In our last post on content marketing, we discussed the importance of coming up with a plan, the kinds of content that will get the most engagement, and using content funnels to boost engagement. This week, we wrap up our coverage on content marketing essentials with some additional recommendations:
Don’t Be Afraid to Repurpose
One of the biggest hurdles to effective content marketing is the simple volume of content that is often required to establish branding and expertise. Fortunately, not every piece you create has to be 100% new every time.
Webinar slides can be turned into SlideShare presentations. Blog posts can be consolidated into ebooks and guides. Past blog posts can be updated with new information and republished. Tutorials and knowledgebase articles can be used as the basis for how-to video scripts.
This works because different people often prefer to consume content in different ways. Catering to these different preferences will get you more traffic, more prospects and more sales.
Find two or three ways to repurpose your best content to broaden appeal while reducing the amount of time you spend on content production from week to week. Some options:
- Gather multiple related blog posts into a downloadable ebook or guide
- Post sections from your webinar on your YouTube or Vimeo channel – link to full presentations on your site or elsewhere
- Generate Top 10/20/50 lists on topics your audience will find useful
- Use the transcript from a how-to video as a blog post; take screenshots of the video to use as images
- Use content from podcasts to post interview-style blog posts
- Take top quotes from your blog posts and turn them into shareable images for social media
The options for repurposing content are only limited by your creativity and what your target audience will find relevant and engaging.
Include Promotion in the Process
Even the best content requires effective promotion to reach its intended audience. The average lifespan of the typical tweet is only 18 minutes – a stark reminder that simply linking to your content once isn’t likely to reach your entire audience.
Promotion across all of your social media channels as well as cross promotion though other channels such as paid media or guest posting will ensure that your content get ample exposure to perform its best. Consider “seeding” your best content – create guest blogs, articles on other sites, and other gateway content like SlideShare presentations that you can link naturally to your best posts on your website. This creates a natural boosting effect, as your most popular online media will now also generate traffic to your best content. Here’s a quick example of how this works, step-by-step:
- Review your analytics to find a popular blog post; update with new info if necessary
- Create or repurpose a related piece of downloadable content to offer in exchange for an email address
- Grab one or two interesting facts/quotes from your blog post. Create shareable images and post to social media, linking back to the blog post.
- Pitch a related topic to 3-10 different websites; write guest posts that link to the blog post
Do this consistently with your top-performing content, as well as new content pieces that you want to have a solid start.
Bonus: Continually Assess Performance
Don’t rely on instinct if you want to be sure you’re on the right track with your content marketing. Track, measure, and assess. The goals you established for your content marketing at the start are important benchmarks that your content is performing as expected.
For example, if you have a downloadable guide available on each of your blog posts, you can measure which blog posts get the most signups for the guide. With proper tracking, you can also see which guest posts, social media posts, and paid advertising are working best to bring prospects to your website. Continually evaluate which channels get you the most results, not only in terms of traffic, but in terms of conversions and sales.
WE’LL HELP YOU TAKE YOUR CONTENT MARKETING TO THE NEXT LEVEL
Now that you’ve covered all the basics, let us help you master the rest. Contact us for an evaluation of your content marketing strategy and ways you can improve.
