With the web growing increasingly active through mobile and social media, marketers must assume the role of interactive publishers, creating high-value content that drives consumer engagement, a new report from Forrester Research suggests.
Brands need to use a variety of channels, including blogs, mobile apps, social networks and websites, to reach consumers with frequently published content. By maintaining extensive and consistent content marketing schedules, businesses will be able to develop strong, long-term relationships with their target audiences.
As MediaPost notes, today's consumers are spending more time consuming content – according to a study from Abitron and Edison Research, Americans devote one hour and 21 minutes more per day engaged in content than they did a decade ago.
“Through social media marketing, interactive marketers have learned that engaging advocates and detractors through social applications is the key to success,” Sean Corcoran, a Forrester analyst and author of the report, told MediaPost.
Moreover, content can fuel other marketing approaches as well. For example, websites frequently updated with new content will achieve higher search rankings, Corcoran explains. Indeed, earlier this month, Brafton covered a survey in which content marketing is cited as a top SEO strategy.
Relevancy is particularly important to mobile consumers. Brafton recently reported that while on-the-go individuals don't respond well to generic banner advertisements, targeted emails and text messages are effective ways of reaching them.
