Content marketing has found a home online and isn’t going anywhere
It’s never too late to adopt a content marketing strategy, or make changes to an existing one.
Even with the concept of content marketing being popular within our industry, it’s important to realize that many industries have yet to embrace it.
It also important to realize that the Internet is still growing, and new users experience it each day. More content is being created and put on the Internet – in an array of formats, from the written word to video and audio.
The new marketing
A recent article from Arnie Kuenn, President of Vertical Measures, published on SEOmoz reminds us that content marketing is being called “the new marketing” for a reason. Although some of its components aren’t completely revolutionary, content marketing is appealing to consumers with its transparent and consumer-centric methods.
Why people use the Internet
Kuenn’s article cites a study from Ruder Finn, a public relations firm that conducted a survey on why people go online. The responses included:
-To learn
-To have fun
-To socialize
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-To express yourself
-To advocate
-To do business
-To shop
Out of the respondents, 82% reported going online to socialize as only 39% said they went online to do business and 31% said they did it for shopping.
Here’s where content marketing really stands out. Good content marketers know that they need not only to provide great content to their audiences; they have to socialize with them.
Here are three tips for those who want to start establishing a content marketing presence online:
-Use organic content: Hundreds of millions of searches are performed each day throughout major search engines. If you want to be found by your audience, you need to create organic content that is optimized for search.
-Engage with your audience: It’s important to create meaningful relationships with your audience. This can be done through great content, or through social media, RSS and email. The most successful content marketers and online publishers use multiple platforms to do this.
-Harness the power of free: In order to begin relationships, many content marketers give away free content. This can be done in the form of articles, free reports, audio podcasts or video pieces. Giving away content for free also shows the level of knowledge the content producer holds.
What are requirements in your content marketing strategy? Please add them in the comments section below.
