How hard is your content working for you?

I’ll begin by mentioning that when I’m talking about content, I’m not talking about Instagram posts or tweets. I’m talking about the pieces such as blogs, videos or podcasts, which we often pour large amounts of our time and energy into.

Regardless of which platforms you’re on and what your digital strategy is, there’s something which will always feature in what you do. Content. With content being such a vital part of online marketing, it’s easy for it to take over and become something which sucks all the time, resources & energy out of our business’.

I see it time and time again in both my business and the clients I work with…

We’re spending hours creating content, but the work and time we put into creating it, is on no way relative to how effective it is for us.

Ever created an incredible piece of content and felt disappointed at the lack of response or views it got? Creating remarkable content but have no idea how to promote it and get people to actually engage with it? Well, todays episode is for you.

Because I’m going to be walking you through 5 ways that your content can work harder for you.

Ready to dive in? Let’s get started!

Prefer to listen rather than read? Tune into the podcast version!

BALANCE QUALITY AND CONTENT

We hear it time and time again in digital marketing, consistency of content is vital. And whilst I agree with that, as marketers we need to ensure we’re not sacrificing quality for the sake of quantity.

It’s worth acknowledging that these days, content is everywhere. Your ideal client & your followers have multiple other blog posts / podcast episodes or newsletters that they could be engaging with, so you need to consider what makes yours different.

If you’re churning out 3 blog posts a week, but they’re not performing as you’d like, try putting that energy into creating 1 or 2 which are of a high quality. One piece of content which is value-adding, relevant for your ideal client and in line with your business will be far more effective than 3 or 4 which are just average.

Now, I do agree that consistency of content is important. If you want to be nurturing and serving an audience, being consistent in the content you’re putting out there is vital. But to me, it isn’t a choice between quality or quantity, it’s a balance. Choose a content schedule which ensures you’re posting new content consistently, but also prioritises the quality of what you’re putting out there.

MAKE CONTENT FOR MULTIPLE MEDIUMS

When we create content, we should always be considering and acknowledging the end consumer and who it’s intended for. With that being said, there isn’t one type of content which all of your followers will have a preference for. Some people like video, others like to read blogs, whilst others prefer a podcast on their way to work.

Since realising that my content wasn’t having the impact it deserved, I begun to take one piece of content and translate it across multiple mediums. Take this episode for example. You’re either listening to this or reading it, and the reason I translate each episode into a full blog post is that if it was just through audio, I’d be missing out on a large group of people who prefer to read and study visually. I value the work and expertise I put into these episodes, and I hate to think that I’m missing out on a percentage of my audience because of the way it’s presented.

Now what I’m not telling you to do is to make every piece of content into a video / podcast / blog, but do consider if there are pieces of content which can easily be translated into another mediums. I still make blogs which are purely blogs and many of my podcast episodes don’t have a corresponding blog post, but when I’m putting something out there which I believe is of a particularly high quality, I consider how I can translate it onto a different medium in order to reach a bigger audience.

If you host a podcast, could you video the interview based episodes to put onto Youtube? If you send out a weekly newsletter, could you integrate parts of it into a blog post for those outside your list to access? (and ideally entice them to sign up!)

So that’s tip #2, consider translating your top pieces of content into multiple mediums.

INTEGRATE BLOGS INTO YOUR WEBSITE

This tip is particularly focusing on blogs, as they’re often housed on our websites, but really it can work for any piece of content. If you’ve got a blog, I’ll take a guess that it can be found under the ‘blog’ tab on your website? Yes, well, if that’s the only space which people can access your blogs on your site, then you’re missing out.

I mentioned it before, but it’s totally true - your ideal client is surrounded by content. So as a marketer, you need to find creative ways to promote your content effectively.

Instead of just housing your blogs on the ‘blog’ section of your website, you need to be integrating your blog content throughout your site, where it’s relevant. Unless a user is actively looking for your content, they’re unlikely to click straight to your ‘blog’ page if they’re navigating across your site. On average, people look at 1-2 pages on a website for a grand total of 90 seconds, and I can bet that 80% of the people doing that on your site, are not clicking through to your blogs section.

Consider how your blog content, specifically your most quality pieces, can be integrated throughout the rest of your site, particularly on the pages which naturally get the most traffic. Use your blogs to enrich the content which is already on other pages. For example…

If you have a blog which tells the full story of your business, link to that from your ‘about me’ page.
If you’re a wedding photographer and showcase your shoots via your blogs, link to your favourites via your ‘services’ page, so potential brides can explore your work further.
If people are hesitant to get in touch and book your services, integrate one of your value-adding blogs onto your ‘contact me’ page, to convince people of your expertise in that final step.
Take a look at your website and consider how some of your blogs could be integrated into the more frequently visited pages.

PROMOTE IT WITH 'WHY' & RINSE AND REPEAT

So you’ve got a piece of content which you believe is of a high quality, but how to get people to actually watch / listen to / read it? That’s half of the problem we’re facing here.

And this technique is a simple one. Very often, when we’re sharing a piece of content on Twitter or Facebook, we include a caption which explains what the piece of content is and what it includes. Which yes, is both true and useful, but when we consider that our aim is to encourage readers to click through to that blog / podcast / video, it isn’t the most convincing elevator pitch.

When you’re promoting a piece of content to your audience, which you truly believe has value for them, tell them why. Don’t explain what the content is, explain why you created it, why they need to read it and why it was made with them in mind. Write in a way that your words feel like they’re speaking right to your ideal client, because if your caption is made for them, they’re far more likely to think that your content will be just that, tailor made.

On a side note, don’t create a piece of remarkable content, share it once on all of your platforms and then let it die. If you’re following tip #1 of creating quality content, your blog posts & videos should be able to stand the test of time and be just as valuable 6 months down the line. Don’t be afraid to re-promote an old piece of content, if your audience is continually growing, that content will be new to them and hey, it saves you re-inventing the wheel every time you go to create something.

So that’s tip #4, promote your content with a ‘why’ and don’t be afraid to rinse and repeat.

FRAME CONTENT AROUND YOUR STRATEGY

You may think this is obvious, but you’d be surprised how many business’ I see making the mistake of creating incredibly good content, which has absolutely no relevance to their overall strategy. It’s easier than you’d think, to get a great response from something you’ve created but it actually be totally ineffective in the big picture sense.

You can be doing all the other steps I’ve mentioned, but if the physical content isn’t in line with your business, the rest if fairly irrelevant. Before investing your time into a piece of content, ask yourself, how is this relevant to my ideal client and how is it moving them one step closer to being a customer? My recent episode ‘creating content which sells’ walks you through the theory behind creating content which does just that. You can take a listen here because let’s be real, I can’t fit all of that information into a couple of minutes.

So there we have it, 5 ways you upscale your content creation and ensure that what you’re putting out there gets the attention and response it deserves!