the comprehensive guide to marketingcomprehensive guide takes you from inspiration through...
TRANSCRIPT
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The Compr ehens ive
GUIDE to MARKETING
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Have questions about content marketing?
Then you’ve come to the right place. This
comprehensive guide takes you from inspiration
through distribution to answer every question
you’ve ever had about content marketing (and
some you’ve never thought of).
Click on a question to jump right to the answer
you’re looking for. Or read the whole post and
build a comprehensive understanding of the
subject.
Everything You Should Knowabout content marketing to grow you business & reach your goals
/Definitions and driving forces: What is content marketing?
Why do I need a content strategy?
What is content marketing strategy?
What types of content do I have to choose from?
How do I distribute content?
Jump Ahead to each section /
Getting started or improving performance in
content marketing:
Where can I research content topics?
How often should I post to my blog?
How often should I release videos?
How often should I post to social media?
How do I post content to social media?
How do I organize my content marketing?
How do I track results?
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What iscontent marketing?/
Marketing trends come and go. In the 1930s, radio ads were the hot new
thing. In the 50s, it was TV ads. Marketing has pretty much always evolved
to take advantage of the latest technology. You might call content marketing
the marketing tactic for the internet age.
But you came here for a definition, not a history lesson.
Content marketing is text, videos, audio images, or other
content, thoughtfully distributed with the goal of building
customer relationships and, ultimately, driving sales.
You build customer relationships by providing interesting and
engaging content that your audience is eager to consume. As they
consume your content, customers come to trust your business
and see you as an authority in your industry. As a result, they
feel comfortable giving you money in exchange for a product or
service.
DEFINITIONS & DRIVING FORCES
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The best thing about content marketing is that rather than being annoyed by the
commercial break, customers seek content to consume. According to Demand
Metric, content marketing costs 62% less than traditional marketing while
bringing in 3 times as many leads. So you spend less money and get a better
result.
But content alone is not enough. The best content in the
world is useless if nobody sees it. So you also need to
distribute it to your audience
Where and how you do that is all part of your content marketing
strategy.
Read more: What is Content Marketing?
https://www.demandmetric.com/content/content-marketing-infographichttps://www.demandmetric.com/content/content-marketing-infographichttps://epipheo.com/what-is-content-marketing/
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There are two kinds of businesses: businesses that don’t bother to create a content strategy and
businesses that are top performers in
their industry.
If that seems like an extreme
statement, consider this.The 2018
Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends
Report from the Content Marketing
Institute found that 62% of top
performing companies have a
documented content marketing
strategy.
If you don’t have a
documented content
strategy you’re going to
miss opportunities, miss
customers, and generally
just miss out.
Why Do I Need
content strategy
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How DoI Make
a content marketing strategy
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A content marketing strategy tells you what content to create and what to do with it once it’s made. Developing a
content marketing strategy starts with
goals. Think about the effect you want
your content to have. Are you trying to
boost sales? Increase customer loyalty?
Make more people aware of your product?
To measure your progress toward those
goals you need to identify trackable
metrics. How many people are clicking your
link, reading your blog, leaving comments,
sharing your posts and videos?
Make sure that every piece of content is
effective by codifying your unique value.
What sets you apart from other companies
in your industry? What is your brand story?
How you tell this story depends on who
your audience is.
Create customer personas to help you
understand who your audience is. That
way you can ensure that every piece of
content you make appeals to the people
you’re trying to reach. Personas will also
help you decide where to distribute your
content for the greatest impact.
Compiling all this information into a
document that everyone on your team can
access puts you on the road to being a
top-performing company.
https://contentmarketinginstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/2018-b2b-research-final.pdfhttps://contentmarketinginstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/2018-b2b-research-final.pdfhttps://contentmarketinginstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/2018-b2b-research-final.pdf
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What Types of Content do I have to
choose from?
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Almost anything can be
content. A blog post?
Content. A video? Content.
That funny gif you shared on
Twitter? Content. All of it is
content. The trick is to choose
the format that fits your message and your audience.
Longer-form content is
good for conveying complex
messages or big ideas.
It includes videos, blogs,
newsletters, infographics,
podcasts, e-books, webinars,
case studies, apps,
whitepapers, and slideshares.
So, yeah. Pretty much
everything can be
content.
Short form content is better at
conveying a single clear idea
or topic. It includes charts
and graphs, lists, mind maps,
templates, quizzes, and polls.
Super-short content is good
for reinforcing an idea you’ve
already presented in long-form
somewhere else. It can also
help solidify your brand voice.
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Flash form content includes
cartoons, illustrations,
GIFs, memes, quotes,
user-generated content,
and timelines. It’s almost
impossible to assemble a truly
comprehensive list of content
marketing formats, because
anything that entertains,
educates, or informs your
audience counts as content.
If you try to make content
If you try to make content
in all of the formats listed
above, you’ll likely overwhelm
your audience. Also, your
marketing team might stage
a coup.
You’ll get the best
results by choosing
two or three formats and
doing them really well.
You’ll get the best results by
choosing two or three formats
and doing them really well.
Once you’ve mastered your
messaging and customer
interaction around one format,
you can add another format to
the mix.
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How Do Idistribute content?/
Where you distribute your content depends on who your audience
is, the type of content you’ve created, and what your goals are.
The best content is created with the distribution channel in mind.
For example, if you’re making a video, the length and tone might be
different if you’re creating a video for an email to existing customers
versus one that will be publicly shared on your Facebook page.
The go-to distribution channels are your website, your blog, marketing
emails, and social media platforms. Choose your distribution channels
based on who your clients are. If you’re selling designer sunglasses,
LinkedIn probably isn’t your platform, but Instagram might be.
While choosing the best distribution channel is important, don’t make the mistake of
distributing on only one channel. Ideally, your content appears in some form on the go-to
channels that fit you, like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, or Instagram.
You’ll probably make some adjustments to fit the platform, but the extra work spent repurposing one piece of content means more eyes on it—and ultimately higher return on investment.
Find out: How to distribute your videos for maximum growth
https://epipheo.com/learn/
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If you keep your content confined to your website or blog, you’re limiting its reach. Social media is where content goes to make new friends.
Guess what the most popular social media channel in the United States is.
Go ahead. You said Facebook didn’t you?
In 2016, you would have been right. But in 2018, the Pew Research Center found that YouTube is actually the most popular social media site, with 73% of U.S. adults using the platform.
Facebook was a close second with 68% The
next most popular were Instagram, Pinterest, and
Snapchat. LinkedIn was on the list at 25% and
Twitter at 24%. Before you run to post your video on YouTube, hang on a second. The most popular site isn’t always the best option. Theoretically, more popularity means more eyes on your content. It also means more competition from other marketers.If you’re posting only on YouTube and Facebook, you’re hitting a wide swath of the American public—but that might not contain your ideal customer.
Different platforms have vastly different demographics. Pinterest users are overwhelmingly female at 70%. Snapchat users are young, with 85 percent are between the ages of 18 and 34. LinkedIn users are business professionals.
Instead of distributing to everyone and hoping the right people see it, distribute on the platform with the highest concentration of your target audience.
YOUTUBEFACEBOOKINSTAGRAMPINTERESTSNAPCHATLINKEDINTWITTER
Where Does Social Mediafit into content strategy?
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http://www.pewinternet.org/2018/03/01/social-media-use-in-2018/http://www.pewinternet.org/2018/03/01/social-media-use-in-2018/https://business.pinterest.com/en/audience-demographics-user-statshttps://www.forbes.com/forbes/welcome/?toURL=https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathleenchaykowski/2017/03/01/snapchats-big-weakness-the-olds/&refURL=&referrer=#34906c5e230b
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Where Can I Research content topics/
Where can I research content topics?Great content starts with a great topic. You need
something that resonates with your target audience.
Something that makes them sit up and take notice.
Something they’ll go out of their way to consume.
So it’s no surprise that selecting content topics is the task
voted Most Likely to Cause Marketers to Bang Their Heads
Against the Wall. But the right tools can help you avoid those
headaches.
Before we get into tools, let’s relieve some of the anxiety
you’re feeling. If you think you’re going to come up with a
completely unique topic that nobody has ever talked about
before, you’re wrong.
Everything has been talked about before. Absolutely
everything. The goal isn’t to come up with something
completely unique. It’s to say it in your voice colored by
your brand story.
Okay, now to the tools.
DEFINITIONS & DRIVING FORCES
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Tools forcontent marketing?
Google Analytics. The perfect tool for researching keywords and
search terms that will help your content show up in Google searches.
That’s a useful insight since Google is the top search engine in the
world with 1.6 billion unique monthly visitors. The next runner up,
Bing, only gets 400 million.
Google Trends. While we’re tapping the rich resources of planet
Google, don’t forget Google Trends. This handy dashboard shows you
what’s trending on Google. You can even search for specific keywords or phrases and see how popular they’ve been over time.
Ubersuggest. This helps you discover keywords and phrases related to
your topic. Results include search volume, competition, and cost per
click.
BuzzSumo. This website helps you find the most shared, trending, and highest performing content for specific topics across the web. This is a paid service, so expect a monthly fee.
EpicBeat. Similar to Buzzsumo, EpicBeat lets you see shares
comments and engagement for popular posts on different topics. They
have limited free functionality, but you can upgrade for full access.
Ahrefs Content Explorer. See how content has performed across
different social media channels with this powerful content research
tool. You’ll pay for this one, too.
Quora. A free membership site where anyone can post questions and
anyone can answer. Search by your topic to find out exactly what questions people are asking about it.
Answers.com. Like Quora, you can type a keyword or phrase in the box
and get questions from real people on that topic.
Answer the Public. This is a weird one, but you can’t beat it for ease
of use and volume of ideas. Type your search into the box and get a
graphic with dozens of questions asked by the internet hive mind.
GOOGLE ANALYTICS
GO
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UBERSUGGEST
BUZZSUMO
EPIC
BEA
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AHREFS CONTENT EXPLORER
QU
ORA
ANSWERS.COM
ANSWER THE PUBLIC
All those tools are useful, but don’t forget
your greatest resource—your customers.
Pay attention to the questions they are asking. Your sales
and customer service teams probably have a short list of
questions that they hear all the time. Find ways to answer
those questions with your content.
https://searchenginewatch.com/2016/08/08/what-are-the-top-10-most-popular-search-engines/https://trends.google.com/trends/
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How Often Should I post to my blog
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Your blog is often the
cornerstone of your content
marketing efforts. It’s where
you post videos, engage
with customers, and share
the special bonus content
you’ve created. According
to Hubspot, B2B marketers
who use blogs get 67% more
leads. And companies that
blog get 97% more links to
their website.
The general rule is
11 or more posts per
month will maximize
your results. Anything
less than that, and
you’re getting small
improvement for each
additional post.
Super-small companies
(10 employees or fewer)
see a jump in traffic with each additional blog post
per month. Even one or two
additional posts can increase
traffic by 50%. The outlier here is large companies with
more than 201 employees.
They see very small change
when they increase from one
post to 10. But by posting
11 or more times a month,
they can increase traffic by 4 times.
So, if possible, post about 3
times a week to get the most
out of your posting schedule.
https://login.live.com/login.srf?wa=wsignin1.0&rpsnv=13&ct=1529364859&rver=6.7.6643.0&wp=MBI_SSL_SHARED&wreply=https:%2F%2Fonedrive.live.com%2Fedit.aspx%2FDocuments%2FEmma%255E4s%2520Notebook%3F33%3D%26cid%3D0e19abc984b45ac7%26id%3Ddocuments%26wd%3Dtarget%2528Companies%2520to%2520Pitch.one%257CA94E4AF2-CE9F-4C2C-8D42-A2FB48816DC2%252FBlogging%2520Stats%257C2ECE1D3E-FD0F-4F99-A7F0-B7A9913184C0%252F%2529%2520onenote%253Ahttps%253A%252F%252Fd.docs.live.net%252F0e19abc984b45ac7%252FDocuments%252FEmma%2527s%2520Notebook%252FCompanies%2520to%2520Pitch.one%2523Blogging%2520Stats%26section-id%3D%257BA94E4AF2-CE9F-4C2C-8D42-A2FB48816DC2%257D%26page-id%3D%257B2ECE1D3E-FD0F-4F99-A7F0-B7A9913184C0%257D%26object-id%3D%257B64709A8E-E6ED-494E-94B8-8B316FB531A5%257D&lc=1033&id=250206&cbcxt=sky&cbcxt=skyhttps://login.live.com/login.srf?wa=wsignin1.0&rpsnv=13&ct=1529364859&rver=6.7.6643.0&wp=MBI_SSL_SHARED&wreply=https:%2F%2Fonedrive.live.com%2Fedit.aspx%2FDocuments%2FEmma%255E4s%2520Notebook%3F33%3D%26cid%3D0e19abc984b45ac7%26id%3Ddocuments%26wd%3Dtarget%2528Companies%2520to%2520Pitch.one%257CA94E4AF2-CE9F-4C2C-8D42-A2FB48816DC2%252FBlogging%2520Stats%257C2ECE1D3E-FD0F-4F99-A7F0-B7A9913184C0%252F%2529%2520onenote%253Ahttps%253A%252F%252Fd.docs.live.net%252F0e19abc984b45ac7%252FDocuments%252FEmma%2527s%2520Notebook%252FCompanies%2520to%2520Pitch.one%2523Blogging%2520Stats%26section-id%3D%257BA94E4AF2-CE9F-4C2C-8D42-A2FB48816DC2%257D%26page-id%3D%257B2ECE1D3E-FD0F-4F99-A7F0-B7A9913184C0%257D%26object-id%3D%257B64709A8E-E6ED-494E-94B8-8B316FB531A5%257D&lc=1033&id=250206&cbcxt=sky&cbcxt=sky
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There’s no hard and fast rule for how often you should release videos. It depends on how you’re
using them. If your videos are part of
your sales funnel, you might create
8 or 10 and push them to potential
customers through email over a
period of weeks. If you create videos
for your blog, you might need one per
week.
But remember that they take
little longer than a blog to
produce, so you may want to
make several in advance.
Get help making videos: Get a quote today
How Often Should I
release videos
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How Often Should I
post to social media
/
Every social media platform has different
methods of sorting posts. Those algorithms
impact the lifespan of posts on the
platform. Generally, marketers talk about
the half-life of a post, the length of time it
takes for content to reach 50% of its total
lifetime engagement.
Twitter posts have the shortest half-life at
18 minutes. Pinterest has the longest with
a halflife of 3.5 months. In between you get Facebook at 30 min. Instagram at 19
hours. And YouTube at 6 days.
Learn more: What is the lifespan of social
media posts?
How often you post depends on how your
audience responds to your posts, but the
following are a good starting point.
Twitter: 5 times per day
Pinterest: 15 times per day
Facebook, Instagram: 1 time per day
LinkedIn: 1 time per workday (skip
Saturday and Sunday)
YouTube: 1 time per week
And remember, you don’t have to post
on all of these platforms. Pick the one or
two that are most popular with your target
audience and concentrate your efforts
there.
https://epipheo.com/contacthttps://moz.com/blog/when-is-my-tweets-prime-of-lifehttps://www.webpagefx.com/blog/social-media/why-pinterest-better-than-facebook-brands/http://www.wiselytics.com/blog/facebook-posts-lifetime-even-shorter-than-you-thought/https://get.simplymeasured.com/2014-q4-instagram-study.html#sm.0001obn9ioyh0e76s0w1tx8xg6bl7https://get.simplymeasured.com/2014-q4-instagram-study.html#sm.0001obn9ioyh0e76s0w1tx8xg6bl7https://www.geek.com/news/youtube-videos-get-50-of-their-views-in-6-days-1259829/
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How Do I Post on social media?/
Posting several times a week or even just once a day can get time
consuming. Fortunately, there are tools to help you.
Facebook has a built-in scheduling tool that allows you to plan your
posts weeks and months ahead of time.
Most other social media platforms haven’t bothered to add this
feature. But that’s not a problem since dozens of social media
management platforms exist that can be linked to your social accounts
for scheduling and analytics.
Some popular favorites include Hootsuite, Sprout Social, and Buffer. They offer
similar services at a range of price points and functionality levels. Explore and find the one that’s right for you.
A note of caution when scheduling posts: things change. Markets shake
up. Major tragedies happen. News breaks.
If something major is affecting your industry, it’s a good idea to take a look at your scheduled posts and make
sure they’re still on message before they go live.
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How Do I Organize
my content marketing efforts?
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It seems like a new content management tool pops up every day. Some are better than others for specific tasks, but ultimately it comes down to preference. Which tool you choose depends on what you need the most help with and the size of your budget.
HubSpot. Markets itself as all-in-one inbound marketing software. It allows you to plan, create, and track the performance of content across your website and social channels. There is a free version with limited functionality, but the paid versions offer a formidable suite of services that include blog and content creation tools, social media, email marketing, and more.
CoSchedule. A marketing calendar at heart. With drag and drop functionality and the ability to collaborate across teams, this calendar lets you plan blog and social content in one place. Paid plans range from individual to agency versions.
MailChimp. Designed for email marketing, MailChimp also helps you make weekly digests, segmented email lists, and RSS campaigns. A/B testing is built in. The free version has a lot of functionality but limits the number of subscribers and emails you can have per month.
Buffer. This popular social media management tool includes a social media calendar, analytics, and the ability to manage all your social media accounts from one dashboard. The free plan is fairly robust but lacks a calendar. It also limits you to three social accounts.
Trello. A robust project management tool, Trello works equally well when the project is your content. Trello helps you track where content is in the creation pipeline. And it’s free.
HUBSPOTCOSCHEDULEMAILCHIMPBUFFERTRELLO
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How Do I Track/ my results
Many of the tools
mentioned above
include some sort of analytics
reporting to help you track
how your content is doing.
Social media platforms like
Facebook and YouTube have
built-in analytics dashboards,
as do Hootsuite and Hubspot.
A few other tools can give you
even more insight into how
your content is performing.
Kissmetrics. Helps you
measure engagement, track
the effectiveness of different
marketing channels, and even
send emails based on user
behavior.
Whatever tools you use,
make sure you are tracking
your results. Using that
information, you can refine
your content marketing
strategy and boost your ROI.
Crazy Egg. This tool gives you
visual reports to track where
visitors go on your website,
what they click on, and how
they move through your site.
Google Analytics. This is the
go-to reporting system to help
you see how customers are
interacting with your content.
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/ By now you should have a better idea of what content marketing is and how you can use it to grow your business. When you’re ready to start developing quality videos for your content marketing strategy, contact us.
together
Putting It All