Digital marketing has been around since the last decade, and it is here to stay. No business, big or small, can expect to thrive without a robust online presence. You have to ensure visibility and reach the target audience across the internet. When it comes to a successful digital strategy, content marketing is a pillar you cannot overlook.
Creative, informative content can help get your website to the top of search rankings. It can increase your brand’s as a niche expert. Further, it educates and engages the audience and fuels conversions and long-term retention.
A viable content marketing plan can take your online presence a notch higher with better engagement, reach, and credibility. But you cannot expect to make it big with outdated tactics. Customer expectations are different today, and you need to rethink the way you connect with them and engage them.
Fortunately, experts have some actionable ideas to up your content marketing game this year. Here are the ones you can try in 2021.
Act with agility
The pandemic has made the market more unpredictable than ever, and the same applies to consumer expectations. The business landscape is still tight, and it is easy to lose to your competitors if your content is not relevant. Agility is the need of the hour, so you must act fast with content creation.
Ensure that you pick trending ideas and stories that people can relate to. It will keep them hooked and coming back for more. Apart from picking stories early, you must also follow trends and align with them. For example, if product videos are trending, get them up and running right away. Real-time marketing ideas can set your strategy apart, so you must stay ahead.
Narrow your focus
You have to follow trends and stay on top of stories, but avoid being too generic with topics. For example, everyone around will probably be talking about general safety precautions to be safe from the virus. If you sell a specific product for children, it is better to pick content for the safety of children. It will resonate with the target audience and rank easily because of less competition.
Apart from choosing topics wisely, you must invest the effort to create comprehensive long-form content. Narrow down to points and cover them in detail. You may even consider writing a series with each topic as a highlight.
Try your hand at content repurposing
Agility and detail require a lot of hard work and effort, but they are worthwhile. Content repurposing is a great idea if you want to do more with less. Your team can pick the old pieces, do some more research, and refresh them to create relevant reads.
It takes much less effort than creating content from scratch. These are fresh pieces from the audience, but you continue to get the ranking advantage with them. Moreover, you can pick the same information and convert it into a trending format for better engagement.
For example, try repurposing old blogs into infographics, social media posts, and webinars. A little work takes you a long way.
Leverage user-generated content
Another smart way to ramp up your content marketing strategy without muck is by leveraging user-generated content. Essentially, these are the bits and pieces that come from real users instead of professional writers and marketers.
They may not be polished like professional articles, but they are genuine and impactful. It is the best time to invest in a well-planned User Generated Content Strategy for your business. The best way to do it is by collaborating with UGC experts who know the ins and outs of this marketing technique.
They can help you get high-power brand conversations fast so that you can get a step ahead with trust and credibility.
Prioritize consumers more than ever
Consumers are the mainstay of a successful content marketing plan. They become even more crucial right now when you need to focus on strong relationships instead of profitability. Communicate with the audience and understand the type of content they expect.
Putting it out shows you genuinely care about what matters to them. Empathy can win the game for you right now. It can help your brand retain the customers for the long haul, and they are most likely to recommend you with word of mouth as well. The more your content aligns with audience expectations, the better are the chances of success.
Keep track and tweak
Tracking and monitoring are vital to ensure that any marketing initiative is in the right direction. It becomes even more crucial right now as no business has the budget to spend on anything not yielding returns. A documented content strategy gives you a good start as you have a clear vision of goals and plans with it.
Assess it every month to evaluate the efficacy of the current tactics. If something appears amiss, you must tweak it sooner rather than later. At the same time, your content calendar should have the flexibility to accommodate changing trends and ideas. Establish your KPIs to measure the success of the strategy and adapt accordingly.
Go the extra mile with SEO
A successful content strategy is also about solid search engine optimization. You may have the best content, but don’t expect it to deliver results without keyword optimization. Research long-tail keyword opportunities and stay a step ahead by integrating them into your content.
The consumption of online content is booming, and this is a chance you should capitalize on. SEO content gets you high up the search rankings, and you need only little effort to sustain your place there. It may take some effort to create well-optimized content, but the returns make it worthwhile.
A viable content marketing strategy can give a winning advantage to your business in 2021 and beyond. You need not do a lot of work to up your game. Just stay true to the basics and integrate these actionable ideas into your plan. Your brand will surely have an edge over the competitors sooner than you imagine.