All those out there in the market, dealing in digital marketing will undoubtedly know what content marketing is.
But hold your horses, are you sure you know the inside out of this powerful marketing technique?
Content in itself is a vast area to deal in, so you can imagine how giant content marketing can be.
The first quarter of 2019 is almost over. How many of you have revised your marketing strategies and have thought of beating the bull this year?
Some of you might have and for those who have not till now, well, it’s not too late. But delaying any longer can leave you far behind in the race.
Content in 2019
2019 is all about Artificial Intelligence, Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality and heavy advanced technologies, but it is also about Content.
Content is like the oldest member of the gang, whose importance keeps increasing with time.
New technologies will keep adding on, but the content is one thing that will continue to be the backbone of digital marketing.
It is almost like, everything is incomplete without the content.
Well, the importance of content marketing can go on forever. But how many of you actually know what content marketing exactly is?
What is Content Marketing?
Many people have this misconception that content is all about long texts. But you are wrong, there is a lot more in the box, other than just text.
Content can be anything from a 10 – 15-word tagline for social media, 2000+ words article, a video script, emails, whitepapers, PR’s, campaigns, SMS, advertisements and the list is endless.
Using all these efficiently and systematically to boost your brand awareness in the online market somewhat defines content marketing.
Now that you have an idea about content marketing, let us explore the trends that you should not ignore in 2019.
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Create a Content Calendar:
It is always advised to be well prepared in advance than to panic at the last moment.
When you plan about content marketing, the first thing you should note down is when and where are you going to post your content.
Prepare a systematic calendar for it. Mark the dates when your content is to be published. But make sure it is not overstuffed.
Keep a little gap between posting each type of content. Let the first one penetrate into the viewers before you give the second one.
Things that you could use for content marketing can include:
Blogs
Articles
Social media posts
Infographics
PR’s
Answers on Quora
Promotional videos
Short explainer videos
Emails
All that you need to focus on, is to engage with your audience. Those who reached the pinnacle by throwing social media posts on several platforms to attract attention are going to fall down as quickly as they climbed.
Gone are the days when only a few posts and blogs here and there were enough.
The online audience has become all the more smart and demanding.
So in 2019, you have to give up on your comfort zone and explore new territories of the content field. -
Establish Authenticity With Content
The audience is done with fake news and corporate scandals.
Now they want something real, something that they can trust and rely on and something that will add up to their knowledge instead of diminishing it. So you have to be very careful about whatever you are publishing.
There should be no compromise at any cost no matter what when it comes to the authenticity of the content. According to the research and data:
91% of the audience is willing to reward those who publish authentic content.
86% of the people decide if they like and support a brand on the basis of the authenticity of their content.
The crux of this is, being transparent about your company. And to do this, you will have to–
– Understand what exactly defines your company.
– How your customers would define it.
– And how your employees might define it.
Once you are successful in establishing these pillars, show them to your audience in the form of videos, texts, images, etc.
Publishing real feedbacks of your customers will help build trust among your viewers.
Posting video testimonials is one of the best ways to show transparency. -
Give Useful Content
Many people usually make this mistake that if they are publishing any type of content it has to be only about them, their products, their services, and their company.
Well, if you are following this myth, you are making a big mistake – Stop right away.
The content is not always all about you so you need to understand what your audience wants to read.
You will have to follow their interests and demands and have to give them the content that they want.
The perspective of the audience has changed now, it will take them less than 2 seconds to switch if you are not giving what they are looking for.
The viewers are now interested in enhancing their knowledge and grasp as much information as possible.
As per the numbers:
78% of the audience do not engage in the content if it is not about their interest.
More than three-quarter of the audience online engage only with the content that is personally relevant to them. -
Build a connect
Any content is best sold only when it can establish a connection with its audience and no other connect is stronger than the emotional one.
You can pick any bestselling content and it sure will make you feel a certain way — that is the key to build that connection with your audience.
And how you can do that is by first analyzing what your audience actually wants.
Knowing who your targeted audience is and what they are looking for makes you craft the perfect content for them.
And you don’t want to forget — content is first about your audience and then about your product/service.
The best content is the one that caters to the audience’s needs so that they would come back looking for more. -
Content is the next big thing
Content is the boss that rules the internet. With the increasing consumption of the internet, and the people relying on the internet, content marketing is going to change the world.
To give you an example — YouTube was not recognized as a full-time career or something one would do to earn a living. But today it is an entirely different scenario.
Your customers today are disguised as another internet user, their assumptions are made with your internet presence.
One thing that makes or breaks your internet presence is — the content.
You can clearly see how important is the content and how it will impact your online presence in the coming future.
If you haven’t already made your content plan for the year, it’s high time you did that. -
Don’t rely on stale strategy
One of the biggest mistake marketers make is to go with the usual marketing strategy.
The internet is changing at lightning speed and if you’re not coping your strategy with that then you might lack from making your brand stand out in the crowd.
If something worked in the previous year, it dates its victory to that year only and sadly, does not get carried forward.
It’s a new year and a new strategy awaits.
The market is being flooded with new ideas every single day and how you can make your own mark there is, by rendering to the latest trends. -
Utilize multiple platforms
Gone are the days when content used to be just written text or just one simple video on one platform.
Customers like you to be seen(visible) all over the net and that is how you can win their trust.
To keep up with the trend and to build a rock-solid strategy, you need to be social everywhere and not just limit yourself to one platform.
Diverse platforms provide diverse advantages and make sure you benefit from all of them.
In fact, it is not at all difficult to manage the analytics as well because of the ease social platforms provide.
To give you an example — if you’re running a YouTube channel, make sure you broaden your reach through other social media platforms.
This gives you broader scope, widen your reach and make you (and your content) famous in no time! -
Your customers are smart enough, are you?
It’s time you amp up your social game and provide plain, crisp, informative content to your customers.
They don’t like to be fooled and they are smart enough to catch you up there and that can backfire.
You don’t even need to be much fancy to woo your customers (if you can then got a big green flag).
But all they need is solutions to their problem (listen, they have too much of them).
The best marketing strategy in today’s date is to provide a solution to your customers and gain their trust. -
Keep an eye open
You should always keep a check on the industry trends as well, as to what is trending and doing well in the market.
But there is no sense in copying someone else’s creativity. It just means to take inspiration.
The trends in the market make your content go viral and give a boost to your content.
This is something you should definitely be adding in your next content plan.
The bottom line remains to keep up with the trends, come up with new ideas for your customers. Be creative and utilize this powerful media to the fullest to attain success.
Grasp these strategies as soon as possible and become the icon in your industry.
They are sure to amp up your content strategy and make you achieve your content goals.
Not to forget, content is the crucial part of any marketing strategy and it is essential to keep up with the trends and shine in your industry!
I like the report
This is very true. It’s good to see someone with great ideas about this. There are so many people in the web spreading wrong info about these stuffs. Thank you so much for posting it here.
Amazing tips. Thank you for sharing this.
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