Content marketing has been the key to growing websites and online businesses for years.
Unlike advertisements, content that is placed on authority domains remains online 'forever' and can continuously market a product and authoritatively position your brand.
While content marketing is important, it has to be effective to actually help the business.
For example, the Google search engine now looks for factors like bounce rates and the time spent on a page and site to see if the content is actually being read. Google is all about relevancy, and providing the best answers to consumers questions.
Because of this, companies have to make sure that they make engaging, shareable content.
How Is Content Marketing Changing?
Back in the day, marketers and webmasters could keyword stuff content and easily rank in the search engines.
But now, content has to provide value.
Businesses have to design content that resonates with their audience for the content to be shared. No matter what the content strategy is, it must be interesting and high-quality writing.
Google's main goal is to provide users with relevant search results.
The best way that they can do this is to see if the content is useful, is read and shared by visitors (back links are still a core ranking factor). If the page records viewers as leaving seconds after clicking on the link, Google may and will over time move the page lower in search engine rankings.
According to Forbes, companies are spending 15 percent of their marketing budget on content creation.
In today's competitive marketplace, content has to be relevant, engaging and useful.
Stop Churning Out Content
Are you flooding your audience with low quality content?
Too many companies churn out articles or blog posts without making sure that it is relevant and increases their customer engagement rates and sales. You need traffic, but also lead flow to attract the right customer, and sell to them.
The 'disruption' in today's marketplace is in the type of content used. Website content, downloads, tools, trials and videos can get customers engaged with your company. However, interactive content marketing takes this to the next level.
Creating high-interest in your visitors psyche at the first click has long term benefits.
It creates content that is interactive and gets customers immediately engaged. By the time the company shares their offer with the client, they have already developed a strong relationship based on trust and education.
The entire goal of content marketing should be to increase sales, and this can only be done through engaging and interactive content.
What Others Say
I asked a successful blogger about a potential "content marketing disruption" in the marketplace. Here's what he said:
"Interactive content is becoming more important as attention online becomes even shorter and harder to capture. I don't see it as a disruptor but as another vital tactic that will need to be implemented, tested and optimized as part of your content marketing strategy. Its role will be more about evolution of marketing as an art and a science rather than disruption." - Jeff Bullas, Blogger at Jeffbullas.com
It's another professional's viewpoint.
However, I believe that engagement assets (like quizzes and assessments) will gain a bigger foothold as gamification and the pervasiveness of apps and mobile devices continue to increase. It doesn't help that the average human attention span is...oh, look, a plane!
Business owners and CEO's need to create better engagement than simply a static form with a "whitepaper" download. This is especially true in B2B markets, where 'standards' need to be tested and challenged.
It's the delta between educational and entertaining content users want:
(From convinceandconvert.com)
Focus on the User Experience
Search engines want users to be engaged. In fact, the practice of professional SEO (search engine optimization) focuses on optimizing the entire user experience. It begins with strategic keyword research. (Example SEO strategy for the real estate industry)
The acronym CEO is familiar to us as an executive title. But, if used in a content strategy and development context, it becomes "Content Experience Optimization".
Get Better Traffic
Traffic from search and targeted advertising like Facebook ads must include a cohesive and relevant user experience from the top of funnel and into the back end.
Selling Products and Services
Your company needs users to be engaged to buy a product or service. Both of these goals can be met through an interactive experience. Every part of the journey from the content funnel to the purchasing decision is important.
Relevant content builds trust with the reader and increases brand awareness. As a result, you can funnel more customers into your business.
Build out a back-end funnel to serve the "No" buyers and you'll see big increases in sales.
Too many businesses toss out any content in the hope that it will resonate with the reader. By figuring out what your customers want and showing them interactive content, you can develop a brand that users trust. Developing personas is important to users and your brand alike.
Only when you understand what your audience wants can you create whitepapers, trials, quizzes and articles that funnel sales into your business.
Further reading:
Take an interactive content marketing assessment
Let's connect on Facebook. I want to hear your ideas!
Sources:
https://www.marketo.com/content-marketing/
http://www.forbes.com/sites/sujanpatel/2016/02/18/how-content-marketing-is-changing-everything-you-need-to-know/2/#67444ef24762
https://research.hubspot.com/reports/the-future-of-content-marketing#LINK2