Building a Content Marketing Strategy: Tips to Get Your Team Excited

building a content marketing strategy

Ovi Negrean is the CEO and Co-Founder of SocialBee.io, one of the most user-friendly social media management tools on the market. He and his team help startups, small businesses, freelancers, and entrepreneurs reach their marketing goals through keyword-informed and customer-driven articles, as well as innovative social media content.

We all have a list of things we want to try out. And in the case of digital marketing, that list usually focuses on new technologies and strategies.

This Process Street article will provide you with the tips you need to apply as a marketing enthusiast in order to get your team excited. Whether you’re a fan of digital marketing, content marketing, influencer marketing, or social media marketing, you will most definitely find something of interest for any of these fields.

We’ll be covering:

Alright, let’s get started!

Tips to build an effective content marketing strategy

building a content marketing strategy — Source

Information is bliss, and content marketers know that.

Looking back, word-of-mouth was the way to go when people wanted to tell stories, and it later emerged into actually writing things down. As digital as things have become over the last few years, one thing is certain: content remains an important aspect that marketing cannot do without.

It is safe to say that things have changed in the case of content marketing as well since what used to work, say, in the early-2000s, might not work as well in the years to come. This field has evolved and adapted constantly, and it’s not planning to stop anytime soon.

Have we made you curious enough about what tips you can use to get your team excited, and build your content marketing strategy at the same time?

Here are a few tips:

1. Enhance your content experience

First off, we start by enhancing your content experience.

Your page as a whole constitutes the experience of the user, and here we’re talking about pop-ups, ads, or just about anything that could distract your audience from your content.

The easiest way to put this into perspective is through an example: Imagine you visit a page that seems to have promising content, and just as you enter the page, you are flooded with different ads and pop-ups that don’t seem to ever disappear. Basically, you close one pop-up and the next one appears a few seconds after.

Pop-ups and ads are intended to promote different things, but can cause harm if used excessively. Your first instinct would be to leave the page, as good as the content might be. Content cannot outlive the user experience, unfortunately.

2. Reuse content

The second thing you can use to refresh your content marketing strategy is reusable content.

Nowadays, social media doesn’t involve just one or two platforms anymore. And because of that, always starting from scratch might not only be difficult but also overwhelming, as you’d need to reach out to a lot of people in a limited amount of time.

Content is reusable and that is really good news. Whether we’re talking about tutorials, webinars, podcasts, or even live videos, all this content can be reused on numerous social media platforms; or as the saying would go, it’s easy to light a lot of candles with just a few flames. Advertising can also be done effectively through reusable content, by using live videos or podcasts, for example.

Bonus tip: Reusable content can also help you improve user engagement.

3. Organize your content calendar properly

The third time’s a charm, but we can’t say the same thing applies if you keep forgetting to post your content. The third idea a content marketer could use is the proper organization of his content calendar.

Life can sometimes get busy, and without a calendar entry to remind us of important events and tasks, we might fall on the other side of the spectrum. And this, unfortunately, also applies to content marketing: not knowing when to post and where to post could lead to a bit of trouble and become time-consuming.

4. Update your content curation strategies

Last but not least, our fourth entry involves updating our content curation strategies.

We live in an era where information is extremely accessible, but just because it’s in front of us, it doesn’t mean that it’s necessarily accurate.

That is where properly researching and organizing any piece of information could become handy for content marketing specialists. This practice can help you come up with better and more valuable content, as there’s an unwritten rule that you should check your sources thoroughly before writing it down and claiming it as fact.

Influencer marketing: Key to growing your reach

Influencer marketing has rapidly grown throughout the years, and it continues to reinvent itself. Brands are always looking for new advocates for their products, and influencers are constantly on the hunt for new tools and techniques to achieve a better promotion.

This is what the energizing list for the influencer marketing side of things looks like:

1. Do live videos

The first prize goes to live videos.

Be it on Instagram, TikTok, or Facebook, live videos help with user engagement and make the audience feel like they’re part of a live conversation. The person behind the screen is still a person, just like any single one of us, and being able to sustain a conversation through a live video does wonders.

2. Test the waters on all platforms

This brings us to second place, where you should make sure that you test the waters on all platforms.

Most users can be found on Instagram and Facebook, and influencers know that. Thus, these are the platforms where most of the influencer posts can be found. If people spend a lot of time on a specific platform, it means that there will be a better reach. More explicitly, there are higher chances of having your post noticed, which will translate into a higher engagement in your analytics dashboard later on.

But then again, there are other platforms that can appear overnight and take over the Internet. Trends appear and disappear, and influencers have to know when and where to shift their attention. Such is the case with TikTok, which has been gaining a lot of attention lately and has made many influencers shift their attention to the new video-sharing platform.

Even though some platforms might not dispose of a marketplace where people can directly purchase something, they might hold a lot of influence, especially from a visual perspective. A catchy short-form video can convince people to buy products as soon as the video ends.

3. Post stories on Instagram

Storytime doesn’t have to equal a bedtime story, and this puts us face-to-face with the third-place: Instagram stories.

Regular posts on your Instagram feed have their effect, but Instagram stories are even more effective.
It’s easy to scroll past a post or lose it between a thousand other posts, but with stories, the perspective seems to change a bit. They are a bit more interactive, and this significantly improves user engagement.

Stories have to fit within a limited amount of time, and that doesn’t happen most of the time, as they also have to be segmented in order to tell you the whole story. Catching the attention of the viewer from the first story can lead to a better engagement and thus, a better completion rate.

4. Show your authentic self

The fourth prize goes to showing your authentic self.

The influencer is still a human being at the end of the day, with a simple and normal life behind the screen. Even though the life of an influencer might look glamorous and perfect on social media, it doesn’t mean it’s always like that.

Relating to someone you perceive as similar to you is a lot easier, and people are aware of that. A famous person who promotes brands also has days where they feel blue, as well as days where their skin is not so flawless. Exposing the unglamorous aspects of life can help influencers drive higher engagement levels and nurture more of a loyal following.

Elevate your social media marketing strategy with these key tips

We all spend our time on social media, and that has proven to be a great way for brands to promote their products and services.

As a social media marketer, you always have to be on the lookout for the next big trend that can take over in just a couple of minutes, and it’s safe to say that things change quite a lot.

Find below the ultimate list of ideas to apply for social media marketing:

1. Share user-generated content

Needless to say, the engagement of users has become the holy grail of social media. Sometimes, it can be hard to put the social back in “social media”, and user-generated content can help with that, as sharing content is important for audience engagement.

This can involve sharing pictures or videos of your customers wearing or trying out your products, or launching a campaign where you encourage your customers to post about your products in the comment section or by using hashtags. Keeping your users involved means keeping them close to your brand.

2. Start online challenges

Speaking of hashtags, online challenges can start with as much as a hashtag, which is widely used on Instagram and TikTok and can help categorize and bring your content together.

People can participate in a challenge you launch by simply adding a hashtag to their video or photo, and this is another huge plus and must for user-engagement strategies.

3. Share behind-the-scenes posts

Have you ever wondered what’s going on behind-the-scenes of something?

The making of a video, or a photo session, or even the production of a product could be a great idea for a behind-the-scenes post. People enjoy seeing and knowing what’s going on behind the curtains and it also helps them be a part of the process, even if it’s not happening right in front of them.

4. Start Facebook live sessions

This next item is closely related to the behind-the-scenes idea, the only difference being that it happens in real-time. Facebook live sessions are a great opportunity to get closer to your audience, as seeing what’s happening on the spot can spike people’s curiosity and thus, allow them to interact with the process that goes on in front of them.

It is all about user engagement, in the end, since feeling like you’re a part of something on social media can make you more drawn towards a product or service in real life as well.

5. Repurpose content

A social media marketer knows that content can be repurposed and that it is safe to be used on different social media platforms. Depending on the platform, you have the possibility to either add only key moments of a video or transform a longer article into a small, yet insightful post. Content can be used either fully or in smaller pieces in order to fill its purpose.

Also, repurposed content maximizes the chances of reaching out to a wider audience, depending on the platform they prefer. Some people might be more attracted to Facebook, while others might spend most of their time on Instagram, TikTok, or any other social media platform.

Improve your SEO and increase organic traffic

The Internet has taken over and this means that there are new trends emerging yearly when it comes to marketing. And SEO is no stranger to trends; any change has a direct influence on the search engine optimization process.

1. Do keyword research

Adding keyword research to your list is a must, and this is because keywords can still provide a much-needed boost to your marketing campaigns.

Bluntly, keywords are useful when it comes to your website and ads, as they bring value to your content marketing campaign, for example. Depending on the structure of your campaign, long-tail keywords could be useful.

Even though long-tail keywords are more specific, they hold a higher conversion value, in comparison to short-tail keywords. Knowing exactly how to use your keywords could save you the trouble of not reaching out to your audience at all, or reaching out to the wrong audience.

2. Use the best tracking tools

Tracking tools are a must. For example, we can use Google Ads, which can help you not only track, but also place your ads in a way that ensures your success. 40 years ago, the place you went to for information was the library, but nowadays, Google has taken over.

Googling something has become second nature, and because of that, Google Ads can help you stay on top of your game.

3. Optimize your landing pages

Landing page optimization is the last thing on our list, and you need it in order to improve your conversions. The elements found on your page can make a difference for your audience, as long as you know exactly what they’re looking for.

Why is this a prominent point that can refresh your entire strategy? Because you need the leads and most of the time, the details make the difference. In this situation, those details could be related to the following:

A specific loading time;
A clear message;
A user-friendly mobile version.

Building a content marketing strategy: Final thoughts

It can be difficult to buckle down and achieve your goals without taking the time to set your gameplan down on paper. And truth be told, even digital marketers keep lists of key points to keep in mind when producing content, and the tips I’ve covered in this article reflect that.

So, what do you do with them? Write them down on a piece of paper, pin them on your wall, tape them onto your computer monitor, or just have them somewhere in front of you and start applying them. They will definitely make a difference.

What tips would you suggest for others looking to refresh their content marketing strategy? Let us know in the comments below!