Unlike direct-response advertising, which explicitly aims to sell a product, content marketing sets out to sell consumers on the brand behind the product. If you’re a small business owner, posting valuable, entertaining or inspirational content reflects positively on your brand. When a piece of content gets lots of social media shares and likes, the brand behind it instantly wins attention, extra credibility and a big crowd cheer. Sounds good? Here are 6 content marketing ideas you can add to your marketing calendar.
Take people behind the scenes
Offering a glimpse into the nuts and bolts of your business can help people connect with and feel loyal to your brand. You can use a video or photos to help potential customers learn more about your products, how they are made or who makes them. Or you can simply shoot some fun footage presenting a typical day at the office.
Videos are easy to make – you can do it with your iPhone – and when you post them on YouTube and other social networks with a few lines about your business, they can increase the chances that customers will find you on Google.
When Wix produced its first ever Super Bowl commercial in 2015, we took fans behind the scenes with this fun video about how the commercial was made.
Profile your staff
Telling people about your fun, interesting and very-real staff members reminds customers that behind every business are men, women (and puppies) just like themselves. You can share videos, personal stories or simply staff bios. Choose language and a tone that represents your brand, but don’t be afraid to be funny and creative. Offer your employees the freedom to present their unique personalities.
The SEO geniuses at Moz.com give each of their staff members a chance to express themselves on an individual page. Nice touch.
Share user success stories
User success stories are like a beefed up testimonials page. Rather than a brief, 2-sentence endorsement from a past customer, you can ask loyal clients to share a story about your product and service, how it impacted their lives or why they where happy with the purchase. Then, you can present the stories on video, in photographs or as a blog and post them on your website and social media.
Here at Wix, we created Wix Stories as a place where our users can share their personal experiences working with Wix. Stories can inspire creative uses of your product and also help reassure a hesitant client that your company and products are reliable.
Write a blog
Blogs are one of the best ways to regularly generate great content about your business. You can write posts that demonstrate your expertise, share insights into how your products are made and help customers get to know your company and employees.
To write a blog that people will want to read, think about how you can provide your customers with helpful information or interesting stories. Good blogs don’t just market a company’s products; they provide added value for the reader.
Finally, remember that blogs aren’t just about writing! You can also upload photos and videos in your blog. Don’t forget to share each post in social media. And we don’t just mean Facebook. You can find lots of readers in LinkedIn groups, in a newsletter to your customers or in a guest post on a popular blog site in your industry.
Feature a “How To” video
Find the right topic and your homemade “how-to” video can go viral. A simple video that shows people how to do something commonplace, but related to your product, can be a great way to promote your company and gain exposure.
This amateur video about “how to fold a fitted sheet” racked up more than 11 million views and undoubtedly brought in a significant increase in traffic to the website that produced it.
From “how to eat a cupcake” to “how to take a screenshot with your Galaxy s4” the sky’s the limit when it comes to thinking of topics that you can film. Find one relevant for your industry and give it a shot!
Publish an ebook
The advantage of living in today’s world is that anyone with Internet access can publish a book. You don’t need to get a publisher to back you to distribute your writing to readers in any corner of the world. If you love what you do and want to share it with others, or if you have unique skills that others might want to learn, consider writing an ebook.
It’s much easier than you might think and can do wonders for raising awareness about your business. We’re not talking about War and Peace, either. Some of the best e-books are short manuals jam-packed with helpful photos, so don’t be daunted if you think an e-book needs to be 100+ pages.
Want to give it a try? Be sure to check out our blog for tips on how to write an e-book that sells like crazy (and does wonders for your business).
Good content marketing is invaluable to the success of your business. Done well, it can establish you as an expert in your field, help your business get found on Google searches and set you apart from competitors. Try out some of these ideas above and share your own experience in the comments below!
ATTN: Baby Boomer-Aged Small Business Owners Congratulations, you’re one of the 4 million Baby Boomers who currently own and ope...
0 comments:
Post a Comment