Content Marketing

Content marketing, one of the latest buzz words in almost every industry (not just marketing/advertising) is not as easy as writing a blog post every now and then or re-Tweeting a link on Twitter. Content marketing takes a lot more discipline. A recent post by Ruth at ProBlogger reminds us all of the pillars we need to keep in mind when marketing content:

1. Plan for regular content creation with an editorial calendar. When you get into a routine with content you give your community something to look forward to AND you lessen the stress on yourself to come up with great, on-the-fly posts.
2. Know your audience. Who is reading your posts? Who engages with you on Twitter around certain topics? Who is coming to your channel and from where? Knowing what matters to your audience will help you populate your editorial calendar.
3. Cultivate relationships. Posting to your blog, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, or whatever channel you have chosen is only half of the work you need to do. As Ruth reminds us, we need to plan time for outreach. When will you engage with other bloggers or Facebookers? It’s this engagement that will drive traffic to your content AND possibly contribute to its buzzworthiness.
4. BIG PICTURE thinking. For brand planners, this is what we’re always doing: keeping the big picture in mind. Where do we want to go with our brand? What does our campaign need to do? Always always keep your goals in mind. Each piece of content that you create should get you closer to achieving your goals.
5. Beginner’s mind. This is a Buddhist philosophy, but it has never been more important than with social media. Talking with a local Likeminder this weekend, I was reminded of this fact: it’s impossible to get ahead of the social media wave. We just need to learn how to ride it. As a social strategist, it’s easy to get overwhelmed by all of the new channels popping up. But if I keep an open and beginner’s mind, I can easily have a conversation about it all with my fellow planners and figure out which one should be plugged in and where.

With that, I say to you keep your objectives in mind and ride the wave.

Plan on~