Do you know what content marketing is? On paper, content marketing encompasses all marketing formats that involve the creation or sharing of engaging content. This is typically done with the goal of attracting prospects or acquiring and retaining customers. The types of content can vary widely and includes videos, white papers, infographics, memes, articles and blogs to name a few. The whole point of content marketing is to both engage readers and provide valuable information.
A Word About Content Marketing
Any SEO company who's trying to do the right thing will tell you that SEO is so much harder than it used to be. Content marketing takes far more time and effort than the link building tactics that worked years ago. Some try to cut corners by writing one article and posting that one article on multiple websites. That's considered duplicate content by Google. It's certainly efficient for the SEO provider, but not effective for search results. Let's say Google gives you points for content marketing:
- One unique article posted on one site - 1 point.
- One unique article posted on two or more sites - may look impressive, but still - 1 point.
- Four unique articles posted on four sites - 4 points.
You get no credit for duplicate content. Duplicate content does nothing for search rankings but seeing their articles duplicated on numerous websites might impress those who don’t know better. You know better!
Content Marketing Done Right
It is very important to have a content marketing strategy that covers all basics necessary for a successful online marketing campaign.
1. Plan Your Content
- Figure out your main topics - usually 3 to 5
- Plan the right mix of content - i.e. blogs, whitepapers, and infographics
- Prioritize the different types of content - develop an editorial calendar
2. Content Development
- Created content: Content such as blogs or video that you create yourself.
- Curated content: Basically this is other people's content that you re-purpose. This can be an opinion piece, a summation, or a writeup to headline news.
- Contributed Content: Content you solicit from employees, thought leaders and industry influencers.
3. Content Distribution
Now that you have all of your content developed it's time to distribute your content across the web. This step is one of the most difficult stages of content marketing. If you're unaware of the top media outlets you should distribute your content to then the time you spent creating your content might be wasted. Contact one of our content marketing experts today to learn how we can help take your content marketing strategy to the next level.
