How to Start Content Marketing for Your Business
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Are you considering organic content marketing as part of your business strategy?
Content marketing is an effective way to reach new customers and engage existing ones.
Read this blog post for some steps to get you started.
Identify your audience
Before you can start creating content, you’ll need to dig into who you are creating content for. Content marketing can be a powerful tool for businesses, but it’s only effective if it reaches the right audience.
Who are you trying to reach? What interests do they have? Take a look at your current clients as well as your ideal customers. What are their interests and goals? What type of content do they usually engage with?
You can gather additional information about your target audience through market research, surveys, and social media.
Once you have a clear idea of who your ideal audience is, then you can tailor your content to their needs and interests. This will ensure that your content resonates with your target audience and is more likely to result in conversions.
Identify your goals and KPIs
In today’s online world, it can be easy to get caught up in vanity metrics, such as views. But consider the ultimate action that you want to your customers to take, as well as the steps to get there.
What are you trying to accomplish? Brand awareness? Followers? Website traffic?
What actions do they need to take as they move along your customer journey?
Knowing your KPIs, (Key Performance Indicators), will help you measure your progress toward your goals. Before you start creating content, you’ll need to identify which KPIs are most relevant to help you track your progress.
For example, if you want to increase website traffic, then metrics like page views, time on page, and bounce rate can be useful KPIs.
If you want to increase sales, then tracking conversion rate is important.
Remember that not all metrics are equal. Some KPIs may be more important than others, depending on the goals of your content marketing strategy. Focus on the metrics that are most relevant to your goals.
Once you have identified your goals and KPIs, you can create an effective organic content marketing plan that will help you achieve those goals.
Plan your content
Planning out your content in advance will help you create a cohesive marketing plan. All of your content should work together to help achieve your business goals. But actually taking the time to plan everything out can be a daunting task.
First, consider the platforms that you want to be present on. Don’t try to be on all the platforms at once. Understanding your target audience and where they hang out will help with where to start. Focus on a couple, and be consistent.
We suggest starting with one type of long form content, like a blog, podcast, or YouTube video, and one algorithm based platform, like Instagram.
Refer back to your audience research to make sure that your ideal customer is actually using those platforms. The Mama Hen Media Content Planning Calendar will can help you stay organized and keep your content marketing efforts on track. It can also help you save time and energy by ensuring that all your efforts are focused on the same goal.
Do your keyword research
When it comes to content marketing, keyword research is essential. Keywords are how you help your content reach the people who are looking for it. They are used on virtually every platform, from Pinterest and social media, to blogs and product pages.
Selecting the right keywords is important and impacts your ability to reach your intended audience. This process involves researching and analyzing potential keywords related to your business, product, or service in order to find the most effective words to use in your content.
Keyword research will also help you gain insight into what your target audience is looking for, and how to use that information to create content that will be seen and shared by those potential customers. It also helps you create content that is optimized for search engines, so that your content shows up higher on search results, which helps get more organic traffic to your website.
You can learn more about our favorite tools for keyword research on this blog post.
Create your content
Now it’s time to get down to the actual content creation process. We highly recommend batching out your content to increase productivity. You can learn more about batching out your content on this blog post.
Audit what you currently have in place. Examine what is working, and where your opportunities lie. For instance, if your audience engages in your Instagram stories, then create more of them. If LinkedIn isn’t generating leads, maybe choose a different platform instead.
Here are some processes that we use to help with efficient content creation.
Create a brand kit on Canva.
Add your your brand fonts, colors, and logos. This makes it easy to maintain your branding in your content. By keeping your brand visual elements cohesive, you’ll be able to increase brand recognition.
Create a stock photo bank.
Using Canva, or other stock photo sites, collect images that fit your brand aesthetic. Then create a folder to house the images for your content. We recommend using both a Canva Folder and a Google Folder. With this resource, you can easily grab graphics that will be cohesive with your branding, without having to search out a new image for each piece of content you create. Learn more about our top three stock photo sites on this blog post.
Create branded templates
Consider which platforms you are going to use for your content marketing, then create templates for making creation more efficient.
If you are going to be using Pinterest, create a set of 10-15 pin templates. You can use them again and again, by changing out the text, image, and colors. Do the same for your Instagram feed and stories, etc. Templates aren’t limited to just the visual elements of your content marketing. You can create templates for your blog posts and emails too!
Utilize your resources
You don’t have to start from scratch with each piece of content that you create. You likely have many resources available to help you through this process. Canva templates, stock photo memberships, even your own content can be a starting point in your content creation process. If you need inspiration for your social media posts, get “2 Months of Instagram Caption Prompts” here.
Content creation is an art form, and it requires a lot of creativity and patience. Make sure to keep your content relevant, interesting, and organized. And keep in mind that consistency is important for successful content marketing. If you don’t have the time to do it yourself, then it may be time to hire someone to keep your content fresh and consistent.
Promote your Content
Now it’s time to market that content that you have created! Whether you are writing a blog, posting on Instagram, or pinning on Pinterest, understanding the purpose and strategy for each channel is key to helping you reach your intended audience. Understanding the nuances of the various platforms is helpful in maximizing the impact of your content.
Some great platforms to promote your content include:
- Blogging
- YouTube videos
- Podcasts
- Email marketing
We highly recommend using a scheduling tool for your content so that you can have it autopost on your behalf. We use Tailwind for Pinterest and Instagram (get $15 off here), and Storrito for Instagram stories.
Content marketing is an ongoing process, so it's important to track your performance and adjust your strategy as needed. With the right approach and dedication, content marketing can be a powerful tool for growing your business.
Need help with organic content marketing for your business? Whether you just need some help with your strategy, or want a full done-for-you content marketing service, Mama Hen Media can help. We’d love to help you nurture your brand through holistic organic content marketing.
