We are inundated with information all day, every day. A 2009 study conducted by researchers at the University of California—San Diego estimated that the average American at the time was exposed to 34 gigabytes (or about 105,000 words) each day. It’s probably twice that now in 2018. And we’re constantly on the search for more! That’s the reality of the digital age and the ever-increasing availability of smartphones.
This affects how many industries operate, but what does this mean for marketing? It means people’s attention is divided. It means for a marketing message to reach the right people at the right time and penetrate through all the other information those same people will receive that day, it needs to be extremely well-crafted and targeted.
If you’ve researched marketing tools, you’ve likely heard of search engine optimization (SEO), which is a necessary piece of any effective digital marketing strategy. But according to the experts at Modmacro, a Temecula digital marketing firm, SEO is best when it is part of a larger content marketing plan.
What Is Content Marketing?
The concept of content marketing is simple. If you create interesting and relevant content your target customers want to engage with, you can build loyalty with them before they even realize they need your products or services.
If this sounds abstract, think about your internet browsing habits. How often do you ignore or click away from ads? Probably all the time. On the other hand, how often do you find yourself intrigued by an interesting article or eye-catching social media post? Chances are, you remember companies and products highlighted within pieces of content you’re already engrossed in.
Modmacro believes in creating individualized and holistic content marketing strategies for its clients. They have identified five levels to tailor their services to maximize each client’s marketing budget.
Level One: Website Copy and Social Media
Good news: if the idea of content marketing sounds new to you, there’s a good chance you’re already doing it at its most basic level. You create content if you have a website or any social media presence. Keep in mind that at this level, the people you’re reaching are already looking for you, so if a potential customer is on your website or Facebook page, it’s because they sought you out or a web search brought them there.
This is where SEO comes in. Your website copy and social media posts should be crafted with SEO. That will increase your chances of being found by the right people. But the information you provide in both places should also be engaging! Provide customers with the information they can’t get elsewhere. Not all website copy needs to be promotional or directly company-related. You can provide potential customers with tips and facts that show your expertise, build trust, and encourage them to return for more.
The same applies to social media posts. People have gotten savvy to being sold to. Blatantly promotional social media posts become very annoying quickly, so you have to give potential customers something of value. Visually appealing and informative posts go much further than promotional ones.
Level Two: Your Company Blog
Do you have a blog on your company’s website? If not, why not? A blog is a content creation goldmine. A blog allows you to write at length about company news and share relevant information about your industry and create an even deeper relationship with potential customers.
You can better use blurbs from your blog as social media posts and link them back to your website. It’s a small self-perpetuating digital marketing machine.
You’re not alone if you’re worried about not having enough time to keep up with a blog. That benefits partnering with experts like the Temecula digital marketing firm Modmacro. Once they get to know you and your company, they will be able to create engaging blog posts for you and roll them out in an effective way that utilizes SEO and brings potential customers from social media to your website, which is where you want them.
Level Three: Reaching Other Platforms
It’s important to use your assets, like your blog and social media accounts, to put out as much content as possible, but if you want to expand your reach, it’s time to start creating content for other platforms. Most often, this looks like writing articles for publications and guest blog posts for popular industry blogs. Think about it: these other platforms already have daily readers engaging with their content. You’re expanding your potential customer base by writing something that puts your company’s name in front of a captive but unfamiliar audience.
Another upside to having your content published by a third party: you can announce the news on your blog and via social media posts.
Levels Four and Five: Publishing Content Offline
Level Four involves larger writing projects like press releases, white papers, and e-books. These are more complicated and time-consuming endeavors, but you will benefit tremendously when ready to tackle them. Level Five takes this further with a full-length, professionally published book.
Once you’re creating content at this level, the options become limitless. Each book or e-book becomes its marketing asset, allowing you to develop a series of blog and social media posts, not to mention plenty of substance for press releases and for writing arts for other publications.
Remember, It’s About Engagement
Each level of content marketing can be useful, and each increasing level can be more useful than the previous one. The one caveat is that the content has to be relevant and engaging. There is no sense in creating content just for content’s sake. With all the information we’re swimming in daily, we’ve become desensitized to anything overtly promotional. Our attention spans are reserved for the tidbits that truly stand out and we genuinely need.
People want information, but they also wish for connection, and content marketing is a way to provide both. Best of all, it’s an effective way to grow your business!
