We’ve got some bad news. Take a deep breath. Ready?
Your content isn’t performing as well as it could.
Here’s the thing: if you’re turning a critical eye to your marketing analytics, you probably already know this fact. You just don’t know what’s going wrong. Unfortunately, many amateur content marketers fall victim to the same mistakes without realizing they’ve gone astray.
The good news? These mistakes are fixable, and you’ll be a stronger content marketer for it.
Here are three of the biggest content marketing mistakes we see and what you should be doing instead.
Mistake #1: All Action, No Plan
You’ve been making content like it’s going out of style. You post something new every day or almost every day. And you’re getting plenty of readers, still more readers who like your stuff.
There’s just one problem: not enough people are converting. Which means your content isn’t actually doing that much good.
Sound familiar?
If so, you’ve got a bad case of all action and no plan. Here’s the thing: the best action is a plan. There’s so much content on the internet right now that it’s arrogant and unrealistic to think that creating content is enough to get you the attention you need.
Instead of cranking out content every time you exhale, take a step back. Think about what you want to achieve with your content. Do you want conversions? Do you want customers to participate in a campaign? Do you want to increase followers? Do you want them to sign up for your email list?
Create a SMART goal and craft a marketing campaign around it. Then check in your goal periodically.
Mistake #2: Not Researching What Your Audience Wants
Bar none one of the biggest content marketing mistakes is failing to research what your audience wants.
The old cliche runs that content is king, but that’s not quite true. The audience is king. Content is a way to get the king’s attention.
If you don’t know what your audience wants, you won’t be able to serve them through content, and they won’t convert. Why would they, when you haven’t proven your value?
To figure out what your audience wants, ask them! Survey them. Ask them what they come to your site for and what they want to see more of. If you have an email list, use it. Same thing goes for social media.
People love being heard. Give your audience the opportunity to announce loud and clear what they want from you. Then, give them what they want through your content.
If you have buyer personas, now is the time to use them. That said, don’t fall into the trap of hypothetical buyer personas–you’re assuming you know what the customer wants, rather than listening to what they want. Instead, get to know your current customer base through surveys and analytics and build a strategy designed to deliver what they want to see.
Mistake #3: Content Published = Content Marketing
Content published means content marketing, right?
Wrong. Very wrong. And once more for the folks in the back: WRONG.
Thus far, we’ve talked about all the steps that happen before you publish your content. And those steps are critical for content marketing. However, your work does not end when you hit publish. The internet is not a static library, but a living thing. If you’re not taking steps to grow your content and see returns, those returns will never materialize.
Unless you work to get your content in front of your target audience, it’s going to collect dust.
Your content marketing strategy must include steps after publication. How are you going to get it out there? Follow the 20/80 rule: 20% of your time is spent creating content and the other 80% is spent promoting the heck out of your content.
This means sharing your content and enlisting a network to help you go one step further. Reach out to influencers in your niche. Reach out to people who have shared your content before. Contact people who have shared content similar to yours and mention them when they share your content to establish a quid pro quo.
Remember, content marketing is as much the art of networking as it is anything else. If you can’t distribute your content effectively, your customers will never find it.
Stop Making Content Marketing Mistakes
Here’s the thing: these content marketing mistakes come from a good place. You’re trying to figure out content marketing the best way you know how. The problem is that you’re not a content marketer, and you don’t know how to avoid many of the same mistakes over and over again.
It’s time to stop gambling with your content marketing strategy. We’re here to provide the content expertise your business needs to thrive.
Ready to change the way you think about content? Get in touch today to learn more.