Last week I came across an interesting report released by BuzzoSumo, The BuzzSumo Content Trends Report 2018. It revealed some very interesting facts that confirmed my suspicions: In a sample of 100 million articles published in 2017, 50% of them received four shares or fewer on major social networks (e.g., Facebook).
The number of social shares per article has been decreasing since 2014. The reasons for the decline in social sharing are:
In this featured blog post, our online digital marketing course instructors share with you our secrets to bucking this downward trend. We will teach you how to plan out your content marketing strategy and lay down the framework for a campaign which nurtures a loyal and authentic reader base to actively seek out your content as soon as it is written.
Digital Marketing Corporate Training: How to Plan a Successful Content Marketing Campaign
You cannot begin to write a blog post without doing the research first. Ask yourself: who is my target audience? What content do they to read? What content has already been written on the topic I am planning to write about? How can I make my blog posts unique?
Who is my Target Audience?
Without a persona (e.g., young adults, senior citizens) in mind to read your blog post, your messaging will sound bland, generic, and less authentic. When the target audience is obvious, it is always worth it to dig a little deeper. For example, let’s say you are writing a blog post to be shared on Twitter. Going through Twitter followers to see who they are and where they come from is the obvious place. However, there are numerous other ways to find out more about your followers, starting with Twitter Analytics. Twitter Analytics is a tool designed to help you learn more about the interests, behaviours and demographics of the people following you. Every search engine and social media platform has one such tool (e.g., Google – Google Analytics and Google Trends; Facebook – Insights etc.)
What is my Audience Talking About?
Content writing is not the same as leisurely writing. You cannot choose a random topic and think that that is what your audience is reading and wants to learn more about. You have to do some deep research so that you can answer their questions and solve their problems in meaningful and engaging ways. This means you have to join social media chats, forum discussions, Q/A discussion boards (e.g., Quora and Reddit) and the like to be able to know what most interests your audience.
The best conversations to join might not be the most popular ones your audience is talking about but the ones most specific to them. For example: if you are a Toronto edtech training company that wants to connect with educational leaders in Toronto on a #edtech chat you will have a hard time doing so. That is unless you have already built up a reputation for authority on this topic. You will have better luck on smaller, more specific chats like #tdsbed and #yrdsbadmin as they are frequented by your target audience (e.g., admins in public schools).
Think of content marketing as not a trade fair, but a dinner party instead. People are not there to see your monologue all night. They were already having a conversation before your arrived. But by joining the conversation you have the opportunity to add something interesting or enticing. Once you have introduced yourself in this way, you will have created the space to make your pitch.
What Content Has Already Been Written?
Trying to reach your business objectives without considering what the competition is doing is asking for trouble. If you do not want your fans to ditch you, look at your most successful competitors and try to understand why they are thriving. Doing so will give you insights about what you need to improve if you would like to attract and retain future customers.
Rather than copying your competitors, try to find what they are not offering that consumers want and see if you can gain an advantage. If your competitors are doing something better than your business, you will know what you need to improve. When you want to see what others in your market are doing, sign up for their mailing lists or invest in tools like SEMrush.com.
How Can I Make My Blog Posts Unique
In the past, it was easy to write a simple 300-word blog post, publish it on your website, and get a decent stream of traffic. As long as it provided some semblance of value and had juicy keywords in it, it was good enough for search engines and readers. If you try this tactic today, your content will not reach page one of search results. In fact it may not reach the second or third page either. More than likely it will be buried on the 800th page of major search engine’s search results.
In today’s race to produce content that hits the front page of the Google, your content must be AT LEAST 10 times the value anyone’s looking for. “10x content” was a phrase that was coined by Rand Fishkin, the former CEO of Moz.com. According to him, 10x content is content that is “10 times better than the best results currently found in the search results for a given keyword phrase or topic.”
To really get influencers’ attention, you need to outsmart and outwit your competitors. This means creating material that:
It is now time for you to create your plan. Keep these questions in mind as you draft it. They will help you will remain on track for creating your winning content marketing strategy. Come back next Monday for tips on how to write and create content for your blogs.
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yourDMAC is committed to your success in content marketing (e.g., blogging). Our online digital marketing course sets up all professionals, whether novice or experienced, for success and helps them develop winning strategies that transforms their business. Alternatively, we offer customized corporate training workshops to senior executives and their staff. We work collaboratively with all businesses, both big and small, to understand their corporate vision, goals and objectives and help develop winning strategies that will lead them to success in the least amount of time. Contact us today and see how we can put your digital marketing career on the right track.
This content was originally published here.