So you’ve got the itch to get started on your content marketing campaign. But do you have a robust plan in place?
In part one of our “Six-Step Guide to Content Marketing Success,” we outlined the preliminary steps to crafting killer content: creating a roadmap, understanding your audience and determining what channels you will use. Now let’s take a deep dive into part two of our series.
4. Build the right team
The success of your content strategy will depend heavily on the team that you assemble.
When building your content marketing A-team, remember that it will only be as strong as the sum of its parts. Strike a balance of different personalities to ensure that your team has a mix of realists, financial strategists and creative thinkers. And make sure you have someone at the helm to oversee your content strategy and keep everyone working on the same page.
So, how do you get started assembling your all-star team? First, figure out the scope of your content marketing objectives. Analyze whether your bread and butter will be hard industry news, in-depth white papers or a combination of both. Answering these questions will give you a better sense of the types of writers and skill sets you need.
Here are some additional ways to enhance your team:
- Round up some guest bloggers: Enhance your blog by inviting industry experts from outside your company to post from time to time.
- Consider hiring research assistants: Dedicated research assistants can be hired to stay on top of industry events and provide a steady stream of breaking news and statistics for your writers.
5. Spread the word about your content
The phrase “If you build it, he will come” only works in the movies. If you want to attract unique visitors, you need to promote your content and extend your outreach into different areas of the Web. Keep in mind three things: socialize, socialize and socialize. The more you promote your content through social channels, the more leads you will generate.
So, where do you start? According to Content Marketing Institute’s “2014 B2B Content Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends” report, B2B marketers are using an average of six social media platforms to distribute content. LinkedIn is the most popular B2B social channel with a reported 91 percent of marketers using it to distribute content.
Below are some best practices to keep in mind when socializing your content:
- Post regularly: Posting inconsistently will confuse your followers. By sticking to a regular posting schedule your readers will always be able to check in and get fresh content.
- Don’t neglect your social media channels: Make sure your team sticks to a number of social channels it can keep up with.
6. Keep track of your progress
Once your blog goes live, make sure to benchmark your progress and goals. You can’t make changes unless you understand the granular details of the content that you produce. The way to do this is with key performance indicators (KPIs). As CMI explains, you can break KPIs down into three major categories:
- Reach: Get to the bottom of who is reading your content, where they are reading it and how they are accessing it. Know the difference between a unique visitor and someone who frequents your blog. And make sure to figure out if your content is being read primarily on PCs or mobile devices.
- Engagement: Are readers spending time on your website, or is something causing them to flee as soon as they get there? Your bounce rate will tell you this. It doesn’t matter if you have thousands of viewers if the majority of them only spend 30 seconds on your site before leaving. What’s more, pay attention to heat maps and click patterns to see how users are moving across your website. This will provide helpful indicators that will identify what people click on over the course of a visit.
- Sentiment: Once you’re done writing an article, the job is just beginning. Comments and social sharing play a huge role in extending the life of the article. Keep blogs open for comments, and take the time to write back when a customer posts.
Edited by
Brooke Neuman
