How do you make your content stand out in a sea of microplastics?

At the moment, the phase ”Content is king” is repeated in many companies’ marketing communications strategies. Successful content production provides readers with useful information and an interesting point of view. However, too many companies still produce content just because “you’re supposed to”. Look-alike clickbait contents block channels the same way as microplastics do to waters, and do not serve the purpose of the reader nor the company.

As the Internet is full of different guide books, blog posts, tips and educational videos, it is difficult to stand out even with brilliant content. Luckily, careful planning and utilising technology helps you to reach the right audience.

Read our tips for maximising content visibility:

1. Plan for the long term

Start your content visibility planning process by thinking about what kind of image of your company’s brand you wish to project to your audience. Loyal followers are earned through persistent work: when readers notice that the company’s content is of high quality and not just disappointing mass-produced content. You can start, for instance, by creating an annual operating plan, where you take into account your customers and relevant events and themes in the field. For instance Smartsheet provides excellent marketing plan templates. Remember to also develop your ability to react to current matters.

2. Get your search engine optimisation in order

Even the best content is worthless if nobody can find it. Search engine optimisation (SEO) is an important part of content production because it creates long-term and durable online visibility. Make sure that the website works as it is supposed to, for instance, by optimising large images and testing links, because search engines such as Google will review the website from the user’s point of view. Once the basics are in order, it is easier to kick off the content development process and ensure that it flows in the right direction.

3. Choose roles for different channels

The same content will not work in the same way on every channel. For instance, you can post visual and inspiring content on Instagram, present detailed product features on YouTube and strengthen your vision and expertise on LinkedIn. Give different channels their own roles by testing what kind of reactions shared content gets. Keep track on results and make alignments and prioritisations.

4. Buy visibility

The company’s own channels do not automatically reach all desired persons, so you should invest, also financially, in content sharing. Earned media attention is not achieved without using blogs or paid advertisement. Primarily, search engine marketing is used for increasing conversions, i.e. set goals, and display advertising (banner advertising) for increasing brand awareness and reach. The pricing of channels is based on inventory, and premium locations often mean higher prices. The more specific your target audience is, the more it costs.

5. Take the customer journey into account

Content production must be closely tied to the customer journey, and the kind of content needed at each step must be carefully planned. The customer journey can roughly be divided into four groups: attraction, conversion, onboarding and advocacy. Furthermore, creating buyer personas helps in targeting content. Buyer personas are fictive customers which are divided into categories based on customer data, such as needs, titles and used media. For instance, Hubspot’s buyer persona templates and tool are very useful.

6. Engage your employees

The most important resource of the company’s content production is the personnel. It is vital that the personnel is committed to contents and that they produce and share these. The content production process should be built to be flexible, so that every employee is able to write and share content easily. Different technologies may be used in distribution purposes, such as Smarp.

If developing content production feels too challenging, we at Solteq are at your disposal to assist you, for instance, in optimising the existing production process, planning brilliant content and finding appropriate means and channels.