In today’s world, consumers and prospective buyers aren’t afraid to do their own research. In fact, they take pride in arming themselves with as much information as they can about your organization and its offerings before deciding if it is even worth their while to talk to you.
This trend does not seem to be slowing down any time soon. According to Demand Gen’s B2B Buyer Behavior Survey, 58% of B2B buyers said they spent more time researching the purchases they made during the previous year than they did in the past. This is an increase from the 48% who agreed with the same statement in the prior year’s report.
Of course, before prospects can find and consume this information, it has to actually exist. That’s where the cycle of content marketing begins.
Getting Your Content Discovered
We’ve all heard the “Content is King” mantra, and it’s hard to deny that great content is the cornerstone of any content marketing strategy. However, in this day and age when over 27 million pieces of content are shared on a daily basis (source: AOL & Nielson Content Sharing Study), the “build it and they will come” philosophy isn’t always enough.
In addition to producing content of value to your audience, it’s important to employ tactics that will make that content easier to find. These strategies include:
- SEO – Whether they’re looking for a recipe, buying a car, or trying to determine which accounting software is the best fit for their company, most people start their research projects on Google or other search engines. Follow best practices for search engine optimization to help information-seekers discover your site and content.
- Social Media – Part of your social media strategy should include a solid plan for promoting your own content and encouraging others to share it as well. This requires more than simply sending out automated links. For instance, will your images display well on Facebook and Pinterest? Is it easy for readers to pull out short, but valuable, excerpts to share on Twitter or LinkedIn?
- Subscriptions and Feeds – Do you have a weekly newsletter or some other notification tool that lets readers know about new content on your website? Don’t forget about RSS feeds either. A large chunk of the Internet population relies heavily on tools that use RSS feeds to scan for new content of interest to them.
There are many other ways to help your content become more discoverable, too. These methods should be incorporated as key components of your content marketing strategy. As time passes, you will most likely find that certain methods work better for you and your industry than others. Keep your strategy flexible enough to take advantage of the opportunities that arise.
Need a little advice on how to get the best ROI for your efforts? Let LCI help you with a free audit. We’ll assess your opportunities and challenges and then we can propose how best to help your business develop a content marketing strategy that supports your business goals. Contact: Sean Dowdall or David Landis: [email protected]; [email protected].
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