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People are becoming more and more selective when it comes to consuming content on the internet. This also applies to search engines.
If your content is deemed unhelpful, it will simply be thrown in the trash. You need to take this into account from the very beginning, not just when you start creating content, but as early as the brainstorming stage. There are a few methods you can use to determine how helpful the content will be:
- What is your target audience asking for that you are not giving them?
- What is the most common question your target group asks about your product?
- What does your target group want to know more about, and can you help them with that?
- What topics are not covered by your competitors?
- What is your unique selling point (USP)?
You need to answer all these questions and more. If you can not, you are missing a great opportunity for your business.
Content marketing is about solving problems for people and giving them what they want. If you do not do that, you should stop calling yourself a content marketer.
Great content should be the impression people have of your content marketing strategy
Have you ever visited websites that look flat and boring?
But you should not fall into this trap. You need to work persistently to present content that has a “wow” effect. And you cannot achieve this effect just like that. You need to understand what your target audience is looking for.
Once you know what they want, you can take stick your tongue out and create content that you know will be great, and the “wow” effect will get your visitors to share, link and bookmark your web pages.
Yes, we must remember that great content is suggestive and depends on the viewer’s conviction. But if your content is great, even the most sceptical mind will at least say “is good”.
How to create great content
A great content creator is someone who is passionate about using the right words, images, videos, etc. to create something compelling. Believe it or not, when we read something, we are sometimes able to discern the author’s feelings when creating the content. So think about your audience and try to create something that you too would enjoy reading.
Content marketing is an art form, but it’s also a science. The best content marketers are constantly testing their assumptions and looking for new ways of doing things. They do not get stuck in a rut and are always trying new tactics.
The first thing you need to understand is that great content starts with what visitors will experience. What is the problem your product or service solves? How does it solve that problem? If you can explain this clearly without being promotional, then you are on the right track.
Content marketing is about creating content that is helpful for your visitors, not just something for them to read.
The 4 pillars of content marketing
After years of experience in online marketing I have found that there are 4 pillars to great content marketing. These include:
- Quality
- Originality
- Value
- Consistency
It is a common denominator on underperforming sites, that when they lack one of these 4 pillars, they simply do not get the results they should.
Content marketing is about creating content that is helpful for your visitors, not just something for them to read.
Understanding the 4 pillars of content marketing: quality, originality, value, and consistency.
Why these pillars are important
Quality, originality, value and consistency are four pillars of marketing that undergird the entire marketing mix. These pillars define how you are able to position your brand in order to maximize the potential for profit.
Ignoring the importance of any of these pillars is a surefire way to fail in business.
When you are able to create content that is of quality, originality, value and consistency you will be able to attract customers who share your values.
Quality: the first thing you should start thinking about when creating content.
Why quality is important
One of the most important aspects of quality in content marketing is that it leaves a positive impression on your audience. For a piece of content to be perceived as high quality and therefore influential to your audience, it must resonate on a personal level and add value in some way.
How to create quality content
To create quality content, it’s important to know what the user is looking for, and what are considered to be the quality standards for your industry or niche.
Quality content can be determined on different ways, for example:
- – Content that is relevant to the user’s interests and needs
- – Is written by an expert in the field or an authority on the subject matter, but can also be achieved if content is well researched and well written.
- – Content that is easy to read, contains a logical structure and is presented in an attractive way (for example with images or videos)
- – Content that the user considers to be valuable and/or worth sharing with others
- – Content that is updated regularly, fresh and new (for example by adding new information)
- – Content that meets the user’s expectations. If the user has a problem and you provide the solution in your content, this will increase the chance of being shared.
- – Content that is easy to share on social media (for example by using links and share buttons)
- – Content that is easy to find and access (for example by using relevant keywords in the title and tags).
Though these are not all the quality factors, these are the most important ones.
If you have a blog, make sure to check out these factors and improve your content accordingly.
What are the benefits of quality content
In today’s business world, quality content is more important than ever. With so many businesses competing for attention online, having high-quality content can give you a big advantage. Here are three benefits of creating quality content for your business.
- Provides lasting relationship: By creating quality content, you create a lasting relationship with your audience that will keep them engaged.
- Builds positive brand reputation: Providing quality content helps build a positive brand reputation which will keep your audience interested and attached to what you have to offer in the future.
- Leaves a good impression: Your customers will leave with an excellent impression of your brand due to the high-quality and engaging content you produce.
Originality is key to keeping your content fresh and engaging.
Why originality is important
Original content helps establish your brand as a thought leader in your industry, provides more relevant information to your audience and helps you dominate in the SERPS.
A certain level of originality will help you build trust with your audience. Content creators tend to spy on other companies to come up with content ideas that are contaminated with other people’s concepts. Yes, sometimes they are great ideas, but someone else developed them. Why should search engines use your content that has existed somewhere else before?
Instead, focus on being the source and not the copy of great content ideas. This will determine your success in content marketing.
These are five benefits of being original:
Being original is not easy in today’s marketing industry. But it will help you stand out from the crowd and build trust with your audience.
The benefits can start with:
- Building trust with your audience
- Getting more traffic to your website
- Attracting attention of the influencers
- Improving brand reputation
- Increasing search result exposure
In today’s internet world, it is very important to be original and not just a copy of others’ work.
How to be original
First you need to know your industry, then you need to know your target audience and their needs.
You can start by creating a persona of the group who will be interested in your content. Think about what they want, how they think, what they like, etc.
Then you need to know your competitors. What are they doing?
An analysis of your competitors can help you find out their strengths and weaknesses. An analysis of SWOT is very helpful at this point.
Once you have all this information, you need to create something unique. As a content marketer, your main task is to create excellent and useful content for your audience.
A good content will be loved by your audience who will become your avid fan.
Examples of original content
Examples of original content creation can be anything from a new blog post or podcast episode to an infographic, video tutorial, product review or whitepaper. This type of content is designed specifically for your target market and will help increase your visibility in the SERPs.
Value: If your content has no value, it is simply useless.
Focus on providing value more than anything else.
What is value?
Value is a subjective term. It can be defined as the benefit, satisfaction and/or fulfilment people derive from consuming goods or services; it also includes any other value a person receives.
In content marketing, value is determined by the target audience.
What is the value of a blog post? What is the value of an eBook? What is the value of a video? The answer to these questions depends on who you are trying to reach.
So the value is inextricably linked to what your target audience is looking for. For example, if you are targeting people who want to lose weight, a blog post explaining how to do that is of more value than an article about shopping.
The reason for this is that the target group values what the content is about.
To add value, you need to know your target audience and be clear about what they are looking for. This will help you determine how much value your content has.
How to create added value
Focus on your target audience’s needs, not the company’s.
Businesses need to sell their products and services, but there are also customer needs they want to fulfil. Businesses can help them do this by providing the products and services their audience needs.
Focus on the needs of the target audience when creating content, as this will help you figure out how to add value for them.
Examples
- You are selling a product that helps people stay healthy. You can offer content about the health benefits of your products, how to use them properly and other information about staying healthy.
- You are in the fitness industry and your target audience wants to lose weight. You can offer content about the best ways to lose weight and how your products help people achieve their goals.
- You are in the fitness industry but you do not sell gym memberships, you sell supplements. You can offer content about the health benefits of your products and how they can help people achieve their fitness goals.
The goal is to create content that helps you connect with your target audience through shared interests.
Consistency is necessary to build a following and keep them engaged over time.
Be consistent with your brand voice, colour pallete, designs, and so on.
Why consistency is important
The importance of staying consistent and reliable in content development is important to the success of your company.
When you are consistent with your content it builds relationship with your audience that can extend far past one individual piece of content.
Being consistent means you can be trusted as a brand, and that you are here to stay.
How to be consistent
There are several ways you can remain consistent with your content marketing strategy:
- Make sure you have a brand voice that is clear and consistent in all content produced by your company.
- Use the same colour pallete or theme throughout each piece of content, and across your social media channels.
- Make sure the content is written in a friendly and approachable tone, be relatable to your audience.
- Use consistent images throughout each piece of content.
- Create a consistent schedule for your posts, and be sure to stick to it!
Examples of being consistent on your content marketing strategy:
- You can use the same colour scheme in all your social media posts, and on your website.
- Make sure that you have a consistent brand voice across all of your content; this will help your audience to connect with you.
- Use consistent images in all of your content, whether it be on social media or on your website.
- Make a content calendar for the next few months, and stick to it!
- Make sure that your content is relevant to your specific audience; this will help you connect with them.
- Include a call-to-action in each of your blog posts, and on your website.
- Make sure that you are consistent with the times that you publish content; this could be daily, weekly or monthly.
- Don’t let your content get stale; you can do this by updating it and changing the format.
Six steps to achieve each 4 pillars of content marketing:
To achieve each pillar of content marketing, you need to follow the six steps below:
- Pay attention to the design trends that are proving successful in your industry and focus on keeping up with those trends so you can create quality content.
- Do not follow what your competitors are doing, do it better and think outside the box when it comes to being original while maintaining content relevance.
- Find a relevant topic that your target audience is interested in and can relate to, and then choose a sub-topic within that main topic. Conduct research on your topic and sub-topic to find out what information is missing from existing content.
- Create content that fills this gap in the market by providing new and unique information.
- Publish your content on the most relevant platform for your industry, using consistent brand voice and a tone that is appropriate for your target audience. Promote the content across your owned, paid and earned channels to get the most exposure possible.
- Measure your content marketing efforts by tracking performance metrics such as social shares, traffic to your website and leads generated from each piece of content.
In a nutshell
If you’re not creating content that is useful to your customers, then you’re missing out on one of the most important aspects of digital marketing. And if you want help creating this content, we can provide it! Our team of experts are ready and waiting to create an SEO or marketing plan that will work for your business.
The content you produce is one of the most important aspects of digital marketing, so make sure it’s useful!
