In the near-limitless universe of the Internet, the art of
marketing content can be a tricky one. You've got to know your target audience
and what they want, and always be one step ahead of the competition. Add to
that the constantly emerging new channels for your content, and you have quite
a challenging task ahead of you.
However, before you jump into this war of words, here are 11
pitfalls to watch out for:
1. Not doing your groundwork
You can't construct a skyscraper without laying the
foundation. What is the purpose of your content? Who are you targeting it to?
Is it in line with your brand personality? If you don't brainstorm on these
questions and build a concrete plan, you might fail before you even start. It
also helps to double-check your content and see what you can do differently
from the competition.
2. Not having a clear take-away
Humorous fluff pieces are fun to read on the Internet, but
don't let their popularity sway you. Good content needs a solid take-away - a
message previously unavailable to your readers. Give them something new through
your content, and they'll be hooked on to your every word.
3. Not having a Call-To-Action
An ending paragraph is strong, but a Call-To-Action (CTA) is
stronger. Every piece of content needs to arouse something in the reader by the
end - be it curiosity, happiness, or even fear. Give your reader an action to
perform after they have read your content - it could be liking, sharing,
commenting, or accessing your hotline or website to know more about your
product. Whatever you do, just don't leave the reader hanging at the end of
your piece.
4. Choosing quantity over quality (or vice versa)
Content marketers today still grapple with this question -
produce more content faster, or deliver comprehensive content less frequently?
In our experience, a healthy mix of the two is the best long-term strategy for
content marketing. Don't be pressured by the speed and frequency of new posts
on the Internet; just produce the best and most timely content that your
marketing plan allows.
5. Not optimising your content (SEO)
Do you want your content to be the first thing netizens see
in a quick Google search? Then don't let search engine optimisation (SEO) be an
afterthought in your content marketing plan. Come up with some strong keywords,
and strategically sprinkle them throughout your content. Do this right, and
watch your content shoot straight up the search results list.
6. Writing long paragraphs
Let's face it - the online reader's attention span has taken
a nose-dive in recent years. Long paragraphs are a chore to read through. On
the other hand, breaking up your content into shorter paragraphs or bullet
points boosts the readability of your piece. Each paragraph and point also acts
like a place-holder in the readers' minds, which they can refer to at any time.
7. No internal or external links
Don't you want a visitor to your website to stay and know
more about your product? Internal links to older content are a good way to
ensure audience retention, greater interest in your brand, and better
optimisation for search engines. External links to related topics also add
ranking power to your content since Google's search spiders read them as
'third-party votes' for your piece.
8. Not using relevant images
Your post's featured image is the first thing a viewer will
see on social media. Relevant images and infographics make people want to read
your blogs. After all, no one likes to read a continuous stream of text. Content
is getting more and more visual by the day to keep readers hooked, and you
should follow suit.
9. Overly promotional content
The online audience wants entertaining and engaging content,
and also doesn't want to be marketed to all the time. You aren't going to
achieve the latter by producing overtly promotional content, with words such as
'buy', 'sell', 'exchange' at the forefront. Creative, engaging content with
out-of-the-box visuals are today's gold standard in marketing.
10. Distributing content haphazardly
Simply sharing your content on every social media platform
out there might sound like a good idea at first. However, unless you share it
on the right platforms frequented by your target audience, all your efforts
might go in vain. Base the online distribution of your content on the social
media habits of your audience, as well as the nature of your product.
11. Ignoring content metrics
Content marketing is not an open-and-shut case; there's
always more to learn from your existing work. To simplify, there are four
metrics by which you can analyse the success or failure of your content so far
- consumption, sharing, leads generated, and sales and revenue. You can then
tweak your future content or strategy depending on these results.
By Mahendra Samy - Article Source: EzineArticles.com/9703404
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