How to Create Content Like the Experts

Today, most successful companies are those with exceptional content marketing strategies. But then, a large number of businesses are producing content regularly. Some do it on a daily basis – the competition is fierce.

It’s like being in a hall with a thousand other people and all trying to say something at the same time. You voice will be drowned out others. That’s why it is important to develop unique content.

Aberdeen Group conducted a study that revealed “while 92% of firms say producing high quality content is valuable, only 54% of them rank their ability to execute this activity as effective”. This further explains why you need to get your content marketing right.

And it all starts with how you create your content. Let’s discuss a tried-and-tested strategy to come up with awesome content.

1.   Identify Your Content Objectives

Many marketers just crank out content in the hope that they will see results; when they do not, they end up disappointed. But what they are really doing is just shooting in the dark. The chances of hitting the target are minimal.

Before creating any type of content, ask yourself what you want to achieve. Do you want to increase the number of visitors to your website? Are you looking to make the content go viral on social media? Is your aim to increase your product’s sales?

Once you have a defined goal, you can easily find the right way to create and promote your content. For instance, if you want to increase social shares, you’ll need to create engaging content, publish regularly on social networks, and work with influencers.

2.   Develop a Buyer Persona

What does your potential customer look like? When you are looking to market you product to a certain group, you must first have a mental picture of who they are.

A buyer persona is basically the characteristics of your existing and potential clients. If your business is big, there is no problem coming up with multiple buyer personas then tailoring content to each of them.

The following questions will help you when creating your buyer persona:

1. What is their occupation/job position?
2. How old are they?
3. What problems do they face in their daily lives?
4. What is their monthly salary range?

You can add more questions of you own to create a profile of the person you want to promote your products to. This way you will not just be creating content for the general public but to someone specific.

3.   Come Up With Content Ideas

Now that you have your buyer persona, it’s time to come up with content ideas. Don’t just think of random topics related to your business but strive to find ideas that will solve your customers’ pain points. Here are some ways to find content ideas:

• Use keyword research tools. Moz and Google Keyword Planner are notable examples. These tools will help you find out what words and phrases your potential customers are using to search for your products and services online. They will analyse them for you and help you pick the best topics.
• Look at your competitors’ content. This is one trick you can use to stay ahead of your competitors. To be more effective, focus on the highest-ranking content in your industry, and find ways to create content of the same quality or even better.
• Brainstorm with your team. For example, if you have a customer care representative, ask him or her what issues your customers mostly deal with. You will end up getting tons of ideas from this.
• Lastly, work on existing content. Some of the content already published on your website may need some revamping. Doing so will not only better the content but also increase its rankings on search engines.

By now, you should have come up with enough topics to last you a couple of months. When creating your content calendar, prioritise the most important topics.

4.   Create the Content

The content you create should stand out from the millions that are published online every day. If not, it will just be part of the statistics and won’t make any significant impact on your business.

Make sure that your content is original. Try to focus on areas that no one else has. Let’s talk briefly about how to best create various types of content.

• Video – There is no denying that video content has taken over. So much that 68% of people say they’d prefer learning about a company’s product or service by watching a short video. When producing a video, make it short and use the simplest language to explain.
• Blog Posts – Your blog posts need to be written in a conversational tone. Use short paragraphs and add plenty of white space to make reading easier. Beef up your content with statistics, link to authority sources, and include call to actions at the end.
• Podcasts – For podcasts, just have the right equipment, focus on a niche, and pick good topics to talk about. Also, bring in guests from your industry.
• Infographics – Here, it is all about creativity. Some design skills will help. Use tools like Canva.

Whatever the content format that you are using, strive to make it the best and ensure that the focus is on your target market. Let them feel like you care about them and genuinely want to help.

5.   Promote Like a Pro

You just produced the content, now it’s time to get it out there. This is another important step and if you don’t get it right, well, only a few eyes will come across your content.

First, use social media to promote your content. Chances are that a large number of your target audience are already using social networks.  

Pick two or three platforms that your customers mostly use when starting out. You need to know how to create platform-specific content.

For example, for Instagram use high quality images and short videos, and add the relevant hashtags. Twitter has a limit to the number of characters you can use, so be brief but captivating. To get noticed on YouTube videos, create eye-catching headlines (keyword-focused), include great descriptions and use the best thumbnails.

Remember, you can also use tactics such as influencer marketing and ad paid advertising to reach more people.

From the tips discussed above, we can conclude that creating fantastic content is one way to be a head of the game. Note that the marketing world is constantly changing, so always be on the lookout for new trends and tweak your strategy accordingly.

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