Content continues to be one of the most important aspects of online marketing; however, methods are rapidly changing. In 2015, successful businesses will be the ones that understand this dynamic shift and develop a strategy that accounts for new changes.
More Valuable Than Ever Before
Content marketing is more valuable than ever and heavily invested companies are seeing huge returns. The good news is that regardless of your size or available resources, there are targeted strategies available to you. Content marketing can be scaled according to your needs and options exist for every budget. If you want further proof that content marketing works, just consider the following statistics as curated by Kapost.com.
82 percent of B2C marketers and 95 percent of B2B enterprise marketers use content marketing.
78 percent of CMOs believe custom content is the future of the marketing industry.
Only 12 percent of companies ignore content in their marketing efforts.
Despite the fact that content is proven to be valuable, only 32 percent of marketers believe they’re executing an effective strategy.
It’s the last statistic that’s so alarming, yet incredibly promising. It means that 2 out of 3 companies aren’t maximizing their potential. Is your company part of that cohort? If so, 2015 presents an amazing opportunity to shift your strategy and increase returns.
6 Important Tips for 2015 .
In order to make 2015 your most successful year for content marketing, here are six valuable and timely tips. Find ways to incorporate them into your strategy and discover why so many successful companies point to content marketing as their highest returning area of business.
1.Invest in visual content. As Jeff Bullas emphasizes, we live in a visual world. When it comes to content marketing, this is convenient. Digital technology is evolving at a rapid pace and has given marketers the chance to tell stories through the use of videos, infographics, and compelling imagery. Using the fact that 94 percent of content with visuals get more total views than textual content, you should be aiming to incorporate visual elements in every single post, article, and tweet you produce.
2.Leverage A/B split testing. 2015 will be the year that people test everything. Testing software has exploded onto the scene and now allows marketers and business owners to test and tweak almost any element of a digital marketing strategy. You can use this to your advantage by implementing a split testing tool and messing around with various titles, images, and call-to-actions to see which perform best.
3.Focus on social. According to Chris Delany, founder of SEMGeeks, a popular digital marketing agency, “The top social media platforms being used by marketers are LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. Use for both SlideShare and Google+ has increased, but marketers are still most likely to put their time and dollars into the top three social media channels because of their potential for engaged, targeted audiences.” Furthermore, platforms like Vine and Snapchat are also becoming increasingly valuable. You should use your social profiles to promote one-on-one customer engagement and effectively disseminate content that resonates with the target market of each networking platform.
4.Learn to curate. It’s becoming increasingly clear that customers are less interested in promotional content and more drawn to thought leadership quality content. In other words, you should stop trying to force-feed sales copy and invest in developing yourself as a reputable source of valuable content. The best way to do this is by learning to curate relevant content from across the web and providing your followers with information they want and need.
5.Repurpose for max value. Unless you have a massive team of content creators, it’s difficult to produce tons of material on a daily basis. In order to maximize the value of the content you do publish, find ways to repurpose it for continued use. For example, you can pull key points from an article and tweet them throughout the week; or you could use a long blog post as a launching point for an entire blog series. Whatever you choose to do, finding ways to repurpose material will allow you to extend the valuable life of your content.
6.Try segmentation. Finally, micro-segmentation will be key in 2015 and beyond. As the internet becomes increasingly saturated, the only way for smaller companies and brands to stand out from the crowd will be to target a niche community or a highly-specialized segment of the larger market. This can be done by incorporating long tail keywords, linking up with industry blogs, and focusing on social media to connect with a target market.
Measuring Your Return on Investment
Whatever you do, it will be important to measure your efforts and evaluate your ROI. You should focus on analyzing four major components: content message, content format, distribution channel, and promotional efforts. By understanding how you’re performing in each of these areas, you’ll be able to better allocate your budget and retarget your efforts for maximum return.
Be Content Centric This Year
Your marketing focus this year – as in years past – should be on producing and distributing quality content. However, as the weeks and months pass by, it will be important to recognize the shifts taking place and to adapt your efforts accordingly. The current state of content marketing never stays still for long and you must be ready to evolve with it; use these six tips to maximize your efforts this year.
More Valuable Than Ever Before
Content marketing is more valuable than ever and heavily invested companies are seeing huge returns. The good news is that regardless of your size or available resources, there are targeted strategies available to you. Content marketing can be scaled according to your needs and options exist for every budget. If you want further proof that content marketing works, just consider the following statistics as curated by Kapost.com.
82 percent of B2C marketers and 95 percent of B2B enterprise marketers use content marketing.
78 percent of CMOs believe custom content is the future of the marketing industry.
Only 12 percent of companies ignore content in their marketing efforts.
Despite the fact that content is proven to be valuable, only 32 percent of marketers believe they’re executing an effective strategy.
It’s the last statistic that’s so alarming, yet incredibly promising. It means that 2 out of 3 companies aren’t maximizing their potential. Is your company part of that cohort? If so, 2015 presents an amazing opportunity to shift your strategy and increase returns.
6 Important Tips for 2015 .
In order to make 2015 your most successful year for content marketing, here are six valuable and timely tips. Find ways to incorporate them into your strategy and discover why so many successful companies point to content marketing as their highest returning area of business.
1.Invest in visual content. As Jeff Bullas emphasizes, we live in a visual world. When it comes to content marketing, this is convenient. Digital technology is evolving at a rapid pace and has given marketers the chance to tell stories through the use of videos, infographics, and compelling imagery. Using the fact that 94 percent of content with visuals get more total views than textual content, you should be aiming to incorporate visual elements in every single post, article, and tweet you produce.
2.Leverage A/B split testing. 2015 will be the year that people test everything. Testing software has exploded onto the scene and now allows marketers and business owners to test and tweak almost any element of a digital marketing strategy. You can use this to your advantage by implementing a split testing tool and messing around with various titles, images, and call-to-actions to see which perform best.
3.Focus on social. According to Chris Delany, founder of SEMGeeks, a popular digital marketing agency, “The top social media platforms being used by marketers are LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. Use for both SlideShare and Google+ has increased, but marketers are still most likely to put their time and dollars into the top three social media channels because of their potential for engaged, targeted audiences.” Furthermore, platforms like Vine and Snapchat are also becoming increasingly valuable. You should use your social profiles to promote one-on-one customer engagement and effectively disseminate content that resonates with the target market of each networking platform.
4.Learn to curate. It’s becoming increasingly clear that customers are less interested in promotional content and more drawn to thought leadership quality content. In other words, you should stop trying to force-feed sales copy and invest in developing yourself as a reputable source of valuable content. The best way to do this is by learning to curate relevant content from across the web and providing your followers with information they want and need.
5.Repurpose for max value. Unless you have a massive team of content creators, it’s difficult to produce tons of material on a daily basis. In order to maximize the value of the content you do publish, find ways to repurpose it for continued use. For example, you can pull key points from an article and tweet them throughout the week; or you could use a long blog post as a launching point for an entire blog series. Whatever you choose to do, finding ways to repurpose material will allow you to extend the valuable life of your content.
6.Try segmentation. Finally, micro-segmentation will be key in 2015 and beyond. As the internet becomes increasingly saturated, the only way for smaller companies and brands to stand out from the crowd will be to target a niche community or a highly-specialized segment of the larger market. This can be done by incorporating long tail keywords, linking up with industry blogs, and focusing on social media to connect with a target market.
Measuring Your Return on Investment
Whatever you do, it will be important to measure your efforts and evaluate your ROI. You should focus on analyzing four major components: content message, content format, distribution channel, and promotional efforts. By understanding how you’re performing in each of these areas, you’ll be able to better allocate your budget and retarget your efforts for maximum return.
Be Content Centric This Year
Your marketing focus this year – as in years past – should be on producing and distributing quality content. However, as the weeks and months pass by, it will be important to recognize the shifts taking place and to adapt your efforts accordingly. The current state of content marketing never stays still for long and you must be ready to evolve with it; use these six tips to maximize your efforts this year.
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