In an age that’s heavily focused on digital, content is still one of the most important elements of a marketing strategy. Our content expert Vicky explains why.
Audiences are being served more content than ever before. From Facebook videos and Instagram stories to the rise of TikTok, UG tutorials and everything in between — the content overload is real.
While some businesses have put all their eggs in one digital basket, straight-up written (typed) content marketing is that vital human-to-human interaction that’s setting high performing businesses apart from the rest.
But this doesn’t mean churning out content for content’s sake. That simply won’t cut it in 2020. Today’s content is all about relevance. It needs to bring your brand’s personality to life while engaging with your audience in a way that adds value and gains trust. Sound like hard work? It may not be the easiest of tasks, but the pay-offs of generating relevant content are huge. Here’s why.
You’ll improve your SERPs performance
With search engines like Google making the move from human-coded algorithms to AI, relevant content has never been more important for organic search rankings. Once a user has clicked on your search engine result, they’ll know fairly soon whether your page contains the content they’re looking for. Although this all takes place in a matter of seconds, a high bounce rate will continue to affect your overall search engine performance over time. The solution is to keep your content current, consistent and relevant.
You’ll enhance your SEO
Although search engines take into consideration a ton of factors (including your site’s URL, page structure, speed and mobile-friendliness), when it comes to website visibility, relevant content is still one of the most important elements of your SEO strategy. Giving your audience what they want will drive more leads (clicks) to your site – and if your site’s content is relevant, search engines will recognise this and boost your rankings and drive traffic more traffic to your site.
You’ll enhance engagement
Creating relevant content won’t just get you brownie points with Google. Serving your audience content that’s relevant, valuable and relatable means you're more likely to attract — and retain — your audience. This, in turn, can lead to enhanced leads, more conversions, and some serious ROI.
You’ll become an industry leader
Serving relevant content isn’t just about pleasing Google and your audience – It’s also your chance to show that you really do know your stuff. By positioning your brand as the expert in its field (serving content that’s unique, insightful, relevant and engaging), you’ll gain authority, build trust and enhance your audience’s purchasing decisions.
So far so insightful, but how can you make sure that the content you’re creating is relevant? Here are five rules to stick to.
1. Set the tone
The tone of voice, that is. It’s often overlooked but it’s vital for making your brand distinctive and memorable. It should reflect who you are and how you sound — so every piece of content you create should sound distinctly like you. Your tone of voice should reflect your brand’s core values and give you the chance to express your personality through words – whatever the subject or channel.
2. Be consistent
Once you've established how your brand should sound, you need to make sure your brand message is consistent. This includes a consistent style and tone across all media channels. Deliver what your customers are expecting – and stick to it. Randomly changing any of these elements can seriously harm authenticity, engagement and your overall campaign results.
3. Less is more
Though it’s always a good idea to have plenty of quality content, quality is the keyword here. Make every piece of content count — and avoid creating content for content’s sake. Low-value content can have an overall negative impact on your campaign — so make sure that every piece you create has value — for you and your audience.
4. Know your audience
Understanding what your audience wants is crucial to keeping your audience engaged. Creating content that addresses your niche’s needs, wants and whys won’t just help you grab your audience’s attention but will also help you keep it. Content that resonates with your audience is also more likely to attract interaction and social sharing – which will, in turn, extend your outreach and potential market share.
5. Personalise
Audiences have never been served so much content — which is why it’s never been more important to make it personal. Posting your own research, quotes and experiences won’t just help you gain authority in your field — but will also make your content stand out from the crowd. With so many online brands competing for audiences, personalised content could be the difference between a customer loyally doing business with you — or clicking to a competitor.
To sum it all up, making sure you have the right tone, message and content for your brand has never been more important. We’re already helping both national and international brands to find their voice, understand their audiences’ content needs, and deliver the strategies that get results. Need some help with your brand message? Drop us a line to see how we can make your business stand apart from the rest.
