5 Steps to Content That’s Worth Sharing

5 Steps to Content That’s Worth Sharing

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Content Marketing has been added to your marketing plan but you are not getting much traction.  50% of all content produced gets less that 8 shares. So if most of the content produced goes nowhere how do you cut through the clutter and improve the odds that your content rises to the top.  Content marketing builds credibility to online presence ultimately boosting your online organic SEO.

You’ve probably heard the old saying “content is king,” and what it means is that any type of marketing or promotional activity is much easier to consume when it is paired with engaging, meaningful content. The same is true in the online world. Traditional content marketing rules still work, but how do you apply that to an online world where websites, videos, podcasts, articles and many other media are all competing in the same space? Here are a few things you can do to ensure your online and content marketing gets noticed.

Quality Always Counts in Content Marketing

The single, most important aspect of good content marketing is making sure that the content itself is actually good and worth sharing. Search engines like Google use a number of factors when determining what makes it to the coveted first page of a search. One of the big factors is the popularity/usefulness of content. Even if you’re using the same keywords as someone else, if that other person is also providing more useful, interesting information that other people like and are actively sharing with others, that’s going to be a bigger determining factor in search rankings.

If you can provide quality content, whether it’s videos people like to watch, podcasts they listen to, or articles they eagerly read and share, you’ve won over half the marketing battle. Good content sells itself, because when people like it, they share it, doing your promotional work for you. By creating good content—and updating it regularly with new content—you solve the two big problems; engaging an audience and spreading the word. Your audience will do both for you.

What make content worth reading.  Follow a simple rule: Are you solving a problem or providing a life hack that makes peoples experience better?

Use Catchy Headlines

We’re still living in a world where one intriguing sentence can make the difference between having an article read, or video watched, and people passing on to look for something more engaging.Content Marketing Boston

In an online environment where a search engine can give people thousands of choices, you’ve often only got one chance to catch the eye of a consumer, and your headline is that chance.

Make sure you craft your headline to be useful, provocative, engaging, or all three if you can. You need to entice a customer and make them want to find out more. Your headline should be the start of that engagement.  Content marketing that catches your eye or leaves you wanting more drives engagement.  As more and more content is being created standing out in the crowd is the difference between your business thriving or being stagnant in your marketplace.

Use Strategic Keywords

One of the other components that search engines use to decide whether something is relevant to a person’s search request is keywords. When people want to find something, they’ll use specific words and phrases. You’ve got to make sure that your content uses the words that a customer is using if you want a better chance of appearing in top search results.Content Marketing Boston

Anticipate these keywords, and then pair them with effective, even emotional imagery when possible. If you can combine good keywords with provocative imagery, that will go a long way towards grabbing the attention of a potential customer.  Discovering the right keywords starts with research. There is no magical solution to conducting research for the right kewords.  It has to start with understanding your customers and your potential customers.   Once you have some core keywords you can tuen to Google’s Keyword Planner and find variations on your keywords.

Focus on a Niche and Go Local

If you have a specific product or service, make sure your content reflects that specificity. It ensures that when the market you’re trying to reach is doing their search, your content will rank much higher since it closely aligns with their needs. If you have a business that is local in nature, this also means you should use much more local content, so that people in your area will be more likely to find your content at the top of their lists.

When you have specific or niche content, you should play that up. People that identified a specific need want to it find it fast and easy. If you highlight a specific niche or location search engines content available for a search engine to find and display.  Strategic planning of the right keywords lead to effective sharing and increased local SEO. For example, if your on-page keyword is Content Marketing, you might rank better with “Content Marketing Boston”.

Share & Be Shared

There is only one happiness online, to share and be shared.  The more people that know about you and what you do, the more customers you can potentially service. Ensure that you have plug-ins in use on your website that make your content easy for others to share. In your efforts to create connections you can’t be shy about asking to be shared. If you want to get the word out, just say so in an honest, enthusiastic way.  Don’t be demanding about it but show a mutual benefit.Content Marketing Boston

Also, spread some good karma and “share the love”. You should have links and shares to other useful content, especially if it complements your own. If someone has created useful software that relates to your own product or service, share that. If you have a knitting service, but don’t sell knitting needles yourself, include links to people that do. You’re not hurting your promotional opportunities by including others. In many cases, others will do the same and link back to you.

By creating remarkable content and being part of the online community, you can enjoy a much higher rate of interaction with your customers. Make it good and they will come. Spread it around and even more will come later!

Content marketing is part of your overall strategic communication plan.  As you discover content that is worth sharing you might also discover a that you have a talent for creating amazing content.

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