This blog post was written by Penny Baldwin.
The content marketing trend is in full swing. Now, the question is not whether to create your own branded content—it’s how to serve up the most digestible assets to a targeted audience, and actually see ROI.
As marketers, we produce a lot of content. From technical white papers and solution briefs to blogs and infographics, we’re constantly changing up the mix. A strong content strategy is the foundation of brand messaging. The building blocks of that strategy should be diverse, thoughtful and engaging.
Whether you’re building out a new content strategy or beefing up an existing one, it’s important to establish some basic pillars for success. Here are three:
Pillar One: Be the Educator
Utilize content marketing to become an informative hub, rather than a marketing microphone. Find a new angle that hasn’t been covered and take an educational stance. There is so much content out there to sift through, and yet quite often it’s not digestible enough for the average reader. First, remove your brand or product from the picture and provide educational information to the audience about the issue at hand—what it is, how it works, and what’s in it for them—then insert some product or branded messaging.
Pillar Two: Open Both Lanes
Online readers are tired of being funneled into a one-way street. Including the thoughts and experiences of your user base gives a more authentic feel to what should be a give and take, as opposed to a single lane output. Crowdsourcing content or engaging with comments and shares is the new wave of content marketing, and helps to open up the discussion to a broader audience. Look at outlets like Buzzfeed, whose success can be attributed to engagement and crowd-sourced posts.
Pillar Three: Syndicate!
Yes, you want to have a single platform for your content. However, if you’re not using syndication to your advantage, your message may not be available to those searching for it. For example, employee blogs can be reposted to LinkedIn, infographics can be sliced and diced for Slideshare, and all of it can be promoted via social media.
The most successful content marketing strategies are those that implement tactics to educate, interact, and syndicate. There are larger strategies that can be implemented here as well, but we’ll save that for another blog post.
Have any additional insights for maintaining a successful content marketing strategy? Tweet me @PennyRBaldwin and share your thoughts.
Stay Updated
Follow us to stay updated on all things McAfee and on top of the latest consumer and mobile security threats.
