The Periodic Table of elements in Content Marketing

The Periodic Table of Elements, created by Dmitri Mendeleev, is probably the most famous and infographic in history. Since it was published in 1869, the Table of Elements has been a feature of science labs and classrooms in schools all over the world. We’ve grown up with it, but only recently has this infographic taken on a new lease of life.

The convergence of the world wide web, digital marketing channels and the trend towards graphical representations of information, marketing people have been compiling their own periodic tables of elements.

The most recent famous one of these, and perhaps the best, is the Periodic Table of Content Marketing.

NB: All links in the article open in a new window.

Surprisingly, nobody has yet created a periodic table for content marketing, so I thought I’d have a go.

Before I introduce it, allow me to doff my hat at Dmitri Mendeleev, who first published the periodic table of elements. I’ll also nod in the direction of Danny Sullivan, who created one based around SEO success factors.

Let me also say that I hope that this is helpful, as the world is awash with dubious infographics and I really didn’t want to produce something just for the sake of it.

The usual caveats apply: there will be obvious omissions, possibly duplicated symbols, and other schoolboy errors. I shall fix these things in a future iteration, so please raise a flag if you spot anything.

Ok then, let’s take a look at the table, and I’ll explain my thinking along the way…

How to use the Periodic Table of Content Marketing

If you click the image a large screenshot should appear. I hope it is all reasonably self-explanatory. There are eight areas that I have focused on, as follows:

Strategy

The fundamental key to success. Planning and focus is essential. You need a clear strategy, mapped to your long-term business goals. If you don’t have one and need some outside guidance then we can help. We also have a very useful best practice guide on content strategy.

Format

Content comes in many different shapes and sizes. Note that you can use multiple formats for a single piece of content. Slice and dice! Right now, I’m writing a blog post to support a visualisation. Maybe I’ll produce a video or slideshow too.

Content Type

These are based on the common types of content that work well for our business. Many of them will work well for your brand too. Sometimes you’ll use multiple content types for a single piece of content. You could file this periodic table under a few different types.

Platform

These are content distribution platforms. You might own some of these (e.g. #59, your website). Others are social sites (your own, your network, third parties). All of these help spread the word about your content.

Metrics

These help you to measure the performance of your content. For the purposes of brevity, I have largely grouped these metrics together (e.g. ‘acquisition metrics’).

Goals

All content should support your primary business goals, whether that’s to generate lots of traffic, or to sell more, or to increase brand awareness. Laser-guided content will tick a few of these boxes.

Sharing Triggers

This is largely inspired by Unruly Media’s triggers for sharing content. Think about the emotional drivers behind sharing, and make sure the content you create makes people feel something.

Checklist

I will probably edit this post at least 10 times after publishing it, and no doubt the periodic table will need a tweak here or there. Errors need to be fixed, and all content should be properly optimised (for search, for social, and to support your business goals). Be diligent!

Here’s the embed code, should you wish to add this to your site:

The Periodic Table of Content Marketing, by Chris Lake.

<img src=’https://assets.econsultancy.com/images/0004/5832/The_Periodic_Table_of_Content_Marketing.png’ alt=’The Periodic Table of Content Marketing’ width=’615′ border=’0′ />

A few footnotes…

• I have largely numbered the table vertically, rather than horizontally, as it makes more sense to me to do it that way.
• There may be a little duplication here and there. Forgive me.
• I haven’t included certain things, such as podcasts, pretty much because I don’t use them. They may be valuable for your business, so by all means add them (I’ve left a little space here and there).
• I have included the likes of Hacker News because they appeal to our business. You may have your own alternatives.
• Some elements could live in multiple categories.
• I designed this in Excel the day after a wine tasting event, so it is a little bit lo-fi. If there is any demand for wall charts or mouse mats then I shall hire a designer to polish it up.

Anyway, I hope this is useful. Please leave your comments below or nudge me on Twitter to let me know what I’ve missed, or if there are any errors.

5 Step Of Content Marketing

1. Planning & researching your topic:

–          Use Google keyword planner to find relevant keyword phrases that people are searching for to use in your post.

–          Search Twitter for popular topics related to your keyword and pay attention to the ones getting the most retweets and favorites.

–          Do a quick Google search to see other pages that are ranking for that keyword.

–          Create a list of major points you want to get across in your post.

2. Writing your content:

–          Don’t let paragraph get too long – they should break up every 2-3 lines or roughly every 300 words of text.

–          Try to include an image for every 300 words of text.

–          Use sub headers to segment section and break up your article for easy reading or scanning

–          Create a compelling headline (ideal length: 55 characters)

–          Make use of bullets and lists where applicable

–          Link to other valuable resources in your article (webpages or your other blog posts) where relevant

–          Spell check!

3. Optimizing your content for research:

–          Aim of 1000-1500 words for a blog post – that is the Google ‘Sweet Spot’ for SEO based on research from serpIQ.

–          Place your SEO keyword into your blog title.

–          Include your SEO keyword in at least one H2 header.

–          Place your SEO keyword at the very beginning of your title and H2 header for optimal results.

4. Make it shareable:

–          Create a custom graphic that shows the title of your blog in an attractive way to increase shares on Pinterest and other networks.

–          Use click to tweet to include tweetable quotes and start throughout your blog

–          Create or update an infographic relevant to your chosen topic and include it in your post

–          Include slideshare presentations or a video

5. Promote your content:

–          Send an update to your email list with a link to your blog post.

–          Share your blog post on Facebook and make sure your image is optimized to look good in Facebook link preview for optimal click-through rates

–          Share on Twitter and include your custom title graphic

–          Share on Pinterest using the custom title graphic

–          Pin to relevant shared Pinterest boards to increase exposure

–          Share your blog post as a status update on LinkedIn on your personal profile and your LinkedIn company page

–          Share in relevant LinkedIn groups by creating a discussion around your topic and including the link as a reference

–          Share your post to Google+ to your personal profile and company profile

–          Find niche Facebook groups and Google+ communities to share your post by creating a discussion about it

–          Consider using Facebook ads or LinkedIn sponsored updates to run targeted ads to promote your content

–          Use a social sharing plugin like Digg or Flare that allows for easy social sharing directly from your blog.

–          Consider more niche places to post such as reddit but be aware of the etiquette of each site’s community before posting.

A Visual Content Marketing Campaign

If you are struggling to get results from all your content marketing efforts or would like to generate a stream of targeted traffic that converts, then you should power up and take your content marketing campaign to the next level

Using Visuals:

Visual content marketing can be the rockstar in your overall digital marketing campaign and you can find out 12 reasons why you should with this next installment from digital marketing Philippines.

1. Visual content helps grab targeted audience’ attention:

You wouldn’t believe just how much information there is right now.

–          1.5 billion individual units of content

–          2 million videos are uploaded each day

–          140 million tweets generated every single day

With such daily volume of information, business owners and digital marketers need to do everything they can grab their targeted audiences’ attention to their online content.

2. Visual Content can be processed faster by the human brain:

The human brain can only process a very limited amount of information at any given time, and data that can be processed much faster than the rest will take precedence in grabbing a person’s attention.

–          Visuals and images make for better content compared to lines and blocks of text

–          According to one research, the brain processes visual information 60,000 times faster than the time it takes for the brain to decode text.

3. Visual Content makes up 93% of all human communication

–          93% of all human communication are practically non-verbal

–          90% of information that enters the brain is practically non-verbal

–          70% of all sensory receptors humans have been all concentrated in a person’s eye

The brain will then process up to 50% of information received by these visual receptors.

Text and graphics if used alone may be imperfect forms of communication so combining visual elements with well-written text can be your ticket for capturing the imagination and attention of your targeted audiences.

4. Visual content generates more views for your posts:

–          Generate up to 94% more views if you add compelling visual elements and graphics

–          14% more views can be generated by press releases if they contain photos when purchased

–          Views can jump up to 48% if they contain both photos and videos

5. Visual content that goes viral can bring tons of inbound links:

–          Tools for visual content marketing like infographics, memes, posters, and the like can go viral if people will like the content well enough to share it within their own online communities and social networks.

–          However, should contain your logos, page or website information so recipients will know where the materials originally come from.

–          Visual content must be syndicated in a form that is clickable – which will bring tons of inbound links back to you.

–          High-quality and relevant inbound links can boost your rankings in search results so make sure the content is tagged with appropriate meta information and text descriptions.

–          Visual that go viral can boost your branding, giving you more probability of being contacted for business by up to 60% of targeted audiences

6. Visual content helps you increase your subscriber and followers

–          Good and compelling visual content can generate more like, comments and shares than updates that contain only texts and words.

–          37% increase in engagements from targeted customers if the article is optimized by adding more compelling visual elements.

7. Visual content is more understandable

–          By adding visual element that can explain what the page is trying to say, targeted audiences can better understand or appreciate your brand’s message.

–          With detailed images, get the attention of up to 67% of your targeted audiences.

–          With visual elements, your audiences are initiated to take action.

8. Visual content can influence human emotions:

–          The result of the psychology of colors which describes how certain colors and color combination generate a particular type of emotion from a particular viewer.

–          It can also influence how a particular viewer will take action – such as influencing their purchasing decisions.

9. Visual content solicits targeted users’ action much more effectively

–          40% of users online will provide better and more favorable responses to a particular visual content than other plain and text-based content.

10. Visual content in video form is more preferred

–          85% of internet users in the united states watch online videos

–          Average of 4 hours of mobile video from their devices

–          26% of these smartphone users watch online video at least once per day

–          25 million smartphone users around the world

11. Visual content generates more social engagement:

–          Use of visual content in Facebook campaigns, generates 65% more engagement just after a month practice

12. Visual Contents make targeted online visitors stay longer:

–          With good and compelling visual content, websites tend to stay longer, long enough for them to consume more and understand the message your content is trying to deliver.

20 Off-Page SEO Strategies to Build Your Online Reputation

A Brief History of Content Marketing

For a years brands telling stories to attract & retain customers. Here are a few examples….

4200 B.C :

One of the first signs of custom publishing found in cave paintings

• Loosely translated to “ 6 ways a spear can save you from a wild boar.

1895 :

John Deere launches customer magazine

• The Furrow launches in 1895 and now has a 1.5 million circulation in 40 countries and 12 different languages.

1900 :

Michelin develops The Michelin Guides

• 400-page guide, now with its iconic red cover, helps drivers maintain their cars and find decent lodging.

1904 :

The Jell-O Recipe book pays Off

• Jell-O distributes free copies of a recipe book that contributes to sales of over $1 million by 1906.

1913 :

Burns & McDonnell Engineering Launch benchmark

• Kansas city engineering and consulting firm, burns & McDonnell, launches Benchmark Magagine (still produced today).

1922 :

Sears launches world’s largest store radio program

• The station helped keep farmers informed during the defining crisis with content supplied by the Sears’ Roebuck Agricultural Foundation.

1930 :

P&G begins foray into radio soap operas with brands such as Duz & Oxydol- hence the “Soap Opera.”

1982 :

Hasbro partners with Marvel to create G. I. Joe comic book- leads to a revolution in Toy Marketing.

• The comic book series launches in 1982. Spurring the G.I.Joe pop culture phenomenon. It was the first comic book ever advertised on TV and later led to a cartoon series.

1985 :

UK  Sees boom in the customer magazine market.

1987 :

LEGO launches Brick Kicks magazine

1996 :

Placeware, a spin-off of Xerox’s PARC laboratory, starts offering web conferencing services.

1998 :

Custom publishing council is born

2001 :

• Spend on custom content nears $ 20 billion
• Penton custom media, in Cleveland, ohio, begins use of term “ Content Marketing”

2004 :           

• Sherwin Williams launches STIR magazine for commercial interior designers and architects
• Microsoft launches first major corporate blog, channel 9

2005 :

Live Vault’s John Cleese Video Goes Viral

• Video targeting IT managers has over 2,50,000 downloads in a few months (this is before YouTube).

2006 :

Global Brands Nike $ Apple partner to create a product map runs and track progress.

2007 :

• Red Bull launches Red Bulletin magazine
• Blendtec uploads first video on YouTube through the series will it Blend?
  • Over 6 million views and 385 thousand subscribers. Leads to 700% growth in revenue.

2008 :

P&G launches BeingGirl.com

•  P&G’s content site for teen girls found to be four times more effective than traditional advertising by Forrest.
•  Get Content, Get customer, the handbook for content marketing is released.
•  American express launches OPEN forum
• Now key resources for small business, pages views grow 23x in just 2 years

2010 :

Content Marketing Institute (CMI) is born.

• 25% of marketing Budgets spend on content marketing, 88% of all brands use content marketing.
• Content marketing spend in the UK nears 1 billion pounds.
• Content marketing books flood In

For more knowledge: Generate B2B leads using content marketing

2011 :

Chief Content officer magazine

• CMI launches chief content officer magazine in print and digital.

Coca-Cola Release Content 2020

• The Coca-Cola content 2020 marketing plan focuses on branded storytelling at the center of all Coca-Cola marketing.

Content marketing world

• September 2011 content marketing world is born.

At all the stages of content marketing age, it came with new innovative ideas and practices which reduce the chances of failure in Content marketing. It creates a new world of marketing the product or services.

Content Marketing

Because She Said So: 13 Content Marketing Lessons From Your Mother

“You’re right, Ma.” – Dorothy

“Of course I am! You think I got this old by being stupid?” – Sophia

Maybe you grew up watching The Golden Girls (or reruns) and can hear those voices in your head. Maybe you’ve never heard of Sophia and Dorothy, the sitcom mother-daughter duo who traded retorts like nerds trade Magic: The Gathering cards — that is, with unholy glee.

Either way, if you know anything at all about mothers, it’s that they’re always right. Always.

So many of the lessons our mothers teach us are universal and applicable to nearly every situation, including marketing. Here are 13 things your mom likely said, with practical ways to apply her sage advice to your content marketing:

1. “You’re Wearing That?”

What she meant: “Do you really think that’s appropriate?”

The lesson for content marketers: What visual impression are you leaving on your readers? Is it the impression you want them to have — that you’re sloppy or inappropriate? Appearances matter. Design matters. Consistency matters. If you can’t afford a graphic designer, use website templates to make sure that your work looks professional. Consider SquareSpace, Weebly or StudioPress. Use stock photography that’s stylistically consistent, or commission work from a single individual.

2. “If You Keep Making That Face, It’ll Freeze That Way.”

What she meant: “Stop doing that before you get used to it.”

The lesson for content marketers: Bad habits are easy to form and hard to break — especially the habit of negativity. Do you shoot down new ideas from younger, less experienced writers? When you write, do you find original angles to contribute to the conversation, or do you tend write only when you’re criticizing the work of others? Unless you have the wit of Mark Twain, crankiness is not an asset. Solicit the honest feedback of honest colleagues. Ask them to tell you if your writing has an approachable tone or an ugly one.

3. “I Didn’t Raise You Like That.”

What she meant: “What you’re doing is not a reflection of your training or my values.”

The lesson for content marketers: Your content marketing should match your brand’s core values 100% of the time. While there can be a range of specific tactics and executions, they should work in harmony. No jarring notes. All it takes is one rogue article — one social media blunder — that doesn’t match your brand’s values to get the kind of attention you don’t want.

4. “Sit Still!”

What she meant: “Your squirming around makes my job harder.”

The lesson for content marketers: When your brand’s content has an inconsistent tone, you’re making things harder for your readers. In fact, regular readers should be able to recognize your brand’s content based on its unique, consistent tone. For example, a New Yorker article does not read like a Southern Living article — not because one type of content is inherently better than the other, but because a consistent tone has been developed for each audience.

If you’re writing copy for a brand without a consistent tone, make it a priority to remedy this. (Distilled has a great Brand Tone of Voice guide to get you started.) And if you’re writing copy for a brand whose tone isn’t your natural style, don’t get squirmy and stray too far from it!

5. “I Brought You Into This World, And I Can Take You Out Of It.”

What she meant: “I am the reason you exist.”

The lesson for content marketers: Your content marketing should focus on the needs of your customer — not the features of your product or service. Your customers are the entire reason that you’re in business, and you must respect that. The most successful content marketing campaigns — the ones that lead to initial sales and long-term customer loyalty — are the ones that help customers understand how you’re solving their problems.

6. “Find Something To Do Or I Will Find You Something To Do.”

What she meant: “Don’t complain about being bored. There is always something that needs to be done.”

The lesson for content marketers: Is it possible to write everything you could possibly write about a particular brand, industry or topic? Some days, it may feel like it. You may be beyond bored by your own content. If you are, don’t you think your readers will be, too? Don’t whine about writer’s block or boredom. Instead, figure out your writing triggers – the things that always spark an idea. Then, go trigger them!

7. “What Do You Mean Your Project Is Due Tomorrow?”

What she meant: “You should be more responsible.”

The lesson for content marketers: Deadlines are a boon and a bane to writers. They’re a boon because they force action. When a deadline approaches, you have no choice but to work. It can be invigorating.

But, if you procrastinate unnecessarily, a deadline can cause you nothing but anxiety. No matter how glamorous the pell-mell rush of a newsroom can seem, the truth is, we do our best work when we’re rested, recharged and — most of all — prepared. Take responsibility for your deadlines. Meet them. There’s no mother there to finish your science fair project for you.

8. “Just Wait Until Your Father Gets Home.”

What she meant: “There are more consequences for what you’ve done.”

The lesson for content marketers: How many times did you hear this from your mother and hope that she would forget? Or pray that your father wouldn’t care as much as she did? When we make mistakes, our instinct is to hide whatever we can and minimize what we can’t. And yet, as consumers ourselves, it makes us feel good to be benevolent and forgive. Perhaps that’s why we find full confessions from younger brands refreshing.

Consider Groove, whose CEO admitted that his team was inexcusably unaware about a server outage for 12 hours — and that the absent-minded oversight will cost his company in ways he can’t even calculate yet. If a confession will do you more good than a coverup, then by all mean, confess. When it’s not in your power to control that, can you at least take steps to prevent a social media crisis?

9. “If All Your Friends Jumped Off A Bridge, Would You?”

What she meant: “Use your brain.”

The lesson for content marketers: Trends in marketing come and go. But just because “everyone else says” your business needs to, say, churn out infographics doesn’t mean it’s true. Do your research. Be selective. Most of all, think about what kinds of content will help you achieve your goals.

10. “I’m Not Asking, I’m Telling.”

What she meant: “This is conversation is not a negotiation.”

The lesson for content marketers: Sometimes your content will reach an implacable audience — or worse, an audience determined to think and speak the very worst of you. They’re not reasonable. They’re not logical. They’re — quite frankly — not your audience. Do not negotiate. Do not engage. Do not feed the trolls.

11. “Talking To You Is Like Talking To A Brick Wall.”

What she meant: “I have no idea what you’re thinking.”

The lesson for content marketers: The rise of the Internet made it easier for companies to connect with customers all the time, in places they could never reach them like home or work. Simultaneously, brands that customers once engaged with in person — perhaps at a brick-and-mortar store — no longer had a “face.” Many more brands are 100% online-only.

Keep customers from feeling like they’re talking to a brick wall with humanized content. If you’re writing for a company blog, are you offering behind-the-scenes photos or stories that reveal the people who make up your business? Do your social media marketers understand how topersonalize their posts? Help customers understand what you’re thinking by being as personable as possible whenever possible.

12. “Don’t Make Me Tell You Again.”

What she meant: “I should not have to repeat myself.”

The lesson for content marketers: You have two to three seconds to attract a customer if your medium is a billboard. Imagine if all of your content marketing received that scant amount of attention. The truth is, it probably already does. If your headline doesn’t draw in your readers, the next 1,700 words never will. Your content should be clear and easy to remember. Your audience likely won’t re-read it. You won’t get a chance to repeat yourself.

13. “One Day, You’ll Thank Me.”

What she meant: “This will do you good. Also, please thank me one day when you realize that.”

The lesson for content marketers: Gratitude is something that we all like to receive, but so often forget to give. How many times in the past 90 days have you thanked your customers? Have you ever communicated with your customers for no reason other than to express gratitude? Holiday cards don’t count. If the answer is zero, then you know exact which piece of your mother’s advice to take next.

5 Steps To An Integrated Approach To SEO-Friendly Content Marketing

The content explosion and the search engines’ shift toward meaning-based content in 2013 has led to a tipping of the scales in the opposite direction from where Search Engine Optimization (SEO) was before Panda and Penguin.

Gone are the days of black hat practices like keyword stuffing and paid linking schemes that resulted in a bad user experience and little focus on content quality.

While the increased focus on quality has created a better user experience, now the challenge of the marketer is to integrate SEO best practices into the content creation process.

User-friendly content must also be easy to find, and that means including SEO in every step of the process.

Because investments in content are growing at a record pace, the pressure for online marketers to show increased returns are heightened. And with organic search as a leading source of traffic for many marketers, streamlining the content creation process while optimizing for search is a business necessity.

In other words, the content must be optimized for the user as well as the search engines before it is even published.

The Integrated Approach To SEO

The integration of search engine needs and user needs means that the SEO has to be involved at every step of the content creation process. Here’s how SEO-focused thinking can be applied to the primary steps of content creation:

1. Understand User Needs & Behavior

How do users search for the type of content you offer, and in what volume?

Keyword research early on in the process will help focus content creation efforts, preventing the wasted effort of creating content for low-volume keywords. Keyword research hits the sweet spot in your content creation efforts by finding the balance between users’ product-related needs, the product offerings, and how users actually search the web.

As you think about keywords, consider the impact of Google Hummingbird and how Google is getting even better at semantic search. This can be a huge opportunity if you put yourself in your users’ shoes and understand how they actually search – think conversational search!

2. Write Optimized Content

Many writers are aware of SEO best practices such as keyword density and headline optimization. From our experience working with enterprise content teams, we understand that content writers are generally motivated to optimize their content for organic search.

If the SEO team empowers writers with the skills and tools to keep SEO best practices in mind, content will be search engine friendly right out of the gate.

For example, one of the largest online travel companies commits resources to training content writers on how to optimize content for search as they write. Writers are educated on the value of organic search and the positive business impact of ranking in search engines, as illustrated through historical performance of their sites. Content writers are also trained to edit titles, header tags, meta tags, image tags and the page URL, among other on-page optimizations.

When SEO tools are seamlessly embedded in the content writing workflow, SEO is not seen as an obstacle, but integral to the process of publishing quality search-engine friendly content.

3.  Optimize Technical SEO Elements

Enabling writers to make content inherently search friendly is a huge leap toward making content ready for search. This also helps the SEO team scale.

However, there are some technical SEO tasks that writers may not be equipped to handle. The SEO team needs to take the baton and review pages before publishing to ensure consistency between the content, keywords and the technical elements of each page.

This step is not just about optimizing the on-page elements. The critical part of this step is to define a process that ensures a smooth hand-off from the content writers to the SEO team (or a process which allows parallel writing and optimizing on-page elements).

Regardless of how you choose to manage these two steps, be sure to document and communicate this across the SEO and content teams.

4. Publish & Promote

The two primary SEO elements involved in publishing and promotion are linking and social engagement.

Are the linking sites relevant to both the content and the keywords that content is being optimized for? Look at the internal links, both inbound and outbound, to make sure they are linked to the relevant pages. Also look at your competitors’ link profiles for pages similar to yours. Who links to their pages and what is their authority?

When looking at backlinks, set tasks around the opportunities and the competitor tactics you have identified. The benefit of backlink analysis and activity accrues over a longer period of time, so it’s important to follow up periodically after content is published.

As for social engagement, are keywords being reinforced in social promotion? What is the social media traction for your competitors’ pages? Does it correlate with their rank? Given the volatile nature of trending topics on social media, it’s also important to  consistently analyze current trends and incorporate relevant messages into your content.

Don’t force these topics in your social sharing — instead, let these questions guide your actions:

1. What’s trending in social media that is relevant to your content?
2. What semantics are used to describe these topics?
3. Are these adjacent to the keywords that the content is optimized for? If yes, you are in a good place to share relevant content that is trending in social media.

Feeding America followed such a process to drive 2.5X traffic growth from Twitter.

Again, the success in this phase largely depends on how you map the workflow between the SEO, social and link building team/team members.

5. Measure SEO & Business Performance

Measuring content performance takes all your investment in technology, content, SEO, link building and social media to its logical end.

Once the content is published, you need to carefully track it against business outcomes. How well do the pages rank? Is the conversion rate within your target range? Is new content cannibalizing existing content? How are related groups of new pages performing?

Track not only overall traffic from organic search but business performance of pages based on their rank and estimated keyword volume. Examine competitive strategies for competing content. What can be learned from actual performance that can be applied to future SEO and content creation efforts?

Secure Search & Content

Steps 2 through 5 are a practical implementation of page-based SEO, which I have been a huge proponent of, particularly since the move to 100% Secure Search.

The loss of keyword referral data forces us to look at SEO from a page-based view reinforcing the position that a focus on content is what truly matters. Keywords still are core to SEO, but SEO is not exclusively about keywords, and the use of keyword data has changed.

For a more detailed description of Page-based SEO and how it is all the more important in a Secure Search world, my article, Secure Search & SEO Methodology: Key Strategies & Enablers, shares more detail.

Conclusion

A true content-centric content strategy is also SEO-centric. SEO thinking needs to step out of its silo and into every step of the content marketing process: audience research, writing, optimization, promotion and measurement.

Successful content programs are built from a foundation of not only knowing the audience and what they want, but knowing how they look for what they want. By integrating search engine needs with human and business needs, marketers will achieve greater success in 2014 and beyond.

In a Nutshell: What is The Difference Between Online, Inbound, Social Media, and Content Marketing?

There might be some confusion as to what the differences are between online, inbound, social media, and content marketing. Let me tell you briefly what these four marketing efforts are not, then I will let a “friend” explain what they are and illustrate how they are related.

Online marketing is not being a sleazy dude who tries to sell stuff on the web.

Inbound marketing is not scheduling trains, planes, and other public forms of transportation.

Social media marketing is not hanging out with kids on Facebook and retweeting stuff I think is cool.

And  content marketing is not driving traffic to people’s sites.

Meet Wilby. Wilby is a character created by a one-time animator in Japan for and of me. I wish he had made him slimmer but considering what he had to work with, what can I say?

The Wilby matryoshka doll can illustrate the difference between online, inbound, social media and content marketing efforts:

Online vs. Inbound vs. Social Media vs. Content Marketing

Online vs Inbound vs Social Media vs Content Marketing

Online Marketing

The all-inclusive activity that happens on the Internet with the intent of bringing visibility to a website and making a connection with the searcher and product/s or service. The goal can be sales, visibility, branding, or maybe just buzz. Sometimes called Internet Marketing.

Inbound Marketing

The science of pull versus push marketing. The intent of inbound marketing is to attract readers or buyers to a target site by hook or by crook … but indeed preferably by legitimate hook. Inbound marketing happens within the sphere of online marketing.

Rule of Thumb – it is cheaper, more time efficient for would-be buyers to find you than it is for you to find them.

Social Media Marketing

When the efforts of the marketer take on legs or a life of its own in social networks. Sometimes referred to as “going viral”. Or when the social media marketer does his/her darndest to make their content go viral. The best way, however, is for the social networks to be attracted to the content/website of the marketer so much so that there is a natural (organic) grass-roots like compulsion to share the information with others in their online networks.

Content Marketing

NOT the smallest nor the least significant component. Content is at the core of all great marketing efforts. Quality content is the soul of all effective marketing campaigns. Excellent content begs to be shared. Social networkers do not need to be asked, coerced, prodded or even poked. In fact pushing content, driving content is contrary to getting best results. Rather social networkers who find something really cool race to be the first to let someone know what it is they have come upon. The result being the sharer and those in their network are intrigued and attracted to what else this content creator has to offer. That’s not good marketing, that’s SUPER marketing.

All of this happens online.

Conclusion

Do your content right and your content will be the little piggy that goes to market for you.

Too often there is an attempt to manipulate search results, which equal shady SEO efforts. Sometimes over-emphasis is placed on the perfect page with the thinking ‘if I build it they will come.’ Good luck with that. One ideal landing page still has a 1 in a trillion possibility of being found. A poor inbound strategy indeed. A better strategy is to churn out as much good quality content as possible, consistently over a long period of time. It really is that straight forward.

Using Content Marketing to Build Brand Trust

Content marketing is now bigger than ever and has been rapidly embraced by the majority of agencies and in-house online marketing teams across the globe. Content creation was recently ranked as the single most effective SEO technique and marketers have jumped on it. The problem however, is that people are rushing into this new online strategy before thinking about why they are really doing it and how they are going to use it to achieve their objectives.

Of course there are the obvious reasons for developing a content marketing strategy, including making sure you come across as a thought leader in your industry by providing regular up-to-date content on industry news. There is also the point of telling your own brand’s story through content that you put out in your news section and the ability to promote your brand’s products and services in a more engaging way.

Having a well thought out content marketing strategy is all well and good, but without a trusting audience who are loyal to your brand you almost need not bother. As individuals, we are aware that the connection and trust we have with a company plays a large part in whether we are then likely to work with them or buy from them.

The Foundation

Content marketing is all about creating and sharing free content that is valuable to your audience and will attract new customers and retain existing ones. The content your brand needs to be sharing should be related to your industry so that you can help and educate others, this will encourage people to trust you and once you have their trust then they will work with you.

Over 2 million blog posts are published every day, which means that readers these days have a huge choice of what they read and that’s before you consider all the content sent through social media channels such as Twitter and YouTube. With a high level of content overload, it is important to make sure that your content marketing strategy makes you stand out from the crowd.

Too many content marketing strategies focus on quantity over quality, but really it comes down to making sure the content you produce is going to build a trusting relationship between the brand and the audience.

Customise Your Content

A huge 61% of consumers said that they felt better about a company that delivered custom content and would be more likely to then buy from that company. This demonstrates just how important it is to be creating unique content that is directly suited to your industry and audience.

Custom content is about really demonstrating to your audience that you have them in mind with every blog post you write or every video you create – make sure you have fully analysed your audience and that you are working to their interests. If you know the majority of your audience want to read your content via email or want to watch it on a video, then make this option available. This will help build trust just by the fact that they will be regularly seeing content aimed at them.

Promote Content Wisely

While content promotion is crucial to ensure what you’re producing is being seen, there is a very fine line between making your audience aware that you have created something new for them and spamming them with links to your latest blog post.

Find out which channels your audience is most active on and promote your content through them. For social networks such as Twitter, there are tools available that will tell you what days and times your followers are most active and when previous content you have promoted has been successful. Using this information you can then schedule content at the most beneficial time without pushing it out too often.

Engage, Engage, Engage

Trust is built through communication and as a brand it is very important to make sure you are regularly engaging with not only your audience, but also influential people within your industry – 36% of people trust brands more when they have a social presence. Don’t send automated replies and comments to those who reach out to you, send them a nice thank you message if they have shared your content, or offer them advice if they have a question related to your industry.

Make sure that you are easy to find. Where you can, promote your social media channels and forms of contact available to your audience. Being open about how people can engage with you will really encourage a high level of trust. Demonstrating yourself to be a personable brand will give your business a human touch and reassure your audience that there is a person behind all the blogs and social media accounts and that person really is interested in them, not just purely for sales reasons.

Analyze & Strategize

Once you have set out your content marketing strategy and implemented it for a certain amount of time, the most important thing is to then go back and analyze its success. What might sound like the best strategy ever may not actually work for your brand and may need reworking.

The type of content you initially thought might interest and engage with your audience might actually have no effect, so there is no point in continuing down that path. Once you have analyzed your results it’s time to re-strategize. If a certain style of content is receiving a high number of shares and engagement, then focus on producing more content like that, don’t waste time on the pieces that aren’t working.

Trust is not usually something that is given to a brand over night, it takes time and effort to build, but it is totally worth the hard work. When brands and consumers have a trusting relationship everything else will slide into place – sales and conversion rates will grow and brand promotion will happen more naturally.