Content marketing is a strategic marketing detain focused on creating and issuing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and keep a clearly defined audience and, ultimately, to drive profitable customer activity.
This article covers the following topics:
- What is content marketing
- What does a brand’s social media presence mean and why is it important.
- How to choose communication platforms
- How to communicate with a customer online
Online Branding the Importance of Content Marketing
Communication in a virtual environment is quite a broad concept – it goes far beyond how a company responds to e-mails. It also includes the type of content the company chooses to publish on its website and social media accounts, how it responds to user comments, etc. Any company presence on any platform can be perceived as communication, so it is important that it works for the company.
Content marketing is a way to reach new customers, communicate with existing ones and convey the most relevant information in video, image, text or other form. Its purpose is to engage the audience. Once an audience is engaged, a business must gain and maintain their trust in order to successfully convert the target audience into customers. In order to achieve this, it is important to emphasize not the product or service being sold, but the problem it solves, so the content created should be focused on it.
How to identify and research your audience
Knowing and understanding your audience is of great importance in content marketing. Here are five tips to help you do just that.
Research what your competitors and similar businesses are doing and offering with the help of Google. Find out what topics your competitors are talking about and think about how and what you can tell or show better.
View audience sizes and interests in Facebook Ads Manager.
Survey your customers, colleagues, relatives and acquaintances about their internet habits and interests.
A clear strategy
For content marketing to be successful, you need to create a clear strategy for it and follow it.
Before starting active communication, it is necessary to understand on which platforms the content will be published – whether it will be the company’s website, blog, online store, social networks or another website. It is also important to understand that each brand has its own specifics and not everyone needs a video format, a blog or a podcast.
It is very likely that it will be more effective for a particular brand to create a group of like minded people on Facebook. For content to achieve its purpose, it must be regular. There is no formula that determines how often you need to publish, for example, posts on Facebook – it can be different for each brand, but there should be regularity. In connection with this, it is also important to understand what specialists are needed for content creation copywriter, photographer, video specialist, designer, etc.
Communication with the customer
You have to find the perfect balance so that you are there for the customer without becoming intrusive. The easiest way to achieve this is to ensure quick communication through social media, email and Success is also determined by the content that the brand shares on its communication channels. For example, when content marketing a specific product, it is desirable to add text or video instructions on how to use it – it proactively answers customer questions and can serve as a powerful communication tool. You can also publish other customers’ reviews and experiences, which will give additional credibility to your product or service and help the buyer make a decision telephone.
The first steps you can take yourself:
Understand what problem your product or service solves and what content marketing can be created around it.
Create a content marketing strategy.
Evaluate in which social networks to communicate.
Review the channels where other types of communication with the customer are already carried out – website, e-mail, etc and consider how communication in them can be improved.
If you need help with any of these steps, I recommend that you turn to professionals who will help you organize and develop these things.
