Create Fireworks this Fourth of July with these Content Marketing Tips

In today’s digital age, effective content marketing is crucial. As web content becomes more and more readily available, people are expecting to receive what they want, when they want it. With this, however, comes a decreased patience for things they don’t want to see - like ads.

By the end of 2016, 615 million devices worldwide had ad-blocking software.

This is where content marketing has an advantage: it stimulates interest through online material while not explicitly presenting it as an advertisement. Statistics have shown that brands who effectively use content marketing to grab and hold the attention of readers experience 7.8 times more site traffic than their competitors.

Interested in using content marketing to your brand’s advantage? Team SI is here to help - take a look at these five content marketing tips we’ve put together to increase engagement with your users and, ultimately, drive higher conversion rates.

1. Make a company blog

Blogs are a great way to expand your online presence. With each new blog post comes a new opportunity for someone to interact with your business, whether it's through a search engine, a share on social media or a link on another site. To maximize your blog’s success, keep in mind the importance of posting frequently. In a 2015 survey, Hubspot found a strong correlation between frequency of blog posts and website traffic. Companies publishing 16 or more blogs per month got almost 3.5 times more traffic than those publishing zero to four posts per month. In addition, be sure to keep a consistent schedule for your posts. Consumers will be much more likely to engage with your business when they have an idea of when to expect new content.

2. Write meaningful content

A blog without meaningful, engaging content is like an opera house without an opera. No matter how well you’re keeping up with your posting schedule, if your readers have nothing valuable to take away from your posts, it’s a waste of time. So, what should you be writing about? The best bloggers are storytellers. Share your own experiences, from tips and resources that have come in handy, to lessons you’ve learned. Whatever your topic may be, make sure your readers will benefit from the content before you put it out there.

3. Understand your audience

“It’s better to have a much smaller audience that is targeted than a larger one that doesn’t convert.”- Neil Patel of Quicksprout

Instead of creating content for the masses in the hopes that it will resonate with someone, try to understand and target your primary audience. By doing so, not only can you pinpoint the exact questions your customers want answered, you can cultivate strong relationships in the process. When your customers trust your brand, they’re more inclined to buy your products, which ultimately leads to higher conversion rates.

4. Run email campaigns

With social media and blog content taking up much of the marketing limelight today, it’s easy to overlook a third important route of distribution: email. Before focusing all of your time and energy on the other two routes, consider some of the advantages of an email campaign. Firstly, unlike other channels, email newsletters are a direct line to your audience. This personal nature is beneficial in cultivating and improving relationships with your consumers, especially if you address your recipients individually. Additionally, while content on social media isn’t always warranted on your feed, with email, consumers have the ability to choose which businesses they want to hear from. If they don’t want to see it, they can unsubscribe. Show your customers they made the right choice in receiving your emails with clear, easy-to-read content, mobile optimization (as of June 2016, 53 percent of emails were opened on mobile devices), steady scheduling (no spamming) and easy access to an unsubscribe button should they choose to do so. If they do, you can always try to win them back.

5. Use rich images and videos

Rich media is everywhere. In a single day, over 7 billion videos are watched on Facebook and YouTube. Businesses around the globe are striving to contribute to this statistic, and for good reason - consumers want to see it. Take a look at some of these numbers:

- Four times as many consumers prefer to watch a video about a product over reading about it. Even further, 1 in 4 consumers lose interest in a company if it doesn’t have videos. (Source)

- In a study done by Buffer, tweets with images received 18 percent more clicks, 89 percent more favorites and 150 percent more retweets. (Source)

- From a sample of over 5,000 email campaigns, those with images had a 42 percent higher click-through rate than those without images. (Source)

- In a 2015 study, BuzzSumo found that Facebook posts with images had 2.3 times more engagement than those without. Looking at blog post engagement, they found that articles with an image once every 75-100 words got 2 times more shares than those with fewer images. (Source)

To keep up with today’s leading content marketers, clear, easy-to-read rich media is crucial. Not only do consumers want to see it, they’re scientifically proven to remember it. When people hear information, they only remember around 10 percent of it. However, add an image and they remember 65 percent.

For a successful, engaging content marketing strategy, try implementing some of these tips. Happy marketing, and happy Fourth!