Content marketing, in its very essence, has one core objective - to
engage and retain a clearly defined segment(s) of the market which would
ultimately translate into a desired customer action. Be it brand
awareness or lead generation. But quite often, businesses invest
considerably into content that speaks about the products and services
that are being offered to the market. Simply put, the content and
editorial pieces revolve around the offerings and fail to touch upon the
most important aspect of a good content strategy - the Audience. Your
product may be great for you, but how does it translate for your
customer and are you saying it in their language?
It's well worth
your time and resources in identifying a clear, relevant and profitable
segment of the market that you want to reach and then learn their
language to communicate effectively. Let's look at some of the critical
aspects of a successful audience engagement.
1. Identify your audience:
Who
is your business catering to? Where are they looking for solutions?
What inspires them? What are their values, lifestyle patterns and
attitudes? These basic questions need to be answered for your business
to be able to define its target audience clearly. Understand your
audience - their demographic characteristics, geographical location,
psychographic patterns, buying behaviour, tastes and preferences and
spending patterns. In a nutshell, you need to articulate the buyer
persona of your target audience. The more you know about your audience,
the better you will be able to create impact and meaningful content that
will engage them.
2. Know how they consume information:
Understanding
how your audience consumes media and content is crucial to creating an
effective content marketing strategy. Your business needs to know which
channels are used most regularly by your customers to gain information,
and which platforms they use to interact with each other and other
brands. Several digital sharing platforms and forums are available today
as a means of media consumption; however, not all of them may be
relevant to your audience. It is a key aspect of your content marketing
plan to identify the platforms most often used by your audience, so that
you can make your content available on those platforms.
3. Post the right kind of content:
Easier
said than done! If you have understood and analyzed your target
audience well, and have a good hold on the nuances of your market
segments, you can easily devise content topics that will keep them
engaged and interested in your brand. One of the characteristics of a
poorly constructed content plan is posting dull, repetitive and
uninteresting content. What you want to communicate may be essential,
but if it does not touch your audience, it does not serve any purpose.
Provide your audience with content that adds value to them and enriches
their knowledge so they look upon you as a go-to person for their
information needs.
4. Speak in an audience-friendly language:
You
may have a comprehensive content plan that has identified the right
audience and the right mediums to reach the said audience. Yet, there is
a possibility that your content fails to create the desired impact.
This could be attributed to improper use of language. Understand if your
potential customer consumes content in a formal or informal manner.
Whether they prefer simple sentence construction or desire something
more complex. What is internally accepted in your company as a common
term may not be familiar words for your prospects. In general it is best
to avoid using too many technical terms or jargon's. Simple and
effective communication usually works best across multiple user groups.
5. Use the right formats:
In
addition to language, the format of content is also vital. Your
audience may prefer content in different formats - text pieces, blogs
and blurbs, info-graphics, images, video and rich media, and even audio.
Furthermore, you can post content in a mix of formats; it is always
good to present a multi-faceted image to your audience. Interactive
media and formats work well too, since your today's audience likes to be
involved in a conversation rather than listening to monologues.
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