Ever wonder why content marketing seems to work so well for some businesses, yet fall flat in others? Whether you’re cooking up a blog post or creating a video, you need to know that piece of content’s purpose and your content marketing strategy goals. What should people do after seeing your content?
The answer can range from finding out more about your company to building brand loyalty. Just make sure each piece of content is working toward your goals for content marketing. Otherwise, content marketing becomes a meaningless exercise.
Different businesses’ content marketing goals will vary, and they will also change overtime. If you’re trying to determine your goals but not sure where to start, here are nine solid goals that any business can focus on.
1. Site performance
When looking at content marketing strategy goals, many marketers will tell you that a content metric you should measure is how your website is performing. And for good reason! Your website is your digital shopfront and “face” of your brand. Beyond that, it is also a 24-hour sales rep. Your website is your most valuable marketing asset because it plays such a major role in every stage of your customer’s journey.
Take a look at how long visitors are spending on your site. Are they there for one minute or ten minutes? If visitors jump on your page and then hop right off, you’re not creating a digital experience that keeps them engaged. Look at the time spent on your pages, as well as the bounce and exit rates.
2. Increasing brand awareness
What’s the point of putting out content if there is no one there to view it? One of the most common initial goals of any content marketing strategy is to increase the awareness of your brand or in some cases, change the perception of your brand.
Depending on your focus, you can look into social metrics, such as growth of followers, reach and social engagement. Web traffic and search volume data can also provide valuable insights!
3. Customer engagement
While you’re building your brand awareness, don’t forget about engaging your current customers too. Nurturing the relationships formed with the customers who have already made a purchase from you will help to gain loyal customers. These people will not only come back to spend more, but may also refer friends and family too! Sales campaigns, engaging social media and email content will help to build relationships with customers.
Some ways to tell if you’re doing well at customer engagement is to measure email growth, open rates, and click-throughs. Comments, shares and inbound links can also help to determine how your campaigns are doing at keeping your customers engaged.
4. Build brand authority
Another important goal of content marketing is to establish yourself as an authority in your industry. Show that you understand the market and your customers’ needs by addressing the important issues. Answer questions that your target audience is struggling with and become the thought leader that they listen to.
Take a look at your branded searches and impressions. When a user clicks on a link in Google, it sends a tiny signal to Google to improve the rankings of that site. Thus, Google search rankings are a reflection of how much customers trust your brand and your knowledge on the particular subject.
5. Develop new business ideas
Where you put out content is a great way for you to test out new ideas. Thinking about repositioning your product? Wondering if your customers will like the new logo? See a problem that your customers want you to solve?
Explore your ideas via your content, and see how people react. You can watch what excites people and what fizzles out. Content is a great low-risk way to test out your ideas while risking very little. Your audience will let you know via their reactions how you should proceed with your new ideas.
6. Lead conversions
One of the most popular content strategy goals is conversions. You can have the most interesting content in the world, but none of it will matter unless it drives results. How you track this metric will depend on what your goals are for each piece of content.
In general, the best way is to include a strong call-to-action in the content you are putting out. For example, it can be a unique discount code for an influencer you’re working with, and tracking to see how many people your content reached, and how many users actually used the discount code. Use tech tools that will help you determine how much of your marketing leads to a purchase.
7. Please the search engine gods
It’s no secret that search engines love fresh content. New content also means more pages, and providing Google with fresh content to index. Websites that are growing will usually catch the eye of search engines, and it also provides additional opportunities to rank for keywords.
But having new content isn’t everything – make sure your content is valuable. The search engine gods will only find you valuable if readers find you valuable! This content strategy goal would tie into your SEO efforts, so check to see if your content ranks well for your target keywords, and if you’re getting more inbound links.
8. Create tools to aid your sales team
Apart from creating value to your customers, content marketing should also create value for your employees. For example, a well put together FAQ page that is easily visible on your website can save your sales and customer service people a lot of time. A video and explanation of how your product works will also achieve the same thing.
Take a look at the type of customer enquiries that you are receiving. They can become inspiration and topics for content going forward!
9. Attract new talent
Content marketing can also be a way to showcase your company culture to acquire new talent. By sharing information about your market, introducing the people behind your company and illustrating what it’s like to work at your company, you create a certain touchability. Potential talent who feel the same way will be more inclined to apply for a position with you.
No matter what kinds of roles your business is looking to fill, strategically created marketing content can be just the thing to raise your visibility among skilled applicants and attract the personalities that will align with your brand.
