10 Content Marketing Tactics You Can Plug in Today
Mark Arnold
Pumping out great content is part of the game if you hope to remain top-of-mind — and wallet — with today's consumers. What we've seen, though, is that content marketing and its associated strategies and tactics change just as rapidly as the business environments they support. As such, it's pivotal that marketers, leaders, and creatives alike are constantly learning, growing, and pushing themselves to not only plug in what they're learning in regards to new strategies and tactics, but also to scope out the horizon. This will enable them to push their own boundaries even further and anticipate where there will be opportunities for growth, from the individual and market perspectives. To that end, here are ten content marketing tactics to plug in today to help level up your content.
This isn't a shocker, but too many sites and studies to count have pointed out over the past few years that creating higher-quality content is among the top priorities for marketers and/or business leaders alike. That's no surprise, given both the ever-growing amount of time people (it's estimated that almost 4.5 billion people will be on social media daily within the next three years or so) spend online absorbing said content, and the impact that content can have on what those people think, how those people feel, and what those people do.
We've been fortunate in that we've had a front row seat as clients of ours have begun the journey of transforming their marketing after working through our proprietary marketing assessment and plugging in the recommendations.
2. CONTENT MARKETING TACTIC: ENGAGE IN HUMAN WAYS
A Deloitte study showed the importance of how brands interact with people online. It found that more than 80% of people ended up doing business with a brand because of online exposure to and interactions with that brand's content.
There's a reason that Domino's pizza has experienced the resurgence it has over the past decade. It started back here:
https://youtu.be/Aqy8mAs-Izk
That, there, is a decidedly human approach to something that other organizations likely would have addressed with some gobbledygook-filled press release — if they even addressed it at all — wherein they said something like:
"Going forward we will strive to ensure that our culinary products reflect the same high external standards that we hold ourselves to internally, understanding that if those self-same, aforementioned products rise to and maintain those standards, the outgrowth of that standards maintenance will most likely be a more pleasant experience for those with whom our culinary products come into contact; and that, of course, is an outcome with which we would be more inclined to be favorably disposed."
That may be closer to the norm, but that's not human and relatable.
[bctt tweet="A non-negotiable for brands wanting to be more engaging with their content marketing? Be more human. #contentmarketing #socialmedia #brandstrategy #marketing #branding" username="mattmonge"]
3. CONTENT MARKETING TACTIC: CREATE MORE VISUAL CONTENT
The days of being able to get by with most of your social media content being a text-filled graphic announcing your next something-or-other are long over (if they were ever...under?).
People are on social media for a multitude of reasons, but more and more it's an absolute necessity that the high quality content we mentioned above be highly visual and highly engaging. Because if it's not, we run the risk of people thinking we're regularly...
And while you might not feel like that's a big deal, the reality is that if they start to feel that way, all they have to do is click in the top, right hand corner of your post, and...
It's that simple for folks! So let's keep them engaged, and give them reasons to keep wanting to see our stuff!
4. CONTENT MARKETING TACTIC: REINVIGORATE YOUR BRAND PERSONALITY
Assuming you've already done the work and created a compelling brand personality, every once in a while it's a good idea to take a step back and look at it again, especially if it's been a good bit since you've last reinvigorated it.
Now, to be clear, I'm not talking about a full-on rebrand here; I'm simply talking about breathing fresh life into your brand. Helping it regain the pep in its step, so to speak.
[bctt tweet="Brands that tell stories will be well-positioned for success in the future. #brandstrategy #contentmarketing #socialmedia #branding #contentcreation" username="mattmonge"]
6. CONTENT MARKETING TACTIC: BE CONVERSATIONAL
There's enough uber-corporate stuff out there. You don't have to add to it.
The more you're able to communicate with, rather than talk to, folks, the better off you're going to be.
7. WHILE YOU'RE AT IT, BE MORE TRANSPARENT THAN YOU FEEL LIKE BEING
You know that thing businesses do where they just can't get around to admitting a mistake? Or where they can't just say they're not good at something, but they're trying to get better? Why not try something like this instead?
84%of people say a brand’s video has convinced them to buy a product or service
86%of people would like to see more videos from brands (just make sure they have some personality, will ya?)
96% of people say they’ve watched an explainer video to learn more about a product or service
So whether it's a story highlighting something cool someone did with one of your products or services, or an explainer video helping people better understand the benefits of working with you, creating more video is going to be a winning content marketing tactic going forward.
Live video tends to outperform pre-recorded stuff. By some counts, it outperforms it by quite a lot. Some say six times as much. It also gets ten times as many comments according to some research.
The reason all that happens is because of how much more engaging and human live video is than its pre-recorded counterpart. Now, people are part of something with you. They're often, as is the case with Facebook Live, able to interact with you during the live video.
There's a reason lots of people tend to consider movies' Rotten Tomatoes scores. It's sort of Yelp meets Amazon rating for movies, right? And the general public rating sits side-by-side, of course, with the aggregate of the film critics score.
Bottom line? People like to feel like they're getting the scoop from other, "regular," people rather than a paid spokesperson who has a monetary incentive to say positive things about a product or brand.
HERE'S WHAT TO DO NEXT:
1. WHAT CONTENT MARKETING TACTICS WILL YOU BE PLUGGING IN?
Let us know below!
2. WHAT CONTENT MARKETING TACTICS WOULD YOU ADD TO THE LIST?
Drop them in a comment!
3. SHARE THIS POST!
Know someone else who could use some of these? Sharing is caring!
