You may be a newbie when it comes to content marketing, or you may be a pro, but it will never hurt your business to revisit your content strategy and ensure that you are on-trend with a strong, innovative content marketing plan. Your competition is doing the same thing. Reports have found that the most successful marketers spend upwards of 40 percent of their budgets on content marketing, and our ever-improving technology will mean even more growth in this area in the new decade.
Getting ahead of the competition will depend on having a smart and solid content marketing plan in place, so today I want to share a few tools with you for your content marketing strategy that will help you do that. Here are three of the most popular content formats being created by marketers, along with some tools and templates:
Blog Post. These live on your website and are published regularly to help you attract new clientele. Your posts should provide content that brings value to your audience; you want them to share it with others! Blogs should be between 350 and 750 words in length, but you can experiment with your own readers to find their preferences. A great tool for this aspect can be found at Hubspot.com. Here you can find helpful how-tos, along with free blog post templates.
eBook. This is the next step in your marketing process. After your visitor reads your awesome blog post, they may just want more info on you and your company offerings. Your eBook will provide them with a call-to-action directing them to a landing page that asks for their contact information. This allows them to download your ebook with its valuable business tips. The great part is that you now have a new sales lead, too! A great (free) tool to help you here can be found at Canva.com.
Social Media. Posting on social media is going to be a pivotal part of growing your brand’s reach and getting your content to both your new and established customers. The networks businesses most often post on are:
- YouTube
When you launch your business account on any of the networks above, it is vital that you post the type of content your followers expect on that particular platform. Instagram is very visual, for example, so photos, videos, and infographics work well there. You can include user-generated content, and even do a behind-the-scenes post or series to create a more personal feel between your company and your clientele. LinkedIn, on the other hand, is more like a business newsletter forum – very professional and completely business-related. And then you have Facebook; here your options really expand. Whether you want to share memes, videos, or customer reviews, or even interact with other businesses, this platform is a great place for all of that and more. You can create your Facebook posts (along with all the other platforms) and schedule them to go out regularly using tools such as Hootsuite.com, for example; this free offering is a great starting point, with paid options to use as you grow.
I’m Anna-Vija, and during the last decade, I’ve enjoyed helping business owners boost their profitability while achieving greater personal fulfillment. I’ve also worked with hundreds of young professionals to equip them with all the skills and resources they might need to transition successfully from college into their careers. I’m very proud to serve the Nashville business community, and I look forward to speaking with you about any of your business needs!