Content marketing is regarded as the best investment a company can make. It improves traffic and brings in high-quality leads, so it is no wonder why so many companies follow content marketing strategies.
According to a survey by the Content Marketing Institute found that nearly 92% of marketers say that their company views content as an important business asset. As a result, marketers need to ensure they are doing everything possible to increase the ROI of their content marketing efforts.
However, content marketing is not something that comes without any challenges. It is a crowded market, which means there is quite a little space for missed opportunities and mistakes. Marketers must get it right to achieve the best results.
Are you following content marketing strategies but not seeing any improvement? Probably, because you are committing these mistakes. So, let us have a look at some of the biggest content marketing mistakes and what marketing experts can do to avoid them.
Mistakes to Avoid While Following These Content Marketing Strategies
Do not write anything just to write great content- It is one of the biggest and common mistakes we do while following content marketing strategies. You must create new content so that you can attract people to your blog or website, correct? No.
Content marketing strategies are not just about creating articles and posts, but also shares and comments. So, if you manage to ensure that you never copy any content, feel free to share content that is written by others on your website by asking them so you both will get benefitted from the traffic which will be created from it.
You can even comment in forums and on various other social media networks that your target audience is probably to access and post a link to your site right there.
Not writing reusable content- This is one of the common content marketing strategies that people often miss. The one-and-done approach is not considered a good idea when it comes to writing content.
To write a quality content piece, you need both resources and time- thus, marketers must look to improve the return on their investment by developing content that they can repurpose and post on various channels later.
For instance, marketers can repurpose a blog into something visual, like a video or infographic. All the research is complete, so it is mostly a matter of repacking the info into a different medium altogether.
Not paying attention to the user-generated content- Are you ignoring user-generated content? If so, then you are making one of the biggest content marketing strategies. User-generated content is the content that users produce, unpaid. This can include everything from videos and pictures to blogs and reviews. As per a study by Reevoo, around 70% of people trust the images that come from customers like themselves, instead of the images that brands create.
Marketers who ignore the user-generated content miss a great opportunity to establish customer trust- not to mention the outsourcing content creation to the users can save marketers financial and time resources.
Marketers can start integrating user-generated content by finding what inspires their customers to create content and engage with the company. Using social media channels like Instagram and Facebook are great ways to execute a user-generated content campaign.
Content Marketing needs to be done 24/7- It is one of the biggest mistakes while making content marketing strategies. This is the reality, unfortunately. Mainly when you are sharing your content on social media, content marketing becomes such a task that requires continuous supervision even during weekends and late hours.
And this is because you do not want to have a negative comment growing while you are not looking- remember that your site is accessible from any part of the world. This means you have no idea when somebody will ready your post.
Of course, this does not mean you should stop eating and sleeping. But just be aware that this is not a job that can be done in specific hours. You might need some help in monitoring your traffic.
You must have a strategy to get results- If you thought that you can just start writing and continue more writing after it, think again. Before you start writing the first post, you must think and decide what your content marketing strategies will be. It includes explaining a few things, ranging from your target audience to your idea and added value.
When you do not know about people who you want to attract towards your site, and their expectations, chances are less of your success. However, if you are unsure about what message you want that they take with them and added value of your products or services, you will have fewer chances to convert your traffic to conversions.
Not checking content marketing performance- One of the common mistakes that most of the marketing teams make while following content marketing strategies is they do not spend enough time reviewing the performance of their attempts. Without data, there is no way to find out what is working or what is not.
For instance, if the content is performing well, marketers can find different ways to repurpose it or focus on that tactic. If something is not working, they can rather focus on that.
It is significant to review the content marketing performance with the rest of the team quarterly. Engagement metrics like social media shares, page views, and how many times visitors spent looking at the content can help marketers bring changes in their campaigns continuously.
More and more content is not the answer- If you believe that writing more and more content will help, then you are mistaken. It is one of the mistakes that writers do while creating content marketing strategies. Some people still believe that they must have hundreds of posts available, so they can show authority to their target customers. But this is not true. Here, quantity does not matter, mainly because no one is going to count how many posts you have in your blog.
Most of the time, you just need nearly 100posts to get the attention of Google and to ensure that your visitors will find your blog trustworthy. And finally, you need that one post to become viral to create brand awareness and increase sales.
Long posts are shared more- Yes, statistics show that long posts are the ones that get maximum shares. The ideal number is somewhere around 2,400 words, something that you possibly have thought is too much. What matters here is to make sure that those 2,400 words are relevant and consistent. Or else, people will stop reading at the first line itself.
Guest blogging- Most brands host a blog on their site- blogs play a vital role for SEO and to generate traffic to your site. Curating content for these blogs generally falls in the purview of content marketers. But their expertise is limited to the realm of a particular workplace. Therefore, guest blogging is now becoming a famous aspect of content marketing.
Brands are now reaching out to experts, influencers, and writing experts for their suggestions, experiences, and tips in the selected sector. On the contrary, brands are also asking their marketers to write guest blogs for other websites. This is not only a great way to establish connections between like-minded brands, but brands must refresh their perspective on their blog, and keep themselves as thought-leaders online.
Not promoting the content- Content marketing does not stop after the publishing process ends. Marketers make the mistake of focusing only on writing content; however, they should make efforts to put their content in front of their right target audience repeatedly to have a positive impact.
Marketers must focus more on promoting their content than developing it. The best rule to follow is the 80/20 rule. Spend 20% of the time in creating content, whereas using the remaining 80% to promote it through social media, email, blogs, and various other channels.
With careful planning, marketing teams can avoid falling prey to some of the biggest content marketing mistakes. From executing a content approval procedure to curating content that covers the whole sales funnel, there is a lot for marketers to consider while crafting an effective content marketing strategy.
Conclusion
There are a few things that you must be aware of while creating content. You must start from the beginning, write a strategy, and get yourself ready for making it a full-time job. On the contrary, you can attain great things by sharing and commenting on other’s blogs or websites. You do not need tons of content on your site, neither they need to be as accurate as a broadsheet article. Keep yourself updated and find out things that nobody or few is considering and stand unique from the crowd.