15 Content Marketing Ideas That Will Get You Results
15 Content Marketing Ideas That Will Get You Results
If you have wondered why content marketing is so important or what kind of content you should create, this article is for you. Content marketing can drive more online sales, attract new potential clients, and build stronger rapport with existing customers. Whether using visual content, high-quality video content, blogs, or user-generated content, each type of content can positively impact your marketing strategy.
But what are the best ways to ensure your marketing efforts pay off? Here are fifteen ideas to get you started:
Put together a content marketing strategy.
As the saying goes, "content is king." But in today's digital world, creating content and hoping for the best is not enough. You need to have a solid strategy to get the most out of your content marketing.
Here are five critical components of a successful content marketing strategy:
1. Set realistic goals.
What do you want to achieve with your content marketing? More website traffic? More leads? More sales? Once you know what you want, you can create content to help you reach those goals.
2. Know your audience.
Who are you creating content for? What are their needs and interests? The better you understand your target audience; the more effective your content will be. Keep reading to learn more about your audience's influence in making the correct type of content that gets better results.
3. Choose the proper channels.
Where will you promote your content? Social networks? Blogs? Paid advertising? Many different channels are available, and the best way to reach your audience will vary depending on who they are and where they spend their time online.
4 Choose the correct type of content
Not all types of content are created equal. Depending on your goals and your audience, some types of content will be more effective than others.
Some Content Marketing Examples
- Video Marketing
- Blogging
- Infographics
- Podcasts
- Webinars
- Ebooks
- Whitepapers
- Case Studies
5. Measure your results.
Don't forget to track your progress along the way. Keeping tabs on things like website traffic and conversion rates will help you see how well your content marketing strategy is working and where you might need to make some adjustments.
According to the content marketing institute 2022 report, 62% of successful marketing B2B top performers have a solid content marketing strategy. In contrast, only 11% of the least successful content marketers had a content strategy.
A solid content marketing strategy will ensure that your content marketing campaigns are more effective and that you can achieve your desired results. If you are creating content without a plan or strategy, you are likely wasting your time and resources. A strategic marketing approach focused on quality, valuable content targeting a clearly defined audience will help your business reach its goals.
Identify your target audience.
Content marketing is a powerful tool for businesses of all sizes. But for content marketing to be effective, you need to know who your target audience is. You must also consider where the person is in the customer journey. You want only to create content that resonates with them and compels them to take action. When identifying your target audience, there are a few key factors to consider.
First, consider what needs and pain points your ideal customers have. What are they searching for online? What kind of information are they looking for? Once you have a good understanding of their needs, you can start creating content that addresses those needs.
It's also important to consider where your target audience is spending their time online. What social media platforms do they use? What websites do they visit? By identifying these key factors, you can ensure that your content marketing efforts are laser-focused and more likely to produce results.
Create a content calendar
One of the best ways to ensure that your content marketing efforts are effective is to create a content calendar. A content calendar will help you stay organized and on track, making it easy to have consistent content that is high quality and relevant to your audience and your goals.
There are a few different ways to create a content calendar. One option is to use a spreadsheet or Google Doc to track your content. This can be effective but can be time-consuming if not done correctly.
Another option is to use a content calendar tool like CoSchedule or ContentCal. These tools make it easy to plan, publish, and measure your results in one place.
Use keywords and SEO techniques to make your content easier to find on search engines.
If you want your content to be found by your ideal target audience, you must ensure it is optimized for search engines. And the best way to do that is to use keywords throughout your content.
When using keywords, it's essential to balance using too many and too few. If you stuff your content with keywords, it will be difficult to read and likely turn off potential customers. But if you don't use enough keywords, your content will be less likely to appear in search engine results.
In addition to using keywords, several other SEO techniques can be used to make your content more visible on search engines. These include optimizing your titles and descriptions, using header tags, and including internal links.
Content marketing strategies, including search engine optimization in content pieces such as blog posts and video content, tend to have higher ROI.
Make sure your content is exciting and engaging.
One of the most important elements of effective content marketing is ensuring your content is exciting and engaging. If your content is tedious or difficult to read, potential customers will likely click away and find something else to read or watch.
To ensure your content is engaging, start by doing some groundwork. Research your topic, find relevant keywords, and ensure you are helping to solve a problem. Tools like Surfer SEO will help make research effortless and help you with the SEO work discussed above.
Once you have done your research, it's time to start writing or creating your content. Creating a winning headline for your blog or video is essential to capture your audience's attention. When doing this, use strong headlines that will grab attention and hold interest.
Here are some tips to help you get started:
Keep it short and sweet.
A headline should be able to be read at a glance, so make sure it is clear and to the point.
Use keywords.
Use relevant keywords your audience is searching for to help your content be found more easily.
Make it catchy.
A catchy and easy-to-remember headline is more likely to stick in someone's mind, so try to be creative!
Ask a question.
A headline that poses a question can effectively pique someone's curiosity and encourage them to click through to your content.
Use numbers or lists.
Headlines that include numbers or lists are often more successful than those that don't, as they give readers an idea of what they can expect from your content.
Follow these tips, and you'll be on your way to creating headlines that will grab attention and get results!
Another way to ensure you are creating engaging content is to use strong visuals. People are more likely to remember information accompanied by a relevant image, so including pictures, infographics, or videos in your content can be very effective. One of my favorite places to grab free-use images is Unsplash.com.
Repurpose old content into new formats
The great thing about creating high-quality content is that it can be repurposed and used in various ways. If you have an old blog post performed well, consider turning it into a video or an infographic. You could also create a new blog post with updated information based on the same topic.
Reusing and repurposing old content is a great way to get more mileage out of the work you've already done, and it can help ensure your content is always fresh and up-to-date. You can learn more about ways to repurpose your content over on my Stellar Content blog.
Promote your content on social networks
Social media marketing is a powerful way for you to reach a larger audience and promote your content more effectively. When promoting your content on various social channels, it's essential to post regularly, use relevant hashtags, and tag other relevant accounts.
You should also share your content across multiple platforms to reach as many people as possible. In addition to general social network sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, you could share your content on more niche platforms relevant to your industry.
For example, if you're in the food industry, you could create posts about your recipes or cooking videos on Tastemade or Foodgawker. If you're a fashion blogger, you could share and build quite a lucrative following (not to mention income) on Amazon as an Amazon Influencer.
No matter what industry you're in, there is likely a platform or two that would be relevant for promoting your content. Do some research and find the right ones for you! Remember to stay consistent once you choose the platform you prefer. Because if there is one thing I know about marketing on social sites, you need to show up to see results.
Use email marketing to promote your content.
Email marketing can be a great way to promote your content to people who have already expressed interest in what you do. If you have a list of email subscribers, let them know when you have new content available. You could create a dedicated email newsletter with links to your latest blog posts, videos, or other content.
When emailing your subscribers about new content, it's important to use engaging subject lines and include a call-to-action, so people know what you want them to do next. You don't want your emails to get lost in someone's crowded inbox, so make sure they stand out!
If you are struggling to come up with excellent email subject lines, try one of the following free tools:
- Active Campaign's free subject line generator
- Keap's free subject line generator
- Copy.ai subject line generator
- Encharge ai subject line generator
If you want to be successful with email marketing, be sure to segment your subscriber list so that you send targeted content to the right people who would be most interested in that content.
Create evergreen content
Creating evergreen content can be a great way to ensure your content continues to generate traffic and leads long after it's been published. Evergreen content is the type of content that remains relevant and useful over time. This is in contrast to timely content, which is only relevant for a short period and then becomes outdated.
Some examples of evergreen content include:
- Tutorials and how-to guides
- Product reviews and comparisons
- Lists and roundups (such as "The 10 Best Coffee Makers of 2020")
- Definitive guides (such as "How to Start a Blog in 2020")
Creating evergreen content can be a great way to attract new leads and customers over time, as people will continue to search for and find your content long after it's been published. If you want your business to continue growing, focus on creating evergreen content that will still be relevant months or even years from now.
Use paid advertising to reach new audiences.
One way to drive profitable customer action is to use paid advertising. Advertising allows you to feature your content in front of people who might not have otherwise seen it organically. And now more than ever, paid advertisement is more affordable than ever. Gone are the days when the only advertisement options you had were tv ads or print. With the internet, you can now target particular demographics with your ad spend.
There are many different types of online advertising you could use to promote your content, including:
- Display ads
- Search engine ads (such as Google Ads)
- Digital ads (such as Facebook Ads or Instagram Ads)
- Native advertising
Paid ads are a great way to reach new audiences and promote your content to people who might not have seen it. However, it's important to note that paid ads are not a sustainable long-term solution for driving traffic to your website. Once you stop paying for ads, the traffic will stop coming in. That's why it's important to focus on organic traffic-generating methods, such as SEO and content marketing.
Leverage influencers to promote your content
Another great way to promote your content is by leveraging influencers. An influencer is someone with a medium to a large following on social media or another online platform. When you partner with an influencer and they promote your content to their audience, you can reach a whole new group of people who might be interested in what you do.
There are a few different ways you could partner with an influencer to promote your content, including:
Guest blogging:
You could have an influencer write a guest blog post for your website. This is a great way to expose their audience to your brand and content.
Sponsored posts:
You could pay an influencer to promote one of your blog posts or pieces of content on their social media accounts.
Product reviews:
You could send an influencer one of your products and ask them to review it on their channels.
Interviews:
You could interview an influencer on your podcast or YouTube channel and then promote the episode across both of your social media accounts.
Packaged Educational Content:
You can hire an influencer or digital educator to do a series of video content pieces or educational content to help your audience better understand how your product or service works.
No matter what method you choose, partnering with an influencer can be a great way to reach a new audience and promote your content.
Analyze your results and adjust your strategy accordingly.
Finally, it's important to analyze the results of your content marketing efforts and adjust your strategy accordingly. The only way to know what's working with your content marketing and what's not is to track your results over time.
There are a few different metrics you could track, including:
- Web traffic
- Bounce rate
- Time on site
- Pages per visit
- New visitors vs. returning visitors
- Social media engagement
You can track these metrics using Google Analytics or another similar tool. Once you have a good understanding of how your content is performing, you can then adjust your strategy accordingly.
For example, if you notice that a specific type of content is driving a lot of traffic to your website but has a high bounce rate, that's an indication that people are interested in the topic but not finding what they're looking for on your site. In this case, you might want to consider creating more content on that topic or including links to other relevant content on your site.
On the other hand, if you notice that a particular type of content isn't getting much traffic but has a low bounce rate and high engagement, that's an indication that people who do see it are interested in it. In this case, you might consider promoting that content more heavily or creating similar content.
Analyzing your results and adjusting your content marketing strategy accordingly is the best way to ensure that your content marketing efforts are successful.
Batch content
One way to be more productive with your content marketing is to batch your content. This means creating content at once instead of spreading it over time.
There are a few different ways you can go about batching your content. One option is to create all the content for one specific project in one sitting. For example, if you're creating an eBook, you would sit down and write all the content for it in one go.
Another option is to create different types of content at once. For example, you could batch together a few blog posts, social media updates, and an email newsletter.
Batching your content can help you to be more productive because it allows you to focus on one specific task at a time. When you're not constantly switching between different projects, you can get into a flow state and be more productive.
Plus, when you have all your content created in advance, you don't have to worry about what to post next – you can just schedule it all out and relax knowing that your content marketing is on auto-pilot.
If you're looking for ways to be more productive with your content marketing, give batching a try. It's a simple yet effective way to get more done in less time.
If you are not sure where to start with batching content, I have a course you may enjoy called Stellar Content. Check out the details at www.Stellar247Content.com
Rinse and repeat!
Content marketing is an ongoing process, which means you can't just create a bunch of content and then forget about it. You need to continuously create new content and promote it if you want to see results.
Try to create at least one piece of new content every week, and be sure to promote it across your social media. If you can, try to make even more content than that. The more content you have, the more likely people will find it and the more traffic you'll drive to your site.
Don't forget to continue analyzing your results and adjusting your strategy as needed. As your business grows and changes, your content marketing should evolve.
Hire a content marketing agency to help
If you struggle to keep up with your current content marketing efforts, you could always hire a content marketing agency to help. A good content marketing agency can create high-quality content optimized for your website and promote it across social media and other channels.
Hiring an agency can be a great way to free up your time so that you can focus on other aspects of your business, and it can also help you to drive more traffic and generate more leads.
If you're interested in hiring a content marketing agency, be sure to do your research and find an agency with a good reputation that you feel will be able to deliver results.
Here are a couple of things to look for when hiring a content marketing agency:
They are clear about developing a content marketing strategy before getting started on any content for your brand.
If you are hiring an agency to oversee all your content marketing efforts, they must work off of a solid strategy. Before putting any time into content marketing, it must be clear what your vision, mission, target audience, and goals are. A good content marketing agency knows that a strategy is vital to the success of any content marketing campaign.
The team members assigned to your account are experienced and knowledgeable about the subject matter.
You want to ensure that the people working on your account are knowledgeable about the topic. They should be able to answer your questions and provide valuable insights.
Check out their blog and social media channels to see what kind of content they put out there. If it's high-quality and engaging, that's a good sign.
They have a successful track record.
When looking for a content marketing agency, ask for case studies or past examples of their work. This will give you a good idea of what to expect and whether or not they are likely to deliver results.
A good agency should have no problem sharing their successes with you and should be able to show you how they've helped other brands achieve their content marketing goals.
Take the time to research and find a content marketing agency that is a good fit for your business. With the help of a good agency, you can take your content marketing to the next level and start seeing some serious results.
If you need help with content marketing, feel free to contact me, Kelly Mirabella, here at Stellar Media Marketing. I specialize in Strategic Content Marketing and can help guide you on the steps you should take to make your content more effective. I also offer a range of other content marketing services and courses that can help take your business to the next level.
Content Marketing Tools
Now that we have covered the 15 key things that will make your content more effective, let's look at some content marketing tools that can help you get the most out of your content.
These great tools can help you with various aspects of your content marketing, from keyword research to social media promotion.
Google Keyword Planner
Google's Keyword Planner is an excellent tool for helping you to find the right keywords to target in your content. Just enter a seed keyword, and Google will show you a list of related keywords and their monthly search volume.
Canva is an easy-to-use graphic design tool that is great for creating visuals for your content. With Canva, you can create infographics, social media images, and more.
Jasper ai is an excellent tool for using artificial intelligence to write content like sales copy, blogs, and social media captions. With Jasper ai, you can get high-quality content written in a fraction of the time it would take you to write it yourself.
Ecamm is a great tool for high-quality live video production. With Ecamm, you can easily create professional-looking live videos for your content marketing.
AgoraPulse is a tool for managing your social media accounts. AgoraPulse can help you schedule and publish your content and track your social media analytics.
Surfer SEO is a tool for helping you optimize your content for search engines. With Surfer SEO, you can get insights into what keywords to target and tips on improving your content's ranking.
Google Trends is a tool for understanding what people are searching for online. With Google Trends, you can see what topics are trending and get insights into how these trends change over time.
Content is key to a successful online presence. You know that we know that. But you may not know how to make your content engaging and effective for driving results. That's where we come in. This blog post outlined twelve things you can do to create more engaging and results-driven content. From understanding your audience to using the right tone and format, these tips will help you create content that engages your readers and drives conversions.
Want even more helpful advice? Snag our free Creating Sharable Content Guide – it's packed with insights from marketing experts on how to craft share-worthy content that gets results. Thanks for reading!