Content marketing is an effective way to attract customers through text, images, and video. But it only works if you use it correctly.
We decided to break down the 10 most common mistakes when working with content. Perhaps by studying them, you will understand what prevents your site from getting more traffic and why sales do not grow.
Table of content
Content marketing mistakes: looking for and eliminating
1. Working without a strategy
Lack of a plan is one of the main reasons why content marketing doesn’t have the desired effect. You need to clearly understand why you publish texts and videos, what tasks they solve, and what you want to get from them as a result. That’s why you should start developing your project by working out a content strategy and making a plan.
When creating a content marketing strategy, consider:
- Goals: traffic growth, increased brand awareness, sales, etc.;
- The nature of the target audience;
- Competitor publications;
- Distribution channels;
- Text format.
As a result, develop a content plan that will include not only the topics and specifics of posting but also how to analyze the results.
2. Ignorance of the audience
Writing articles without understanding who will read them is a serious mistake. When working with posts, you need to focus on a specific target audience and publish the material that will be of interest to it.
For convenience, make a portrait of your target audience. Take into account the following points:
- Personal “profile” data: sex, age, marital status, geography;
- Activity and income;
- Hobbies and interests;
- Pains;
- Fears;
- Objections.
There are no irrelevant details here. So the more you know about the reader, the better. And this information needs to be taken into account when working with texts. This is the only way it will achieve the goal and benefit both users and businesses.
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3. Unoptimized content
Content is not only useful information for users. It has a second (no less important) function – to help the target audience find what they are interested in. You can achieve this by optimizing texts for queries.
Ignoring SEO is a mistake, because of which neither search engine robots nor potential customers will find valuable and useful content. As a result, content marketing will not produce the expected results.
Before you start writing the text and give the task to the copywriter, be sure to prepare the topic, plan the texts, a list of keywords and phrases. Use not only high-frequency queries but also low-frequency ones. The latter brings the site up to 70% of the targeted traffic, so you should not ignore them.
Check whether the landing page is open for indexing in the robots.txt file, write the appropriate meta tags Title and Description. For best effect add linking to related pages. That’s the only way users will find the posts you’ve published.
4. Low-quality content
The reverse situation, when content contains keywords but doesn’t carry any value to visitors, can be even more detrimental to business. Such a mistake can lead to:
- Loss of trust from users;
- Deterioration of behavioral factors;
- Falling positions in search results;
- Sanctions from Google.
Working out a content strategy, studying the interests of the target audience, and knowing the basics of copywriting and marketing will help to avoid these unpleasant consequences. A strong text is the beginning of successful interaction with customers. Don’t forget to check it for errors before publishing it. Or submit it for proofreading to essays advisor services. That way you can be sure that your posts are literate and correct. Such services are useful not only for businessmen but also for anyone who wants to get the best essays for high grades.
5. Irregular publications
A widespread mistake in content marketing, because of which there is no expected effect is the haphazard publication of materials and irregular interaction with the target audience. Moreover, too rare placement of information and unjustifiably frequent also negatively affect promotions.
In the content plan, write down how often you will publish articles. There are no specific rules regarding the frequency of posting materials. You should be guided by:
Market and product specifics
If you specialize in one or two types of services, there’s no point in reminding you every day how well you do them. When working with a large group of products, don’t forget to tell users about the features of new products and sales leaders.
The nature of your target audience
Plan your article publishing by adjusting to the convenience and capabilities of your target audience. For example, if your potential customers are businesslike and busy, they probably won’t have time to study a lot of information.
Your own capabilities
Creating content requires resources, both temporal and financial. It’s important to plan and schedule them wisely.
Common sense
A flurry of newsletters or silence for a long period of time is equally detrimental. Find the most comfortable publishing schedule that allows you to study them and benefit from them.
Users will eventually become accustomed to the periodicity of receiving materials and will wait for publications on certain days of the week or month.
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6. Rejection of content marketing
Often site owners expect a sharp influx of visitors after publishing 2-3 articles. But, of course, it does not happen. As a result, they completely abandon content marketing, never knowing what effect it can bring to the business.
The main reason for this mistake is a lack of understanding of the features and objectives of your texts. This promotional tool requires patience, the study of the target audience and market, and consistent work on connecting with users.
Careful development of a strategy and step-by-step implementation of the plan of promotion with the help of content will definitely bring results.
7. Text without design
In addition to poorly crafted text, there is another type of error – lack of design.
Before you say that content marketing doesn’t work, check to see if your articles have:
- Separation into meaningful parts;
- Headings and subheadings;
- Bulleted lists;
- Formatting;
- Images and/or videos.
It’s important to consider the rules of text formatting, to be able to highlight the main thoughts, and to design them as separate elements. Images and infographics that illustrate the article will make it more attractive and easy to read.
8. Don’t engage your audience with the content
If you don’t share your content with your users, the effect of it will be far less than it could actually produce. To correct this mistake, in addition to SEO, use:
- Email newsletters to subscribers;
- Social media posts;
- Publications on topical resources;
- Collaborations with bloggers and guest posting;
- Offline posting tools.
The more points of contact with your target audience you find, the more users will see the materials you prepare and use them.
9. Excessive or insufficient information
The concepts of “much” and “little” are relative. There is no exact data on how many characters each text should contain or how many minutes a video clip should last. It all depends on the characteristics of the product, the nature of the target audience, the type and format of the texts.
If the text does not answer the questions on the topic, it is necessary to finish it. In the case where there is nothing to write about, you should stop, and not set yourself the task of writing or shooting as much as possible.
10. Don’t track the effectiveness
Text is posted for a specific purpose. It should be indicated in the first paragraph of the promotion strategy. But without tracking the effectiveness of content marketing, you run the risk of not getting to it.
This is a common mistake among site owners. It is probably the reason why many people think that content marketing does not work and does not bring results.
Analyzing user behavior and changes on the site as a result of publishing articles and videos is an obligatory step in content strategy. And you need to track these indicators regularly. Thus, you will be able to discover the most successful moves and use them as often as possible or correct what did not solve the problem and did not please users.
Conclusions
Content marketing mistakes can not only lead to a lack of results but also cause a more negative effect – the loss of the already attracted target audience. That is why it is so important to pay maximum attention to this promotional tool.
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