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The True Purpose of Content Marketing

We are seeing the term ‘content marketing’ pop up more and more in discussions about online marketing and blogging in general. That term actually addresses much more than meets the eye.

Many people define content marketing as a conversation between a brand and their target audience. In my opinion, this is a very accurate description of what it is and how it relates to both those who create the content and those who consume the content.

However, content marketing is more than crafting landing pages and creating great blog posts. A great content strategy plan should encompass all elements of how you are interacting online with your target audience.

Primary Platform

Each online marketer has a primary platform from which they attract new customers and readers. In most cases, this is a blog or website – even if that entity only has a few pages.

There are lots of marketers out there who have a website which contains only a landing page and a sales page for their primary product. They use their landing page to collect email addresses and then build a relationship with their mailing list through email campaigns.

Social Media Marketing

The second biggest online presence for most marketers is through their social media channels. The most successful marketers have created an elaborate strategy for daily posting on their social media accounts.

It is very effective to use different types of media to connect with potential customers. We all know that different people prefer different forms of content. Some of us like videos, some of us like audio, other really prefer images or slideshows – therefore, smart online marketers are connecting with people in all of those mediums on social media.

SEO

Another huge subset of content marketing is search engine optimization or SEO. Marketers who are skilled in the art of SEO have learned how to drive massive traffic to their online entities by ranking for competitive high traffic keyword phrases. This allows them to attract lots of visitors through organic searches.

Grand Plan

One thing that most marketers do not address is a grand plan for their content overall. These marketers view content in terms of a series of articles or blog posts that prepare readers for the next post in a series. The overall series is intended to present an introductory piece of content to a person who has no knowledge about their brand, and guide them through a content series which leads them to a sales page. This type of strategy actually works quite well because it is specific and targeted.

Here are some more great articles about content marketing ….

15 Ways to Be a Wiser Content Marketer
It’s great to be smart. It’s wonderful to have clever strategies and tactics that help us do our work better. But sometimes, it’s also a good idea to think about how we can be wise. 15 Ways to Be a Wiser Content Marketer – Copyblogger

How We Used Content Marketing to Generate Over $100,00 In A Year
Content marketing is all about creating content that sells itself. It helps you create content that not only drives more traffic and leads but also huge profits. If you’re curious to find out how to increase your sales using content marketing, this post is a treat for you. Let’s get started without further ado. How We Used Content Marketing to Generate Over $100,00 In A Year

6 Tips to Differentiate Your Brand Using Content Marketing
“Customer experience can be an excellent way for you to differentiate your brand. Instead of approaching this with the mindset of there being one ideal customer experience, try and find out what your customers are looking for. Different customers use different brands because they enjoy the unique experience that brand provides,” writes Jerry Estes, content marketer at Revieweal. 6 Tips to Differentiate Your Brand Using Content Marketing | Marketing Insider Group

Why Your Online Business Depends on Listening to Social Media

One of the relatively new online marketing tasks is listening to social media. Many of you are probably wondering “What is listening to social media?”

Social media listening is the process of monitoring your social media channels for any news or comments that refer to you or your brand. This has become more and more important to online marketers for several reasons. Shouldn’t we want to hear how others are responding to our content marketing campaigns?

Think of it like those Google alerts that we used to set up on our Google accounts that lets us know about online conversations that are taking place about a specific topic. In this case, you are setting up an alert on social media to make you aware of any online conversations that are taking place about your brand.

Your social listening plan should comprise not only of social monitoring – which is monitoring the social media activity – it should also address what actions will be taken upon hearing each type of specific activity.

Let us look at 4 reasons why listening to social media is so vital to your online business:

1) Customers want quick responses. Study after study has told us that more and more people prefer to interact with brands through social media. Furthermore, they are expecting brands to respond quicker than most of them do. This is especially true with the up and coming generations.

2) You can find new opportunities. Social media is a place where people feel very free to express their opinions and feelings. While you will hear many complaints, you will also discover new needs that your target audience develops over time. This is an amazing opportunity.

3) You can demonstrate empathy and build rapport. While it is not pleasant to deal with angry customers and complaints in a public setting like social media, do not forget that many people are sitting silently on the sidelines watching how you handle these complaints. If you are honest and fair with people, then those silent observers will develop trust in you and your brand – and they will become customers over time.

4) You can protect your reputation. These days, there are businesses out there that make their entire living repairing the bad reputations that companies and brands have developed online. In most cases, these bad reputations started with a few unhappy customers whose stories gained traction online. If they had dealt with these few customers quickly and properly, their reputations would be fine today. A proper social media listening program will prevent such a thing from occurring in the first place.

Here are some more listening to social media resources:

What Is Social Listening & Why Is It Important?
There’s often some confusion around what social media listening is, and it often gets mixed up with social media monitoring. While they are somewhat similar and work best together, the two shouldn’t be used interchangeably. Social listening goes beyond monitoring and replying to incoming questions or comments about your brand. It’s about extracting key insights from social conversations that you can apply to your overall strategy. What Is Social Listening & Why Is It Important? | Sprout Social

7 social media monitoring tools to check out in 2019
The beginning of a new year is as good a reason as any other to try something new: a different lifestyle, a new hobby, a brand new marketing strategy. And, of course, a new tool, since it’s both exciting and rewarding to discover awesome software that helps you deal with work and, sometimes, with life as well. This is a list of social media monitoring/listening tools you should check out next year. 7 social media monitoring tools to check out in 2019 – Search Engine Watch Search Engine Watch

The Best Free Social Media Monitoring Tools
The key to making the most of social media is listening to what your audience has to say about you, your competitors, and the market in general. Once you have the data you can undertake analysis, and finally, reach social business intelligence; using all these insights to know your customers better and improve your marketing strategy. The Best Free Social Media Monitoring Tools | Brandwatch