight important topics, and gain consumers and/or visitors. Now, it isn’t wise to just take this information and go at it. It is important to have a process. Here are 5 steps for a framework to get you started:
- Planning
- Audience
- Content Development
- Implement
- Monitor Results
Following this process and focusing on content can increase results in more than one way. Content Marketing is the way to give audiences what they want and look for in a site. Contact us today for help with all your marketing needs whether it be social media, content, or search engine optimization!
