3 Steps to Win at Content Marketing Online Share: beglobal Date Published 19 November 2018 Categories Blog, Editorial, Guide Reading Time 5-Minute Read What’s the right approach to content marketing and how to win at it with 3 simple steps. Digital marketing and social media enabled us to reach our audience easier and a lot cheaper. But by doing so, social media has become saturated with irrelevant content and consumers quickly became the target of scammers. That’s why people have lost confidence in brands. If they (we) easily bought the product at the same minute we found it, things now changed a bit. We now search through online shops, read review and user opinions before buying products. Information has never been so easily accessible before. With that in mind, it’s become harder for all kind of brands to stand out and get the audience’s attention. They needed to understand how their buyers think, what they do, how they use their free time, etc. Basically, they needed to get into their shoes. Working on content strategies in the past, I’ve built a simple model with 3 keys steps every brand should follow (in my opinion) to win online. With $0 budget. And no additional costs. But with a lot of effort. Story The beginning where it all starts. Everyone is going to ask you: “What’s the story behind your product?” Do you know how to answer? Story is one of the key elements, a competitive advantage if you want, that puts you ahead of your competitors. It can be the way you make the product, a material of which it’s made, a business model behind it, a way of using it, etc. But the thing is that you need it. The story. It happened so many times that entrepreneurs rushed with building the product and not thinking of the story behind it. And when it comes to the marketing of your product that’s basically all it matters. Try thinking like your target audience for the moment. What would get their attention? Why should they follow you and engage in your content? Find the answer to this question and you’ve completed the first step. Examples of great brand stories: Socksy Pura Vida Bracelets Hooray Heroes Goat Story Bingelci Content You know the story, now you need to tell it to your audience. And the best way of doing so is with a content. A few years ago, when social media was just starting to develop more seriously, it was enough to post any kind of content. The design didn’t matter, your organic reach was all of the followers on your page or channel, there were not so many brands trying to get people’s attention. Well, things changed a lot. We’re almost in 2019 and as I wrote above, brands fight for people’s attention. It’s not just enough to post something on your channels. You need to post interesting content and provide value your followers. Only that way your followers will become potential customers (visiting your website) and actual customers at the end. But how to know which content is interesting and valuable for your followers? Put yourself in their shoes. Make your buyer persona(s) (yes, you can have multiple buyer personas, there’s nothing wrong with that) and write down their age, their education, their values, their interests, what do they do, where do they go, etc. There, you made your buyer persona(s), now you know exactly what content to make to win their attention and engage them. But your work is not done here yet. You have to make sure the content is appealing — design of the post is more important than you think. It’s what they got their attention in the first place. Try analyzing your content constantly — how your followers react to it, what’s the reach like, do they engage with your posts? If not, optimize it. If yes, produce more of that content. And remember — each channel (Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest) has a different audience which means different content. Personalization is everything. Brands that win at content marketing: Tech Insider LALALAB SUGAR + SPOON Timi of Sweden Daniel Wellington Community If you followed the first two steps your brand should have a unique story and great content to publish. Not it’s time to grow a community. Remember, building community takes time. You won’t get thousands of followers over the night, but with posting interesting content consistently your community should start growing. Over time, people will start trusting you and soon enough they can become your ambassadors. How to grow your community faster? A great way of doing so is to persuade people to create content. Sometimes, you just need to remind them to take a photo with your product. Your packaging is free advertising space, so use it wisely. Put additional flyers, coupons in it and ask people to publish a photo on their Instagram profiles and tag you. This way, you’ll get new followers and free content you can use, plus your brand will grow its credibility — the more people use your product, the bigger credibility. Great community examples: Student Problems The Good Quote Sarcasm Only London Tasty From this point on it’s all about experimenting. Test your audiences, publish different content, be create and dare more. Don’t just copy others, create your own content. And don’t forget — quality over quantity. Thanks for reading. If you enjoyed this article, feel free to hit that clap button 👏 to help others find it. Say Hi on Linkedin or check out what we’re doing at Brandground.