If you’ve committed to a content marketing strategy and have begun to generate blog articles, social posts, videos, case studies and more, you’re already on the right track. But what should you do to amp up the results of what you’ve published?
Truth is, developing the content is only half the story. Once you post your pieces, that’s when the work really begins — that is if you want your content to work for you. Here are few tips for maximizing content marketing results.
Optimize it for SEO
Before you publish written or visual content, be sure the words used are strategic and SEO-optimized. This requires a bit of research to identify top-performing keywords that are more likely to organically attract web searchers to your work. This form of inbound marketing helps potential customers and others discover your business, and boosts your web properties in search engines.
Bonus tip: If you use a tool such as Google Keyword Planner, the program auto-suggests keywords and phrases based on the words you’re researching. Consider also incorporating these terms in an article or the meta-description to further improve search engine performance.
Publish it
Once your content has been SEO-optimized, publish it. Post it to your website and share it across your social channels. Send an email to your customers or include it in your next newsletter. Encourage employees to share it within their networks.
Promote it
Boost your content on your top-performing social channels and consider launching an AdWords campaign that points to it. Businesses of all sizes can use this inbound marketing technique, even with the smallest of budgets and in niche markets.
Pitch it
Your content has value beyond your own communication channels. Once you’ve completed your work, consider how it can be published by others. Maybe you’ve published an informative Top 10 list that would be of interest to your target audience. Strip out any language that sounds like overt advertising for your company and offer the edited version to a media outlet for free, with your byline and company name listed. You may need to offer the content to several reporters before someone bites, but if your content is truly engaging for the outlet’s audience, you may gain a pick-up. Once your content has been accepted, a reporter might consider you as an expert source. Be prepared for future requests.
Bonus tips: Make your content topical or locally relevant to increase the likelihood that it is picked up. Consider whether third-party experts can add commentary or supportive insight to bolster the message.
Sponsor it
If pitching generates no media pick-ups, don’t despair. For a small investment, you can sponsor content across a targeted media outlet’s website, newsletters and social channels. This can help to increase web visits, boost readership and drive leads. A major advantage to this approach is the data you’ll receive after the sponsored content has been published. Quality outlets will provide more than just open rates and impressions, they’ll provide a list of names and contact information of the people who clicked.
In closing, keep up the good work of producing content. Then, after you publish it, make the content work hard for you.
A.WordSmith Communications 