Why it’s vital for your brand to become a content publisher

It has never been more important to produce effective content marketing. With social media now at the forefront of communication, what you publish can make or break a company.

Ensuring your content is entertaining, interesting and educational is essential when trying to stand out against the crowd.

With two million blog posts written each day, 30 billion pieces of content shared on Facebook each month and 278,000 tweets sent every minute, if you don’t make your content count, you may find yourself lost in the jungle that is social media.

Here, Carswell Gould’s content experts explain why brands need to become publishers.

Moving away from interruption

Consumers have changed over the years, which means marketing has to change with them. Putting out content that is worth looking at and sharing is much more effective than bombarding people with direct sales and promotions. Getting to know your audience is essential in producing content that they can relate to and enjoy.

CG’s creative director Ed Gould said:

“Content marketing can redefine your customer relationships, now basing it on serving, educating and entertaining them. Consumers are becoming more and more used to getting value from free sources, which is why educational content like how-to posts and YouTube tutorials are so shareable.”

The rise of content

The use of video for content marketing rose to 70% in 2013, according to a survey of global marketing decision-marketers by CopyPress. Including images in copy also gains an average of 94% more total views than articles without images, according to Skyword. The same goes for tweets and Facebook posts that include images.

This shows how content that is too focused on the brand is not as effective at reaching the audience as content based around entertainment, education and storytelling.

Ed added:

“Content marketing is bigger than ever and provides the consumer with valuable and consistent information which will ultimately result in their business and loyalty. A larger amount of content also decreases bounce rate, giving customers a reason to stay on your site for longer.”

To ensure that your content is effective, CG recommends following these five rules:

Searchable

Search engines rank content highly that delivers answers to users’ questions. Write a list of all the questions your customers might ask about your company or product and aim to produce high quality editorial to answer these queries. It shows you understand your audience.

Promotion

Your content should be highly shareable across all platforms so test this yourself when promoting through your own channels. Add images, attention grabbing headlines and make sure social share buttons are easily accessed. Once you have promoted the content yourself, use your channel to engage and interact with your target audience.

Authoritative

To position yourself as a thought leader you must know your audience and your content. By creating content that answers questions you show that you can anticipate your customers’ needs. You are telling them information they didn’t even know they needed to know. It also ensures your content is relevant to your brand.

Specialist

The content needs to entertain, inform or educate your target audience but with so much content out there you can only really stand out from the crowd by producing content that is unique to your company and brand. Take advantage of your expertise and write about what you know.

Repeat

One piece of content will not cut it. You will need a content marketing strategy that sustains frequent publishing of original content to convert your target audience to leads and leads to customers. Keeping your content fresh helps search engine rankings, reduces bounce rates and gives you credibility.

CG is skilled at helping businesses with all content needs, from strategy to crafting and publishing. Get in touch today to see how our team can help you.