Content Marketing Mistakes That You Need to Avoid
Creating good content takes time and effort, so it’s disappointing when it doesn’t reach the level of impact that you expect. Reasons for this might be tied to quality, but it also pertains to content distribution and strategy.
In order to capture users’ attention, you would have to do more than just publish and hope it reaches your audience. Moreover, even with a content distribution plan, there are simple mistakes that can be made that will hamper your campaign.
Creating a Plan after Content is Finished
Unfortunately, it happens in a lot of teams that a distribution plan is created after the content is finished. The content team sends a piece to the promotional team and expects them to get it published and shared immediately. This creates a gap between what your audience expects and what is delivered to them, rendering the content less effective.
Always include your promotional or marketing team from the beginning so that they can offer feedback on content ideas, have enough time to plan it accordingly and if needed, arrange exclusives.
Similarly, you might decide to partner with a publication to create tailored content. That way you can ensure the content will be featured.
Targeting Everyone
Nowadays, targeting everyone means fighting a losing battle. Content should speak to a specific group of people who are or might be interested in your product or service. Having content that is generic or your distribution is too broad, chances are it won’t make the impact you expect.
Create well defined personas that detail who it is you’re trying to target, what they care about, where they consume information. This will help you better identify content ideas and choose the right distribution channels.
Impeding Access to Content
While you want to increase your website traffic, it shouldn’t heavily impact the user experience. Forcing people to view the content on your website that could be published on social media will only create a frictional brand experience.
The key is to make it as easy as possible for people to access and share content. For example, upload your video directly to Facebook and Twitter or add social buttons to your newsletter, instead of re-directing viewers to your website all the time.
You can still tease content, but provide something of value as well when you share it on social media. For example, tweet interesting data visualization from your latest product release or research, and include a link to your website if they want to learn more.
