Providing high-quality content is essential to the success of any company’s online marketing strategy. In fact, a recent report by the Content Marketing Institute (CMI) and the Association for Data-driven Marketing and Advertising (ADMA) found that 52% of Australian marketers are more likely to have a documented content strategy compared to 43% in North America.
Content allows businesses to demonstrate their expertise via their websites and blogs. This is why content is often regarded as being King in your online marketing strategy, even above SEO.
In order to successfully make content marketing a King in your online strategy, however, it needs to be integrated across the multiple marketing channels such as SEO, public relations (PR) and social media. Here’s why.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
SEO is an ever-changing world that Google seemingly tries to make more difficult for people through their algorithm updates like the Panda and Penguin. These nice animals have actually scared off many SEO agencies into switching to content marketing agencies.
To exclude SEO, however, would be a big mistake in your online campaign. The fact is that SEO shouldn’t be used as a manipulative tactic to achieve better site ranking, which is what these animal algorithms are aimed at reducing. Creating a quality, one-stop resource for your particular demographic while optimizing it for search is now both a business necessity and the best path towards growth.
Public Relations
Public relations go beyond just providing breaking news and press releases, it is also about building a stronger relationship between your brand and the public. Integrating inbound marketing tactics into your PR strategy enables businesses to thrive in an era when most PR firms are seeing reductions in journalist staffing and readership of traditional media amidst an explosion of social media and mobile technology.
Whereas traditional PR tactics focused on pushing their message out to the public, new digital PR tactics try to pull their audience in via blogs, press releases and social media that showcase great, original content.
Social Media
Social media is useful in reaching more people who may be more accessible via social channels and will enable you to grow your influence and authority across those same social channels. In addition, by opening up a two-way communication with your customers, you are able to increase client engagement and tap into your local and external communities.
As with the other channels, however, social media is not a one-man-band and must be properly integrated within your other strategies in order for it to work. By focusing on content that is relevant to the interests of your users you can drive traffic to your website and allow your users to really understand what the company is about and what their values are.
Integrating your content systematically across the multiple channels is essential for your online campaign to succeed for the long term. The overall goal, after all, is to drive these users to your website using these channels as instruments. Used properly, they will help build your brand awareness, increase website traffic and create great quality content.
Content Marketing photo from Shutterstock.
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