Content Marketing: 16 Mistakes Not To Make
Even though content marketing is still being determined, more and more companies are creating their content.
For a better understanding of your future content marketing strategy, here are 8 mistakes not to make and advice to avoid spoiling it.
Not strategizing
Realize that behind content marketing must lie a genuinely long-term vision that includes both goals (reputation, sales, etc.) and promotional strategies (sharing on social networks, newsletters, etc.).
With a plan, you post more regularly and spend less time promoting your content.
Without a strategy, you publish less frequently and do not promote it as much.
Need an editorial calendar.
A vital component of your content marketing approach is the editorial calendar. It is a tool that contributes to more efficient management of the development and distribution of your content and, thus, to the flawless execution of your long-term goal.
A good editorial calendar must address all of your current issues. With it, your approach is unframed, your material is regularly published, and you need a global perspective of your subjects. In other words, it could enhance the effectiveness of your content marketing plan. Create your editorial calendar now!
Disregard search engine suggestions
Many content creators believe they know better than search engines what customers want from their brand. Also, rather than being interested in them, they decide on their own what will interest their audience, which is a real mistake.
The suggestions of search engines are rich in information and make it possible to know the problems encountered by the public. By creating content providing them with the much-desired response, you are sure to seduce them.
Only think about SEO
A website's content has an undeniable impact on its natural referencing, and SEO optimization cannot be ignored.
However, content marketing is utilized to assist you in acquiring positions in Google search results and provide Internet consumers with engaging and informative information.
What use is it if your texts are well-referenced yet uninteresting? Remember that your business must project an image of knowledge to your readers. It is, therefore, vital to focus on the quality and relevance of your content in addition to its SEO optimization!
Wanting to deal with everything and nothing
Some companies present in several sectors of activity sometimes dare to have catch-all blogs with content dealing with very different themes. This is a big faux pas since retaining your customers and developing an image of experts with such content will only be possible.
To remedy this, if you still want to deal with several themes, the solution is to create several blogs to find in several communities around your brand.
?Quantity over quality
This error is extremely common, and some content creators want to avoid admitting its existence. However, there is no point in multiplying posts on a website or social networks if they are not of high quality.
On the other hand, a single quality content may be enough to satisfy your entire audience.
In addition, if your plan relies heavily on textual content, feel free to contact a professional writer who is experienced in producing high-quality pieces that fulfil the expectations of Internet users.
Make virality a goal
Seeking to create a buzz at all costs is rarely a good initiative. Also, make sure to design your content to go viral.
Virality can be positive, but tell yourself that your content will naturally go viral if you "hit the bullseye" by imagining the content your audience members were waiting for.
Not thinking about conversion.
The purpose of content marketing (although it is not the only goal) is to win you new prospects and customers.
Writing quality content, whether informative, funny, or surprising, is essential. But what good is writing the best text in the world if it doesn't generate conversions? Let's agree: in no case should self-promotion be abused. But a blog post or other content must contain a minimum of incentives for your readers, including calls-to-action to invite them to take action:
Chasing Multiple Goals
Creating the right content for the right goals often results from communication within the marketing team. In this specific situation, it's hard to believe your content marketing campaign is doing well.
To avoid such a mishap, clearly set the campaign's objectives and the aim of each content. Everyone must contribute to the general purposes, but their aim must be clear and precise.
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Need a target audience.
One of the keys to your web content's success is addressing the right people (and at the right time).
It is tempting to think that being read massively on the web is good. But is that the case if only 1% of your readers are potential customers?
Do not choose the wrong target, and do not cast too wide a net at the risk of never seeing your efforts rewarded concretely.
Flooding Your Audience With Not Always Useful Information
Developing a strong relationship with your audience does not require overwhelming them with information throughout the day; even if you produce a great deal of daily content, you must segment your database.
Knowing your customer base should enable you to provide each customer with only the information that interests him. He will then have the feeling of living a privileged relationship with your brand.
?Omit setting limits
Because a content marketing strategy relies on the work of several collaborators, everyone must contribute to its success.
To do this, the manager must be inflexible regarding the deadlines for producing the content and its quality. Otherwise, your strategy risks being a disaster since, without precise planning, it will become unreadable.
The best is to work with professionals for each type of content: writers for articles, editors for multimedia content, photographers for content intended for Instagram, graphic designers for infographics, etc. These will be the most likely to meet the needs of your strategy.
Limit yourself to textual content
You can only optimize the performance of your content marketing strategy by relying on something other than textual content.
Many studies have shown in recent years that young people are likelier to watch a video than read an article, especially on social networks. So think about producing multimedia content, even if it means outsourcing it if you don't have specialists in-house.
Refrain from diversifying your content.
Blog posts and web pages are indeed the foundation of content marketing, but you can still settle for them.
The possibilities are many:
Many formats can bring a little variety to your content marketing and arouse the interest of your audience.
Another good practice is to reuse the content in another form: an effective way to save time or bring obsolete elements up to date.
Make duplicate content
In other words, you can find the subject that interests you on Google. And this is where a difficulty arises. It is accepted and acceptable to draw inspiration from existing content when writing a blog post, for example. However, it is strictly forbidden to plagiarize content, in other words, copy/paste text without modifying the sentences, phrases, expressions, etc.
Making duplicate content on your site or blog can severely affect your SEO. But it can also destroy your credibility with Internet users.
Not wanting to outsource
Taking charge of creating your content can be tempting, especially when you have just launched your business or project and funds are limited.
However, this can cost your content marketing dearly for at least two reasons:
First, taking care of many different tasks simultaneously is tiring and can force you to rush your content writing.
Moreover, you can't improvise yourself as a web editor: it's a job that requires fundamental writing skills and a good spirit of synthesis.
Our tip
A content marketing strategy is complex to implement and has many pitfalls. After reading this article, you should be able to eliminate the main ones. For the rest, keep sight of the fact that content is king and must correspond to what your customers and prospects expect.
As long as you respect this, you will only have to feed on your small mistakes to improve your strategies' performance continuously.
Do you need help quantifying your needs? Let's have a free consultation call with 2BTech.