For those who are new to content marketing, or those who know they need to change or improve their marketing plan as a whole, it is easy to make mistakes. Knowing what content marketing mistakes to avoid whenever possible saves yourself a lot of effort, time, and money.
We live in the century of online marketing. And whether you are a freelancer, agency, or consultant, you will need to use content marketing to succeed. The sooner you realize that the better chances you have to reach your goals.
Throughout the 20th century, the focus was on the visual presentation of products and services. We had shop windows where people would look, and if they saw what they liked, they would enter the shop and buy it.
Today, the situation changed a bit. First of all, we are not walking the street anymore to buy something. Instead, we are sitting in front of our laptops and computers or holding our phones. And that is our gate to the world. The only window you see is the one opened in your browser.
That sounds scary, but it actually offers vast possibilities to present your services or products to the world. Everyone is connected, and you can peek at every single corner of the world just by clicking the link. And that's where content marketing comes into action!
Attract that click and keep attention!
It's a powerful tool that can make your business thrive or die, depending on how you use it. And yes, we know, there are a lot of examples where content marketing strategies get on the wrong foot or end up as a failure.
We wanted to show you how to use marketing the right way by pointing out some common content marketing mistakes that agencies or individuals often make and what you can do to avoid them.
So, let's see what the five most common content marketing mistakes to avoid are:
1) Not having a clear and concise message
2) Not creating compelling content
3) Not optimizing content for search engine optimization (SEO).
4) Not using social media effectively.
5) Not tracking results
Not having a clear and concise message
It's not about how you write, but why. If you don't have a clear and concise message, your content will be challenging to track. If it is unclear what your content is about, what you want to achieve with your writing, what the benefits are for the reader, or what the audience should expect when they engage with your content, they won't know why they should care.
If you post unclear or unconscious content, your audience will stay indifferent, and you will not achieve anything. That's why it's in the first place of our content marketing mistakes to avoid. That's the beginning of your audience's engagement.
The best way is to write engaging and compelling content that people want to read. Include an accurate description of your product or service and explain how people use it and what problem your product or service solves.
After reading the content, your audience should have a clear call to action at the end of your article/post that will trigger an action.
You could also include links to social media, embed video testimonials from clients, or showcase success stories from previous clients to drive engagement and get them clicking through to the next page.
Not creating compelling content
What does "compelling content" mean?
It means content where your audience will recognize the issue, emotion, or struggle you describe in your text.
It is essential for content marketing because it's not just about writing articles or blog posts. You want to provide valuable information and knowledge that your audience would find helpful in their day-to-day life.
If you expect people to read and engage with your content, you first need to make it interesting and informative.
One of the best strategies you can use is to provide insights into what people might be doing wrong or what they could do better. By providing this insight into the lives of others, you are providing solutions to their problems and showing them they're not alone in their struggles.
Not optimizing content for search engine optimization (SEO)
Now, you’ve probably heard that "Content is the king," but you need to understand that without SEO, the “king” will not reach anyone. SEO is one of the most crucial components of content marketing. It is essential to understand how search engines work and what factors they look for when evaluating websites.
And believe it or not, it is so common that we could put it first on our list of content marketing mistakes to avoid.
When it comes to SEO, it depends on the platform you use. Your content needs to be slightly different for each type of platform you want to promote it on.
Why?
Well, mainly because your audience is different. Some generations prefer one platform instead of another, and as you might presume, they are often attracted to different types of content.
But there is also another thing. Each platform has its own preferable format. For example, if you want to promote your blog content on Facebook, you will need to adjust the structure of your blog posts so that they are optimized for scrolling and screen reading.
Additionally, you will need to optimize the social media platform images to have the optimal size and dimensions. Understanding these changes and how they differ between platforms makes it easier for you to create optimized content that gets more shares and leads back in your direction.
It would be best to consider a timetable for the post you want to publish. It can help make your content more visible to the target audience.
Not using social media effectively
Many people don't realize that social media marketing is just as important as traditional digital marketing. If you want to succeed in content marketing, you need to put equally more time into your social media strategy like your website or blog.
The key to using social media effectively is to create engaging and shareable content for your audience. You also need to work on keyword density, which you can do by using hashtags and adding links to relevant pages on your site.
Additionally, you should try to engage in conversations with potential leads online. Interact with them. It will help build a relationship with them and increase the likability of your brand's social media account.
Moving on to the last one!
Not tracking results
The thing is, if you don't track the results, you will never be able to know what you're doing wrong. You will never be able to spot content marketing mistakes, and therefore you'll continue repeating them.
The neverending story or repeated content marketing mistakes begins in not tracking results. To end this circle, you have to observe the results of all your social media and your website marketing strategies.
You will need a tracking system to succeed, which might be challenging considering the number of platforms.
Here you have two options.
a) you will hire someone to track the results (maybe several people)
b) you will use some of the sync tools available.
It's often more cost-efficient to use the tools designed for that kind of purpose, and it saves your time and energy besides your budget.
But first of all, you need to set the goals for your agency, what you want to achieve. That's usually a part of marketing strategy. So, yes, that's something you need to do first.
Sometimes, it's not advisable to rely only on the number of followers or subscribers but on how much they are active and engaged. If your audience doesn't engage, your mission fails.
Key Takeaways
We are the lucky ones who live in an age of endless possibilities. We need to find out the perfect way to conduct our marketing strategies.
Though some might think that content marketing is easy to conduct, there are a lot of obstacles you, as an agency or a freelancer, might encounter. Not knowing what you are doing wrong can cause setbacks and doubts in your capabilities or talent.
The starting point should be creating a content marketing strategy and checking the list of content marketing mistakes to avoid.
If you manage to keep your content engaging, compelling, and SEO friendly, you will definitely be able to reach your audience at some point. And if you use all social media platforms efficiently and track results, you will thrive.
We hope this article cleared the doubts you had regarding content marketing. If you need any inspiration for your content marketing strategy, sometimes it's helpful to look at what other industries do, for example, which marketing channels drive sales for an agency or freelance business. Who knows, maybe it will be efficient for your business as well.
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