Last time we talked about basic errors that we see people make with written content pieces, things like typos and the lack of a CTA. But making a great piece of content is only part of the puzzle. It also has to get enough exposure. With so many web pages and pieces of content getting generated every day, a content delivery strategy is a must to make sure your audience notices you. Here are the things we’ve seen that tank content marketing strategies on the delivery angle.
No promotion strategy at all
The first mistake we see, all too often, are people who have no promotion strategy at all. Content alone isn’t sufficient to draw in people. There’s too much other content for one outstanding piece of content to stand out unless you have a platform to deliver it. Newspapers know this all too well. They build up a brand of high reputation and quality that people trust to deliver accurate information. While part of that reputation is built on delivering regular doses of good content, a major part of that is delivering it regularly to readers.
Thankfully, you don’t need to invest in a printing press. But you do need a promotional strategy.
Publishing on too many channels
Another major error is trying to embrace all the social media channels. More channels doesn’t necessarily mean broader reach. Most businesses are not trying to reach everyone in the population. They want to reach the segments that are interested in their products and services. This means you have to do research to find out where your segments hang out online. Those are the channels to target.
Publishing on too many channels also has another downside. It’s very time-consuming to publish and track to a lot of networks. Unless you’re experienced, or the market data shows otherwise, stick with just the main social media channel your audience uses for your core content promotion.
Failing to understand social media cultures
Every social media platform has its own culture. Failing to adapt your content promotion to that culture is a sure recipe for failure. Let’s take Twitter for instance. If all of your posts were multi-part tweets, your message would get lost. If they were just web page links with no message, they’d get lost. A good content promotion post on Twitter has a very intriguing headline, a shortened URL, maybe a hashtag, and a picture to accompany it.
Failing to respond to social media
If you remember our previous article, one of the things we talked about was having multiple CTAs, and how social media platforms have those built in. None of these other CTAs should be ignored, even if your main strategic goal is to get the reader to go to the website. If someone comments on your content piece, you must respond to it if you want to keep their attention. The ability to converse with your readers is what separates social media from billboards.
Failing to add a new perspective
This one is more subtle, but it is the fall of many strategies. Too often people rush out to copy the same pieces of content everyone else has. Content ends up being rehashes of rehashes of the same tips, tricks, and pieces of information you can easily find elsewhere. How do you create new and fresh content?
You have something unique that no one else has, your own perspective on the matter. Good content marketers have to put their own opinions out on the line for others to see. You have to take a stand on your viewpoint and tell others why you think X tip is wrong or why Y practice is essential or whatever it is you’re talking about in your content. Make it personal, and make that personality reflect in your headline and snippet as well. That attracts attention.
Failing to write for the reader
Finally, your content has to be something your readers want. Whatever topic you write about has to appeal to them. Part of that is done through your headline and snippet, but further clicks won’t happen unless your content delivers. And that means you have to create all of your pieces for the perspective of your audience. Your content must be what they want, not what you want. Focus on them, not on yourself.
It’s just like a conversation in a busy place. You have to speak loud enough so those who want to hear you can hear you, and you have to have something interesting to say. Follow these tips and you should see interactions with your pieces increase over time. Speaking of, are you keeping track of your analytics? That’s important too.
The Clever Content Club
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