Educating Instead of Selling: Learn About These Three Content Marketing Lessons
Every website owner knows just how important search engine optimization is, especially if that website is a business’ online portal. This is because the higher your website rank, the more visible it is to all the people surfing the internet.
That is why online marketers come up with various strategies to get websites up in ranking and keep them there. Content marketing is part of most of these said strategies and in reality it plays quite a big role when it comes to ranking websites well in search engines like Google.
Aside from the use of keywords in content marketing, search engines (especially Google) consider websites with good and original content to be more “legit”. In fact, Google’s recent search engine algorithm update, the Google Panda, is centered around top ranking websites with great content.
Content is also important because you can use it as a form of communication with the customers who are your favorite type of people when you are a business owner. Good content attracts these customers and if written well enough, it can convince them to buy your products and even be loyal to your business.
So what’s the secret to having great content? Well, there is no secret, just the lessons you can learn from. Here are these following said lessons in content marketing from some of the most influential online brands:
- It is all about the customer. Successful content marketers are the ones who are able to connect well with their audience. They listen to what it is they are asking for and they give it to them in the form of informative content. According to David B. Thomas, the Senior Director of Content and Engagement at salesforce.com, you have to “listen to your customers, understand what is important to them, engage with them in a human voice and share useful and interesting content that helps them solve their business problems.”
- Get the timing right. The more you can “get with the times” with your content, the more interesting it can be. This means as much as possible, your content has to be timely and relevant. We live in what people call “the internet age” now and it has become relatively easy to update ourselves on current events. The more relevant your content is, the more people can relate to it. Then, the more people are able to relate to your content, the more followers you can gather. Finally, the more followers you can gather, the more chances you can have of gaining more customers.
- Listen. Aside from keeping up with recent events, you also have to keep up with your customers. Use social media accounts like Facebook and Twitter to find out what they’re talking about. Get to know them a little better so you will know what kind of stuff they want to read. Once you have that down, it will be easy to gain loyal readers.
“The first thing to think about when getting started on a content strategy is the customer” – Demian Farnworth, Copyblogger
Content marketing is more than just writing about how great and awesome your product is, it is about educating your audience. Try to have these tips in mind when you are planning your own content marketing strategy and never forget to always think about the customer!
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