Content Marketing: Then VS Now
In recent years, there has been major changes in the kind of content that is created and how its published. Many businesses are shifting from traditional marketing to content marketing (check out my previous post on traditional vs. content marketing). Due to technology innovation, it is a lot easier to get your brand out without having to invest a lot of money into it. With so many social networks, blog hosts, video sharing websites, and search engines like Google who domineer the internet, it is a lot easier for the public to explore and discover new content. According to Business News Daily, these are the 5 ways content marketing has radically changed, and where experts believe it will go.
From text to visual
According to the CMO of visual marketing platform Curalate, Matt Langie says that it is all about pictures, not words anymore. Now a day, people are more likely to use an emoji to communicate an entire message instead of communicating in full text. Which is why people prefer communicating through pictures. Visual content not only catches the attention of your audience but it also makes them want to engage and share it with their friends and family on social networks.
Knowing your audience and what they want and need is crucial for any brand out there. To make your brand stand out from your competitor, you want to know what your audiences’ likes and dislikes. Some of the best ways to do that is through visual content like: videos, gif, infographics, visual blog posts, PowerPoints, images, memes, and etc.
Lowe’s makes a great example of a brand that is successfully executing their visual content marketing. Lowe’s Vine provides an excellent example of how they use visuals to create engaging visual content for their audience. Their Vine includes dozens of educating, entertaining, creative and interactive videos of home improvement ideas that make life at home a little easier.
From one-size-fits-all to personalized
SDL’s senior director of product marketing, Peggy Chen, said that brands used to focus on a one-size-fits-all content strategy. A strategy where one content was created to be used for everything, as well as being sent out to their audience the same way. Chen says, “single-channel distribution methods no longer cut it in a world where customers consume content at their own speed and on their preferred networks”.
Your audience could be everywhere and anywhere. Using multi-channel marketing allows your brand to reach potential and current audience through different platforms. It is important to know which social platform your audience is using, as well as the purpose of using it. Your brand should be segmenting your audience to truly understand their likes and dislikes. You should to delivering contents that your audience wants to see and engage to.
A brand using multi-channel marketing is Dove. They use different platforms for different purposes. For example, one platform is to create customer loyalty and raise brain awareness, while the other would be to facilitate purchase and encourage trial.
From quantity to quality
Leeyen Rogers, JotForm’s vice president of marketing, said that audience gets overwhelmed by all the content that's available today, and spammed articles are no longer the way to go.
Several years ago, brands only cared about quantity over quality. Brands kept pushing out their content whether it was good or not. They were under the impression that the more and fresher content you published, the higher search engines would rank you. Although it is true that search engine likes fresh content, it also looks at the quality of the content. Updating your content often with reliable and valuable information, gives you a better chance of ranking higher on Google search.
Maybelline makes a great example of a brand that provides content with high standard. They provide content about makeup products, trends, videos, and tips.
From strictly informative to multifaceted and relatable
Bryn Dodson, a senior content specialist at Blue Fountain Media, says “if you offer something truly useful to your customer, the rewards will follow. Traditionally, 'useful' meant 'informative,' but I'd argue that providing associations and experiences is becoming almost as important”. In other words, provide content that is more than just information about your brand’s product or service.
To engage with your audience, you need unique and valuable content. Be aware of what the current trends are and find ways to connect with your audience with it. In addition, you can share your brand’s story, behind-the-scenes, sneak peaks of new products, and etc.
Whole Foods makes a great example. They have a mixture of content, like healthy eating, recipes, farmer stories, tips, and etc.
From trial-and-error to data-driven
Lauren Fritsky, senior manager of MediaMath, says “marketers initially did content marketing simply because were told they needed a website, a blog and social profiles”. Brands were pushing out content without measuring their results.
It is crucial to measure how well your content is doing. You want to know whether or not your audience is enjoying your content. Use tools to measure performance such as engagement, number of shares, and what your audience are doing before and after your content is published.
You can use tools like Google Analytics, where it provides you with information about your website’s performance and which content attracted the most customer engagement.
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