A big part of creating effective content depends on identifying where you plan to house your content . There are multiple outlets when it comes to marketing your content- your website, social networking pages, blogs, video based websites etc. But in order to get noticed you need to identify which channels suit your content best and focus on them.
Instead of focussing on equal representation on all social channels, identify the ones that are frequented by a majority of your audience and create content suited to those channels.
If you’re selling soda, you could get away with talking about generic things that don’t target anyone in particular. The same does not hold true for B2B content. You’ve developed personas and target groups to identify who would be interested in your products, why not extend that principle to content as well? If content were your product, who would be interested in consuming it?
Identify your content audience and what they are trying to solve when they come looking for content.
Content marketing plans are not built overnight. This is especially true for B2B content as the subject matter is a lot more specific and focussed towards meeting the needs of a defined audience. This makes it imperative to create a well documented plan before starting any content marketing campaign. Get to the drawing board, build plans, gauge what your audience is looking for, document what you what to achieve through your content and create content that targets each of your goals.
All content created needs to focus on quality but when it comes to B2B content- quality overshadows quantity to a large extent. It doesn’t depend on the number of tweets or blog posts that you put up as much as how effective it is in solving a problem or fulfilling a need that your audience has. As a B2B marketer, the audience you cater to expects a certain level of expertise in your field. The ideal way to validate this belief is by creating content that delivers high on quality.
No one knows more about your product than you. And it’s taken a whole load of effort and merit on your part to get there. Use your knowledge of the industry to your advantage. Create content that will be useful to your audience without focussing on how it can be about your product. For example, it might just make sense for you to do a whole e-book on your area of expertise, or even a series of webinars. Use content to show genuine intent to help, solve problems or even to entertain.
Once your audience is convinced about your knowledge of the industry, they’ll come to you automatically.
Who says B2B content needs to be boring? If you find the right connect to your product- you can most definitely weave a story around it. Focus on creating simple content that communicates the idea but take the jargons out of it. Make content relevant but also fun to consume. This will mean more viewers and higher chances that someone who comes to your page will bookmark it and come back later for more.
Bonus tip: An easy way to incorporate fun into your marketing strategy is by adopting new and interesting networks to engage with your audience. Platforms like Instagram or Pinterest help brands develop informal yet valuable conversations with their target audience. Check out our post on how B2B brands are winning on Pinterest to be inspired!
81% of marketers who have used influencer marketing judged it to be effective. Once you’ve finalized on your content idea, analyze how an influencer could enhance its reach among your audience.
Once you are convinced about the potential of liasoning with an influencer, find the influencers that would make most sense for your brand. You also need to clarify what you hope to achieve through your influencer marketing exercise: are you looking at increasing awareness about your brand, do you want to generate more leads etc. Once you map your goals to the right influencers, find out what could motivate them to be interested in you.
The lack of consistency is the biggest deterrent to successful content marketing. Developing a faithful audience and a sense of authority in your industry take time and concerted effort. While we’re not hinting at constant updates throughout the day, ensure that you publish quality content on a regular basis. A blog post or two every week and some updates on your social networking pages- stay active and have something to say.
We hope these tips help you in creating content that will not only build your marketing efforts but also define you as a company and as a brand. At the end of the day, that’s what content marketing is all about- creating content that is reflective of who you are and using it to add value to your audience.
