Here’s your Content Marketing Weekly, featuring the latest news and trends in the world of content marketing. For this week’s lineup, we’ve got how to keep your video shining bright like a diamond, what you need to know about changes in SEO, how you can become an industry authority with your content and more.
6 SEO Trends That Will Influence Your Content Marketing
Via Forbes.com
Search engine optimization. It’s the term you know and love. And maybe hate, just a little bit. While SEO is the biggest factor in getting your content in front of the right audience, it also changes as often as the weather in Boston (which, if you didn’t know, is an awful lot).
If you want your content to be impactful, you’ve got to stay on top of the top SEO trends. Thankfully, this article from Forbes highlights some of the latest SEO changes you need to know about and how they will affect your content strategy.
For example, paid search tactics are giving organic traffic a run for its money … literally. While brands are increasingly putting more resources into pay-per-click methods, Forbes recommends sticking with tried-and-true organic. After all, it’s going to be more beneficial for your content marketing strategy in the long term.
Another SEO insight is the way in which users actually search. The search bar is taking on a whole new meaning with technologies such as Amazon’s Alexa and Google Home allowing people to simply ask what they are looking for. For marketers, knowing how to reach users on these new platforms and understanding what drives their search queries is going to be key to creating a strategy for the future.
The times they are a changin’, and how you get people to find your content needs to change, too. Read the rest here.
The Three Different Forms of Social Media Marketing (and How to Use Them)
Via neilpatel.com
Social media marketing is a catch-all term. When you look past the likes, retweets and shares, you find that there’s a whole lot more to it
In this article, KISSmetrics co-founder Neil Patel outlines the three main purposes of social media marketing: content creation, community management and growth.
Which raises the question: How are you using social media marketing for your brand? Maybe you’re focused on boosting traffic and providing value to users through content creation. Or perhaps you’re utilizing your networks to gain more followers and get your brand out in the social sphere. You may be using it to grow engagement and start conversations with users.
Whatever the aim, Patel offers up his advice on how to ensure you’re reaching your goals through each of the three purposes. He also provides expert insight as well as real-world examples of how your brand can capture social success. Check out his tips.
Stop the Marketing Killjoy: 5 Ways You’re Turning off Audiences with Bad Video
Via toprankblog.com
When done correctly, videos are meant to evoke the right emotion. When done incorrectly, viewers can be left feeling the wrong emotion, at which point your brand risks losing them entirely.
So how can you keep them engaged and experiencing the emotion that helps your company? In this article from Top Rank Blog, Amy Higgins features insights from video guru Tim Washer (both pictured above) on how to ensure your video marketing strategy is done the right way.
- Keep the number of approvals low: Of course you need a round of approvals before launching a video. But think about limiting the number of people who need to sign off on it. Include the most important stakeholders, but keep it small – this way, the creative aspect of the video won’t be overshadowed.
- Let viewers think for themselves: Give your video viewers a little bit of credit. They don’t need an explanation for every single thing. So keep the obvious details out, or else you risk boring your audience.
- It’s not all about you: Sure, it’s your video and it’s about your business, but that doesn’t mean you should constantly talk about yourself. Focus on answering your viewers’ questions and problems if you want your video to resonate with them.
- Be a good storyteller: Content is all about great storytelling, and nowhere is that more true than with video. To keep viewers engaged, make sure you’re clearly outlining each point and not jumping ahead too fast.
- Cool it with the overkill: You shouldn’t have to tell your audience that your company is awesome. They should be able to get that from your video. Watch out for overuse of superlatives.
Read all the details to charge up your video marketing strategy.
Tips to Become an Authority Through Content Marketing
As South Park’s Cartman frequently said, “Respect my authoritah!” Well, it’s probably not the best idea to take advice from an elementary school student who stuffs himself full of Cheesy Poofs and comes up with devious plots with his friends, but to each their own.
What you can do is take the advice from this Small Business Trends article that provides guidance on how to make your brand an authority through effective use of content marketing. Users look for companies that have not only the answers they are searching for but the expertise to back it up. This is why you need to make your business an authority within your sphere, or else you risk losing potential customers.
But how can you do that? As Small Business Trends points out, you’ve first got to narrow down your expertise to a specific aspect or topic. From there, you can build out your subject matter to include a larger range of subjects to master. However, authoritative content is not all in the topic. You also need to pay attention to how you are promoting your pieces, how much time you put into them and how you can differentiate yourself from others in your industry.
To get the lowdown on becoming the biggest and baddest authority around, check out the rest of the article.
That’s it for this week. Come back next Friday for the latest round of everything new and trending in content marketing.
