The era of publishing content that will only promote your product or service has passed. Today people want to absorb noteworthy content and build a strong relationship with influencers on the Internet.
Here are some of the aspects you need to consider if you want to improve the value of your content and create a user-orientated content marketing strategy:
Build a Unique Voice
The web is filled with information and it’s hard to find a topic that hasn’t been covered by someone already. Each day brings hundreds of thousands of new blog posts, so it’s hard to believe you’re the only one publishing something in your niche at this moment.
Building a unique voice your audience can relate to will make it easier for you to connect with them. Creating the perfect buyers persona will ease the process of setting up the tone of your content.
Think of it as a brand building activity rather than a promotional effort. Remember that visits and conversions come hand in hand, and the voice behind your content is a huge piece of the puzzle.
Make Content Valuable, Engaging and Actionable
Having your own way of presenting information to your audience is only the beginning. After you’ve established how to write, it’s time to start thinking of what to write.
First of all, you need to make sure your content provides value to the reader. I could’ve written this article just blabbing about how valuable content marketing can be. Instead, I decided to show you how to create the perfect buyers persona, and we’re only warming up.
You can either cover a subject nobody else is talking about or do better research than your competition and create a more valuable piece of content.
Solve Problems for Your Readers
Good places to start searching for questions are communities like Quora and Yahoo Answers. You will have even better results if you dig a little deeper and explore active niche-relevant communities. Remember that not all of your audience is active in the community you’re operating in.
For example, if you’re in the home appliances niche, you can find couple of forums where handymen from all around the world gather and answer everyday questions like “How to clean my sink?” Combine the information you can get from small communities with SEO and create an added value for the content you’re publishing.
Once you got people hooked with the top-notch value you offer, include elements that will drive engagement and make people take action.
Pick a Desired Course of Action
After all, you’re here to sell something — don’t fool yourself it’s anything different. You can be a charity, non-profit organization or a corporate brand, but you’ll always have the same goal of making people take action.
I am not saying you should stuff your content with “Buy it now” buttons. Heck, you may not even need to include power words to make your content actionable. By making your content marketing personal, you’re automatically going towards inbound or pull marketing, which by itself works more like an attention-building philosophy rather than attention-creating strategy.
Rich Media and Copywriting Work Together
Limiting your content to one shape and form is ridiculous, especially after you go through some of the most popular websites in the world. Even YouTube started as a user-based content publishing platform, and you won’t see 500-word articles on it anytime soon.
The goal here is to create the perfect media toolset while managing to reach your audience and provide added value.
An infographic is one type of content you can implement in almost any niche, but think about including social elements and original content as well. Sorting out the type of content marketing that works for your business and the one that you’re only spending resources on is done through examining your audience’s feedback.
Even if you have valuable content tailored to engage with your audience on a personal level, you still have one obstacle to overcome. The reality is people will get exposed to your content through sources that don’t allow a lengthy introduction more often than through your communication of choice.
What are some of the issues that are currently stopping you from creating personal and actionable content?
Image: Picography / Dave Meier
