While many businesses are ‘on board’ when it comes to content marketing, there are still some common mistakes I see many marketers and business owners making.
Creating and promoting content can be time-consuming and costly, so you’ll want to make sure you’re doing it as effectively as possible.
Here are 5 common Content Marketing mistakes to avoid and the steps you can take to actively avoid them.
1. Writing Too Much About Your Product or Company.
Unfortunately, many business owners still think that business blogging means writing exclusively about their products and services. And while this can certainly be one part of your content marketing strategy, it’s certainly not what’s going to build connections and trust with your audience.
Instead, you should be focused on providing valuable information that solves problems and addresses key issues in your industry. It should be related to your business and products, however it also needs to be engaging, interesting to read and it should meet the needs of your readers.
2. Being Inconsistent With Your Posting Frequency.
If you’re handling your own content creation, it can be difficult to find the time to consistently be active on social media and to write blog posts and newsletters. The problem with this, however, is that being inconsistent may be conveying something to your customers that just isn’t true: that you just don’t care enough to be consistent.
For this reason, having a content calendar is imperative. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy; just a basic outline of when you’re going to create and publish your content. You’ll find that having this schedule will actually take a bit of the pressure off of you, and will ensure your readers and followers have a steady stream of useful content.
3. Having a One-Sided Conversation.
A good content strategy isn’t just about consistently publishing content, however. As we know, social media and blogging aren’t about you simply pushing a marketing message at your fans and readers.
Your job isn’t done once your content is ‘out there’; now it’s time to interact with your readers and social media followers. Be sure to respond to comments on your blog, ‘like’ comments on Facebook, and reply to mentions on Twitter.
Providing valuable content is a great first step, but it’s only the beginning of the dialogue.
4. Not Using Your Content to Achieve Your Business Goals.
I’m afraid that some business owners are running themselves ragged producing great content, without really understanding what they’re trying to accomplish. Content creation isn’t simply about providing valuable content. Yes, that’s a key piece of the marketing puzzle. However, to what end?
Your content should be a vehicle for forming relationships and trust with your readers, fans and followers. It’s what will keep them coming back to your site, and what will keep them engaged with you on social media.
And ultimately, it will be what convinces them to buy from you, rather than from the guy down the street who they have no previous relationship with.
5. Not Giving Your Readers What They Want and Need.
Even with the best of intentions, it’s possible that you’re not giving your readers what they want and need. While there may be issues and topics that you feel are important, does your community agree?
There are a number of ways you can find out what your website visitors, email subscribers and social media followers want:
- Send out a survey
- Ask for feedback in a blog post
- Look at your website and social media analytics to see what type of content has been popular in the past
- Monitor conversations on social media
- Check out what your competitors are doing
- Test different types of content
Content marketing is arguably the best way to form long-term, mutually beneficial relationships with potential customers and clients. However, keep in mind that it also requires careful planning, a commitment to being consistent, and the willingness to get to know what your community really wants.
And there you have it – 5 common Content Marketing mistakes to avoid!
Have you fallen into any of the traps above? What’s your biggest struggle when it comes to content marketing? Share with us below!
About Author
Same ehre.
Thanks, Roberto! Glad you enjoyed it.