What Does Content Marketing Evolution Mean For Your Business?

Approximately 8 minute read

You’ve heard about content marketing and its importance within today’s digital marketing mix. It’s not anything new or at least I’d hope not for you and your business. The challenge with content marketing these days though pertain to substance. Yes, exactly that. The delineation between good content and bad content is one single factor – substance. What do I mean about that? It’s simple. The value proposition aspect of content marketing stands of critical importance. It’s the separating factor between you and the competition.

Recently I stumbled across an article that really peaked my interest. I am constantly keeping an eye out for interesting content and also use it as an opportunity to draw new ideas. This particular article though hinted something very specific to me. Something that I truly believe stands of critical importance when it comes to writing good content for marketing endeavors.

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Engaging content is the key ingredient that sparks engagement and interest in internet users.

Regardless of what industry you work in or the type of business you run. Engaging content with substance will always spark sharing, interest, and invoke new leads opportunities. Buzzworthiness gets people amped up. Value in the sense of offering something that is beneficial.

So, what does content marketing evolution mean for your business?

As content evolves, it is becoming even more intricate to pay stronger attention to its substance. It’s important to consider a valiant strategy that can help attract attention towards your brand.

Strategy Before Implementation or Execution

Anything that is worthwhile requires a tactical approach to it. Same applies to content marketing endeavors. If you are serious about capturing the attention of specific individual that may be interested in your products or services than I would strongly suggest investing into a holistic content marketing strategy. There are several elements to a content marketing strategy that will assist with proper user targeting, tactical implementation, and strategic execution.

Here are a few tips to consider when working on your content marketing strategy:

  • Do you have a clear understanding of your brand voice? Have you identified the tone in expression?
  • Have you identified your user personas? Who is your target audience? How will you engage with them from a content marketing perspective? What specific things would they be interested in more specifically?
  • Is there an emotional sentiment within your content marketing strategy?
  • What will be your value added proposition? What specific things will resonate most and/or address the needs of your target audience?

One of the most intricate components of content marketing is the emotional ingredient. The web is extremely saturated these days and consumers look for the things that resonate with them the most on an emotional level. From a realistic standpoint, as consumers we buy products or services from an emotional or needs perspective. If a product or service can make us feel better about our needs than that is the ultimate decision maker.

Write With Purpose

What is it that your target audience is particularly interested in? How can you better capture their attention? Are there specific topics that may resonate best with your target audience? Writing unique and engaging content is indeed quite difficult to accomplish. It takes a lot of thought, organization, and composition. However, it’s important to acknowledge that you should write content with a purpose. I am particularly a big fan of BuzzSumo because it helps me identify trending topics around the internet.

Finding your purpose for writing can entail in a variety of different things. These are some particular ones that I have personally found beneficial in the past.

  • Identify a topic. What interests your target audience? Is there anything particular that you are versed in and can diligently speak to it? Use BuzzSumo to help you identify interesting and trending topics worth blogging around.
  • What is the intent behind the article or blog post? Is it meant to be informational, persuasive, or maybe instructional?

Increase Depth of Your Articles

Short-form vs. long-form content has been debated for quite some time. Anything that is less than 1,000 words in length can be classified as short-form content. Beyond 1,000 words it is automatically classified as long-form content. There are pros and cons of using each. It is all contingent upon your needs and what you are trying to accomplish. Using short-form content at times may be a lot more beneficial than long-form content and vice versa.

Why use short-form content?

Short-form content can be utilized strategically for the following reasons:

  • Quickly providing answers to minor problems.
  • Focusing on reach of much broader target audience.
  • Quick but short storytelling.
  • Fun facts and light humor.
Why consider long-form content?

Long-form content has one huge beneficial component. It is quite favorable from an SEO perspective and can serve of utmost importance in appeal, targeted traffic, inbound leads. The “sweet spot” for long-form content falls within the range of 1,200 to 2,000 words within today’s market. At least according to one particular study performed in 2015 indicative of increased readership in article content spanning within that length. For the SEOs out there, you should know that longer content helps boost organic ranking in the SERPs.

The beneficial elements in long-form content entail in the following:

  • Providing valuable insight on specific topic and area.
  • A data-oriented approach that speaks to particular information.
  • Comprehensive storytelling and sharing of enticing details.

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Diversified Talent For Content Composition

Gathering diversified talent for composition of strategic content is a key ingredient to content marketing success. One of the most common mistakes brands make these days includes of the hiring of a writer. Not necessarily someone who is either in the marketing field or even versed in their own brand. Simply a writer. When considering seriousness in your content marketing endeavors seeks an experienced marketing writer. Someone who not only is capable of painting Picasso’s with words but also understand that marketing element.

You see, there is a difference between hiring a writer and hiring someone who understands strategic blogging. This is precisely the reason why a vast majority of marketers have also turned into writers. Simply because they have the seasonality and experience on the marketing front but were lacking the writing component. I am here to tell you that you can become a great writer. Marrying that up with your specific industry expertise and suddenly you have turned into a content pumping machine. Precisely the ideal position to be in a strategic content writer.

Strongly Consider Content Syndication

One of the best ways to amplify content potential is through syndication. Consider some of the largest publishers out there that are content giants. Some of those include Mashable, TechCrunch, The Huffington Post, Social Media Examiner, Business Insider, Inc, and many others. These content publishers have strong viewership and a loyal following. Leveraging that audience can be extremely beneficial for your brand. Many of these publishers syndicate content from other individuals and brands anyway. Like anything else that’s worthwhile content syndication also entails in a viable strategy.

Here are a few tips to consider with content syndication for other publishers:

  • Identify top industry specific publishers.
  • Associate yourself with other industry experts that may also allow for guest columns or guest posting on their properties.

Back in 2014 Google’s Matt Cutts published an article regarding the decay of guest blogging for SEO. Then in 2015 an interesting article surfaced the debunked the mythical belief behind guest blogging. The short form explanation is that as long as you do not abuse guest blogging for link building than you should be fine.

Explore Target Audience Segmentation

Good content simply doesn’t cut it either these days. There is so much of it out on the web that it’s extremely difficult to sift through it all. In order to better capture interest and spark stronger engagement, consider target audience segmentation. As part of your holistic content marketing strategy you should spend time closely evaluating your target audience. If you can better understand how to communicate targeted messaging to your audience than that will help amplify your content potential.

User personas are intricate to every content marketing strategy. Who are your potential customers? How do they think? What is the emotional sentiment that reels them in? Are there any specific interests and topic that sparks their attention? These are the types of questions you should get answered for yourself. Especially when seeking maximum content exposure through target audience segmentation. A lot of brands tend to fail in this endeavor though. In order to be successful with your content marketing tactics explore your target audience deeper.

What are your content marketing struggles? Do you have any thoughts or suggestions on the context above? Share them in the comments section below.

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