Written by Vineet Sethi
Are you struggling to get your content marketing strategy off the ground? Are you constantly feeling like your content is going unnoticed?
If so, it is probably because you are making one of these common content marketing mistakes. Even brilliant ideas can go wrong if they are not executed well. This is especially true when it comes to developing a content marketing strategy.
Content marketing has so many moving parts that it is easy to trip over something small and avoidable. If you want to be successful at content marketing, you need to ensure that you are not falling into these traps.
Read on for some helpful advice on how you can avoid making these common pitfalls as a content marketer.
Confusing content with advertising
Advertising and content marketing are very different things. The main goal behind content marketing is to inform, educate, and build trust with your readers. This includes written articles and blog posts, podcasts, videos, e-books and white papers, infographics, and more. The content is designed to be helpful and to educate your readers. The aim is to make them better informed and make your brand more trusted through transparent and valuable content. Advertising, on the other hand, is designed to be persuasive and to encourage a sale. It is more focused on driving direct action, like making someone want to purchase your product.
Publishing low-quality content
If you publish content often, and if your content is monotonous, people will be less likely to pay attention to it or even share it with friends and family.
It is not easy to write high-quality content. Quality content takes time to create, and people will ignore it if you make low-quality content. If your goal is to produce the best content possible, you must give yourself enough time to do it right. A better strategy would be to outsource high-quality content created by experts.
Using the wrong type of content
To be successful, you need to know what types of content will resonate with your target audience. For example, if you are marketing a B2B product, you need to understand what content will be most relevant to the target businesses. You may think that publishing a catchy headline and a list of 10 tips or tricks is a great idea, but if your audience is not looking for that type of content, then it won’t work. You also must ensure that your content is geared toward your specific audience. For example, if you are marketing to millennials, your content needs to be written in a way that resonates with millennials.
Failing to utilize SEO
If you want people to find your content, you must ensure it is optimized for the search engine. This means that you need to write your content using SEO best practices. For example, you should be using keywords in your post and linking to your other content. It would help if you also used the title and the metadata to tell the search engines what your content is about.
Selecting the wrong platforms
There are so many social media platforms these days that it can be challenging to know where to focus your attention. You will need to do some research to figure out which social media platforms are best suited for your content. For example, if you are marketing a health supplement, you could target Instagram and Pinterest, and if you are selling a product for golfers, then Facebook and Instagram could be the platforms of choice for you. If you are not sure where to focus your attention, then you can use online tools, like Buzzsumo or SEMrush, to help you identify the social media platforms that are best suited for your content.
Incorporating the wrong types of marketing
While content marketing is an excellent strategy for growing your brand and acquiring new customers, you cannot depend on it solely. You need to mix content marketing with other types of marketing and create a content ecosystem to reach your full potential. For example, if you are marketing a brand new product, then it is unlikely that your audience will find your content. You also must remember that you cannot just publish your content once and expect people to find and share it. You must be strategic with your content and decide where to place it. Paid advertising can also be used to promote your content and help it reach a wider audience.
Wrapping up
The best way to avoid these common content marketing mistakes is to create a rock-solid content strategy. You are less likely to make a mistake when you have a plan. With a plan, you can quickly identify what needs to be changed, and you can avoid making the same mistakes time and time again.
Now that you know what content marketing mistakes to avoid, it is time to implement your plan.
At Beyond The Panorama, we work with businesses to develop their digital brand presence; a big part is content writing for various channels. If you want help to organize this business function, we would love to have a conversation and set it up!
Reach out to us at hello@beyondthepanorama.com on our social media channels.
(Picture credits: Pexels)
