How to stand out in the content crowd?

As I'm writing this, I ask myself this question. Over my years in marketing, I've seen so many follow the same proven success formula and so little actually take the risks of doing something different. What makes this decision? Is it courage, business values, desired social image?... what do you think?

In any case, by not taking the risk to be different, we are depriving ourselves of the richness of individuality. Individuality paves the way for innovation, advancement in culture, and it is what drives the evolution of society. And society is constantly changing and evolving, and it is all due to all the traits that make us individuals.

But the good news is that we are increasingly acknowledging this and content nature is changing. In this era of self-realization, discovering our true selves and the purpose of our lives, we truly value the creation of material that is authentic, dynamic, and meaningful.

I would like to start by painting a picture of the content landscape today and then continue to propose how to survive in these highly saturated times. Follow me in the lines below.

What is content marketing today?

Watch it! It's alive! Content is a living creature that continues to mature and evolve, and we must do so with it.

Regarding this topic, Inc. found 2017 was a big year for content marketing. Joint research by the Content Marketing Institute and MarketingProfs showed that over 60 percent of marketers claimed that content marketing strategies were more effective than the year before. With businesses catching on to the importance of high quality, targeted content, it's perhaps no surprise that their increased efforts are paying off. Bravo!. In the meantime, the field gets more and more saturated with content, the landscape continues to change and evolve, and so, do our content practices.

As more and more content is created, we marketers experiment with content form, length, frequency, mode, delivery, and style the consumer pallet for content. But if you look to achieve further success in the current environment, you need to stay on top of content trends in...(*drumroll*)

Mobile friendly content

With the main goal of your content to reach your audience where they are today, the implications are clear: you need mobile-friendly content. That doesn't only mean adapting your desktop content though, is about creating the best content types for mobile (i.e. social media, video, news...); and smooth and compelling mobile experiences that load almost instantaneously for users (i.e. AMP, an open source effort to improve the content ecosystem).

Video

If you’re not already producing video for your business, you might be living in a different era. Most people pay close attention to video, which means savvy marketers can leverage videos to put out powerful, high-quality content that speaks for their brand offerings. Video is here to stay, and you won't be able to compete without it. Facebook and other ad platforms are showing preferences on organic and paid placements because the engagement rates are higher with video content. Tell your story, and let consumers fall in love with your brand.

Voice and vision integration

Interacting with computers becomes easier by the day. Today, AI technology allows the integration of voice and vision inputs. The fact that voice search is becoming a growing trend has a number of implications for your content. People are looking for answers to their questions fast, and you'll need to provide them with simple, quality content that provides them with the information they look for.

Intelligent SEO

As voice recognition rises, your content needs to sound more natural, the way that people speak. This has implications for every single business. Imagine local businesses as people try to find their services nearby. This means local business owners will need to make adjustments in geo-based content to emphasize their physical presence. The case is different but not less essential for any business if you want it to come up first in search results.

Niche communications

You probably already heard: "Don't try to be everything for everyone". And here it goes again. "Don't try to be everything for everyone". Content experts know that by creating successful small-scale systems, they can gradually build scalable, adaptable platforms. That is what eventually converts into a solid reputation for quality content.

How to be the golden elephant?

There are too many pink elephants already, right? Being gold is better, it is shinier.

As more content is shared in digital, most of content managers are experiencing lower engagement rates. This is unless you can create exceptional content in some way. Here's are 6 ways to stand a chance with quality content.

1. Make it personal

Yes, the complete opposite of the common saying "Don't take it personally". In the social media era, completely full of gurus and wizards who think the best way to communicate is nothing more than an empty marketing pitch, it's never been more important to learn how to communicate at a personal level. "The goal should be to build deeper relationships, with real context, beyond the surface level."- SuperConnector. This means you must listen, ask the right questions, analyze, then ask more questions again. 

And as a clairvoyant, I see a future of content marketing with a more personalized form of creation and delivery where the end reader participates in the selects and requests topics. Wait! Oh-oh, this is already happening.

2. Support the middle and end of an audience journey

“Rather than focusing too heavily on top-of-the-funnel content to fuel your customer acquisition, your strategy should switch to supporting every stage of that buyer’s journey. Going forward, your content will need to be more diverse, purposeful, nurturing, and interconnected so it propels the customer forward."- Neil Patel.

Most importantly, your content can’t stop at the point of conversion. Without relationships, your audience isn’t going to carry your content beyond the first glance. Continue to nurture your customer relationships with content, and you’ll create your own brand ambassadors to lead you into a bright future. Go, You!

3. Be proud of your uniqueness

You may not have invented your market segment or have a differential product, however, this doesn't mean you can't express yourself with your own voice and identity. Now more than ever, and for everyone's sake, audiences are increasingly looking for an identity in the brands and influencers they follow. Identity is constructed from your core values. It’s the foundation that informs both an organization’s culture and its brand(s). When identity is unique, clear and distinct, an organization will attract an audience that shares these values.

Any content you produce – be that on your website, in digital ads, or wherever—should not be mistaken for anyone else’s.

4. Be consistent

When people sign up for a magazine subscription, they know when they receive each issue. They also should know exactly what to expect from you. As content marketers, it needs to be the same. Your audience has to know when they’ll receive the next video, podcast or blog post, and what type of content they will get.

The specific communication messages and channels you choose may adapt and change. Your identity should not. Is my communication consistent? Do I look and sound the same in all my channels? Whose responsibility is this at my company?... are some of the questions you should be asking yourself.

5. Trust and build trust

Some call it “transparency,” but whatever you call it, content perception lives and dies by trust. Trust is at a premium today, and it will only get more precious. There’s the trust you build (or burn) by deciding to teach rather than sell in your content. Then there’s the inherent trust our audiences have for user-generated content, whether that content is a shared photo on social media, or an online review, or a word of mouth recommendation.

Combining consistency and identity is essential to building trust with customers. If you craft consistent messages with your core values in mind, you show audiences that you know who you are. You show that they can trust you to stay in line with your identity. 

6. Be dynamic

There's a growing prevalence of live and dynamic content, as opposed to static content, in social media, like an Instagram story or live story versus a static post. "A growing number of brands are using this to tell a more authentic story via social media and connect with a base of Millennial consumers on a more personal level to create trust and offer a kind of 'behind the scenes' look if you will." - Sebastian Bryers, CTO at Ora Organic.

Why you should be investing in quality content

Intuitively, you understand that producing good content can help attract new traffic, encourage site interactions, influence conversations, build a business reputation and even encourage trust and faith in brands, However, we tend to forget that content influences almost every other online strategy. For example:

• Content attracts new online and offline traffic to your business. If people are interested in the topics you’re posting about, you can expect a more rich stream of users coming to your both of your online site and your offline locations.
• It builds your brand reputation and encourages trust and faith in your brand. Content gives you a chance to show off your expertise in the industry, to become a thought leader. By posting your outlook and professional thoughts, and you’ll be seen as more authoritative and more trustworthy than your competitors.
• Strategic content can influence sales and leads conversions. With the opportunity to post links with call-to-actions, you are capable of leading to more onsite and off-site conversions, and ultimately, more streams of revenue.
• Content helps your SEO strategy considerably by providing more web "real estate" and increasing your domain authority.
• Great content builds both digital and physical relationships with partners, other brands, and industries.
• It encourages more email sign-ups, thus more effective email marketing campaigns, and sales leads.
• Rich content provides source material for social media marketing campaigns.
• It enhances the value of your business landing page and other web pages.

Content marketing may be a long-term strategy, but the sooner you start investing in it, the sooner you'll start seeing the benefits--and conversely, the longer you wait to get started, the longer it will take. If you currently have no content strategy whatsoever, it's time to establish one. You'll be glad you did.

Your turn now

While these ways to stand out in content crowds are supported by data, they aren’t the only ones. Moving into the future, you should perform your research to see how you can improve your own content strategy.

How else do you think we can stand out in this overloaded content times? Leave me a comment with your unique ideas and thoughts.