content marketing « Lisa Goller

Your brilliant ideas only matter if they reach the right audience.

That’s why successful companies embrace social media to tell their brand story – and inspire their audience to share it with others. You don’t have to be a Kardashian or Jenner for your content to go viral. You, too, can expand your brand reach, engagement and lead generation by creating highly shareable content.

Use the following best practices to create irresistible content your audience will gladly pass along to others.

The Basics: Telling Your Brand Story

1. Regardless of the social platform, be memorable by prompting readers to feel something, then act on that feeling
2. Keep your core story constant – and your personality and brand identity, too
3. Consistently answer “Who am I?”
4. Make your content fun to read. Share something funny, ridiculous, clever, dramatic, informative or heartwarming
5. Keep your copy simple; the shorter the better
6. Be human and conversational
7. Be charming and show you care about readers as individuals (vs. customers)
8. Make the design inviting to look at
10. Remember your design must be responsive for mobile
11. Join conversations and respond to what others are saying about related topics

LinkedIn Tips

12. Remember LinkedIn is ideal for B2B marketers whose audience is hungry for information
13. Find an edge with creative, smart ways to make your content indispensible to your target
14. Offer a thoughtful, welcome breath of levity in a serious environment
15. Be concise
16. Use a personable yet professional tone
17. Add questions and links

[RELATED: Position Yourself as an Expert]

Twitter Tips

18. Keep it conversational: Consumers want infotainment, not information
19. Use the search engine to find people who are talking about topics related to your business
20. Add perspective, humour and context to their conversations
21. Get creative, have fun and experiment with creating content on the spot
22. Be yourself, nimble and authentic
23. Keep your content less than 140 characters, friendly and personable
24. Include links, hashtags, @ replies, retweets and questions

[RELATED: CEOs’ Top 10 Twitter Topics]

Facebook Tips

25. Before you dismiss Facebook for your brand, remember it’s the most powerful social network, with over 1 billion users. Some of them are your target audience.
26. Keep the content fun. The audience is there to connect, socialize and catch up with others
27. Keep the content simple: One line of text
28. Use an attractive photo or visually-compelling video
29. Ask yourself, “If I saw this picture, would I share it?”
30. Include your logo in your pictures
31. Mix up the content: Inspirational quotes, photos, shout-outs, personal reflections and anecdotes
Why keep your best ideas to yourself? Share them with your target on the social platforms they use to increase the likelihood they’ll carry your message to a broader audience.

Lisa Goller helps businesses tell their story. As a Strategic Freelance Writer & Editor, she helps executives and entrepreneurs stand out, look good and save time. Learn more at lisagoller.com

Marketing is a massive, relentless beast. With the munchies. Its insatiable appetite means companies of all sizes face constant pressure to share memorable messages across multiple channels.

In today’s fast-paced, digital marketing world, success in business requires a solid online presence – including fresh content marketing for search engine rankings – to stand out, engage customers and earn top-of-mind status. The pressure can feel overwhelming.

The good news? You don’t need a massive budget to create high-quality, versatile content that expands your brand reach and influence.

Use these tips to tell your company’s story in new ways to feed the voracious marketing beast:

Plan it
Make the most of your precious time by proactively planning your content marketing efforts:
1. Create a content marketing strategy, including how the content will align with your business goals and your target’s needs
2. Develop an editorial calendar to keep your work on track
3. Research your target so your content provides valuable information that solves their top pain points and questions

Source it
Why do it all yourself? Use internal and external resources to bring a refreshingly diverse range of voices to your content:
4. Share your PR team’s content, including press releases and highlights of executives’ speeches
5. Ask your customer service team to summarize the answers to prospects’ and customers’ most common questions
6. Ask your sales team to describe your targets’ top pain points and how you solve them
7. When your company participates in conferences and industry events, share PowerPoints, videos, and photos
8. Live tweet during events to give others a glimpse of the meeting highlights
9. Your company is filled with smart, passionate people, so encourage employees to contribute to content creation
10. Identify guest contributors who could write for your business blog or e-newsletter
11. Ask happy clients to write a testimonial for your website and marketing materials
12. Spotlight your customers in a video
13. Interview others in your sector to share others’ rich perspectives

Publish it
To be seen as an influential brand or thought leader, McKinsey attests that creating original, quality content is an essential (and cheap) way to do it:
14. Start a business blog
15. Distribute an e-newsletter
16. Profile your greatest success stories through case studies
17. Share industry insights in a white paper or special report
18. Offer a free e-book on your website
19. Write a guest post for other blogs that serve your target market
20. Submit articles to industry associations’ newsletters and magazines

[RELATED: Build a Brilliant Business Blog]

Promote it
Good content is only effective if other people see it, so capitalize on the power of your networks to drive people to your website and build your brand:
21. Post on LinkedIn under your profile, your company page, in relevant groups and on LinkedIn Publisher
22. Post on Facebook on your company page and personal profile
23. Post highlights of your content on Twitter, using strategic hashtags. Longer content, like a white paper, can generate 5-10 tweets with a link to the copy.
24. Add your content to Google+, Pintrest or Instagram if your target uses these platforms
25. Email it to a handful of contacts you think would benefit most from the content

Present it
Transform your written content into verbal content to reflect your target’s different communication preferences:
26. Turn a white paper abstract into a public speaking proposal for upcoming industry events
27. Add your PowerPoint to SlideShare
28. Create a helpful or entertaining video. Keep it simple: 1-2 minutes in length
29. Develop a podcast of best practices or insights for your target

Repurpose it
Publish faster by breathing new life to older content:
30. Distribute printed content, such as a one-pager of top tips for your target, at tradeshows
31. Turn the highlights of your special report into an infographic using strategic keywords
32. Turn that huge white paper into 5-10 distinct blog posts

Curate it
I repeat, why do it all yourself?:
33. Select and add editorial context to other people’s content – without plagiarizing.
34. While gathering other sources of content, use tags with keywords so you can quickly find all the copy on a related subject
35. Generously share others’ online posts to increase their likelihood to reciprocate

Measure it
36. Establish key performance indicators (KPIs) and analyze your content to see which campaigns drive the best results. Key metrics may include:

Number of social shares
Email open and click-through rates
Number of high-quality website visitors
Conversion rates (e-book downloads, blog subscribers, etc.)
Number of leads who turned into customers

[RELATED: Measure Your Marketing Muscle]

Since content marketing thrives on being constantly refreshed, these tips will help you minimize the time and effort required to produce new content. By increasing the volume of content you produce – without compromising quality – you can achieve meaningful business results and fill the marketing beast.

How does your company keep up with the relentless need for fresh content?

Lisa Goller helps businesses tell their story. As a Strategic Freelance Writer & Editor, she helps executives and entrepreneurs stand out, look good and save time. Learn more at lisagoller.com

Sources:
Content Marketing Institute, Forbes, HeidiCohen.com, Marketing Magazine (UK), Marketing Profs Today

Lisa Goller

I help businesses tell their story

Tag Archives: content marketing