Content marketing university is a comprehensive guide for beginners. If you’re new to content marketing, this guide is for you! Check out the rest of the article to learn more.
Create your content strategy
Now that you’ve created your content map, it’s time to figure out what type of content will work for your business. Your content strategy will depend on your industry and the types of customers you want to attract.
Narrow your focus
Before you start creating content, decide what you want your content to accomplish. This will help you determine which topics to focus on, what type of content to create (long form, short form, video, etc.), and how to organize your content. For example, if you want to help a new customer determine if they should buy a product from you, you can write a buyer’s guide that outlines specific questions they should ask before making a purchase. Or, if you want to inform people about the latest food safety issue, you can create a long-form post about how to protect yourself from foodborne illnesses.
Determine your frequency
Not only do you need to determine how much content you should publish, but you also need to consider your posting frequency. The frequency of your content should match the needs of your audience, your goal, and your business. If you’re a new business looking to build your brand awareness, you might find that posting daily is the best way to go. But if you’re a B2B company looking to generate leads, you might choose to publish your content twice a week.
Determine who your target audience is
Define your target audience by their demographics (age, gender, location, etc.), psychographics (buying motivations, interests, lifestyles, and fears), and what they’re looking for. For example, if you’re developing content for a mom blogger, then you’ll want to include a discussion of how to handle nap time, and what products she likes to help her soothe her babies. You can also define your audience by what they care about—if your audience cares about a particular topic, create content covering that topic.
Write your content
If you’re writing for your website or a blog, aim to write for the human reader. People don’t read websites as they do a book. They don’t even skim the surface of a page. So, write with humans in mind. Write in a way that makes them want to continue reading. You might have heard this advice before, but it’s extremely important.
Start with your contact information
If you have a business website, make sure to include your business contact information right in your blog post. Your website should also have information about your business—like your phone number, email, address, social media accounts, and anything else that your audience might want to use to contact you. Before you publish your post, make sure to proofread and edit it to ensure that it’s easy to understand and contains the information your audience is looking for.
Create a compelling lead generation offer
You need to craft the right content to get the right buyer to respond to your call to action. For example, how can you inform the prospect of the value of the product or service they are looking for? What is the best solution to their problem? You can even ask insightful questions to help you determine what the right buyer is looking for and how to best help them solve their problem. In addition, be sure to create buyer personas that give you a deeper understanding of the potential buyer you are targeting. These personas will help you understand why they are looking for help and what they are hoping to get out of the solution you are offering.
Use the right call-to-action (CTA)
A call to action is a piece of content that invites the reader to take action. It is usually presented as a button or link that allows the visitor to take the action. It becomes especially important in long form content that is designed to build up to a huge offer such as a free e-book.
Craft your content strategically
While writing, you need to consider how your content is going to help your audience achieve their goals, what type of content is most valuable to your audience, and how you will support your content with your marketing and social media strategies. If you understand your audience and what drives them to read your content in the first place, you’re more likely to create content that will attract them and help them achieve their goals.
Optimize your content
When you publish your page, search engines index it. This helps them understand what the page is about. Using the right keywords can help improve your page’s ranking. It will also help you attract the right audience for your business. But you need to keep in mind that the search engines don’t know what you want to say. They index what is on your page based on the keywords you used. So, you need to use the right keywords to attract the right people. Use tools like Google Keyword Planner to find the most popular keyword phrases that potential customers are using to search for your product or service. You can use the same keyword in the title, the description, and the meta description tag. This helps improve your page’s ranking and attract more visitors.
Determine your content needs
If you want to create a blog post, you need to have a clear idea about what you want to share with your audience. It will help you to create a post that will attract your target audience. Do you want to share an interesting story or your experience? Do you want to share some educational information about a certain subject that you are an expert in? Before creating your content, you need to know what you want to talk about and write about it accordingly. If you don’t know what you want to talk about, how will you create a compelling post? It will be difficult to establish your brand identity and trustworthiness if you create content out of thin air. Focus on creating content that your audience is looking for. Determine your content needs before you begin writing so you won’t waste time creating content that no one will read or share.
Understand your client’s challenges
You will never know what your clients are looking for if you don’t ask them. And that’s a question you need to ask them right away. Your content marketing strategy has to be aligned with the needs of your audience and the challenges they face. It will help you create content that solves their problems and helps them achieve their goals. In addition, it will help you to build a relationship with them.
Research your topic
To determine the content that is most relevant to your audience, you need to do some research. You can use Google to search for questions that are frequently asked about your topic. You can also use a website like SEOQuake to find questions that match your keyword. What you will find is a list of questions asked by people who are looking for information on a particular topic. Ask the people who are interested in your topic the questions that they are looking for. You will find that you get the best content by asking your audience what they want.
Share your content
As I mentioned before, this is the cornerstone of content marketing, so you need to be consistent with all of your content. If you’re a business owner, share your expertise and insights on social media with your audience. If you’re an influencer or a blogger, create a video or a blog post that shares your take on a specific topic. And if you’re creating a guide or a book, share in both written and video form.
Create an editorial calendar
If you want to ensure consistent content on your website, an editorial calendar is a must-have tool. An editorial calendar allows you to schedule when you publish your content and ensures you don’t miss a beat. It also allows you to take into account any holidays or other events that might conflict with your publishing schedule.
Craft your content strategy
A strong content marketing strategy is the cornerstone of a successful content marketing campaign. Before you create the content for your audience, you need to know your goals and plan what content you will create to achieve those goals. If you don’t have a clear plan laid out before you create your content, you won’t know whether or not your content is effective for your business. Set your goals and plan your content strategy before you create any content and you’ll be on your way to creating successful content marketing campaigns for years to come!
Determine how to promote your content
You can promote your content in many ways. Paid promotion involves paying for promotion through digital channels, like social media ads or sponsored content. You can also create your own content, drive traffic to it through other channels, and share it to earn shares and likes. You can also participate in discussions to increase the likelihood that people will want to share your content.
In conclusion, Content Marketing University is the perfect guide for anyone looking to learn the ropes of content marketing. It covers everything from the basics of creating great content to more advanced strategies for driving traffic and engagement. If you’re ready to start your content marketing journey, this guide is a great place to start.