Creating valuable content is a crucial factor not only in establishing your brand, but also in building a deeper connection with your audience. When it comes to developing campaigns, creating brand experiences, and engaging audiences, content and the strategy behind it can make or break it all.
At #TeamStoryscope, working with different brands from across industries has taught us several key hacks on creating content that has meaning and impact. But first, let’s define what content marketing is.
Content marketing is a strategic approach focused on engaging an audience through valuable and relevant information and brand experiences. It should be rich, compelling, and most of all, able to deliver something of value and unique to the brand to the consumers. How? By hinging on what makes it different from other similar brands — whether it be the story, personality, expertise, or role in its consumers’ lives.
The best part of it all is, when done with a proper strategy, you can do away with or without a budget. Here are some of what we have learned and how you can apply them to your own brand.
Creating a successful content marketing strategy
Any piece of information you release and the manner in which it is released should be patterned after your audience’s needs. Spark their interest and pull them into your brand by giving them something useful. By doing so, your content will most likely be consumed, shared, and ultimately, help with building brand credibility and trust.
In our two years in the PR industry helping our partners achieve their objectives, we narrowed down two main points to remember in order to create a successful marketing strategy: (1) gain good consumer insight and (2) learn to develop your own content.
Gaining good consumer insight opens endless opportunities for your brand to create and nurture relationships with your audience. Get to know them — their preferences, behavior on various social media platforms, their priorities, etc.
What are their pain points? Where are they present? What do they need? How can I position my brand in their lives? What type of content should I make for them? You can start by asking these questions to fully understand their needs, aspirations, and practices and create content themes or pillars accordingly.
It is also important that you are able to create your own content because no one knows your brand the way you do. Yes, user-generated content is an advantage, but creating your own gives you full control and ownership of the information and ensures that it is unique and reflective of the brand.
The key to creating the best content for your audience is to put them first. Plus, content that is original, authentic, and aligned with the brand is the most desirable.
Tips and trends in content creation
To give you a better grasp on content marketing strategy, here are some tips and trends we have applied in some of our projects with our partners.
Use social media analytics: In line with getting to know your audience better, taking advantage of this technology allows you to identify the type of content they engage with the most. Having data-driven content gives you a clearer direction in terms of positioning the brand into the consumers’ lives with more room for creative storytelling, relevance, and personalization.
Personalize your content: Speaking of personalization, it is best practice to always focus on your consumers, see things from their perspective and address their pain points through highly relevant and valuable content. They will be more drawn to content that is tailored specifically to their interests and needs, which then encourages them to take more steps to engage with your brand further.
Explore different content formats: Consumers have varied content preferences — and that applies to the format too. Try to create content in various formats such as static images, GIFs, infographics, long and short-form videos, etc. to hook and retain their attention. Give them something new once in a while to keep them coming back for more.
Maximize user-generated content (UGC): UGC is any content that is created and posted by unpaid contributors. It is found to be more influential than owned brand content because of its authenticity and organic engagement. Through UGC, you can increase your brand’s reach and engagement as well as gain access to the consumers’ relationship with your brand.
If you ever need help in creating a content marketing strategy for your brand, Team Storyscope is ready for you! Send us an email at hello@storyscope.ph to get started.
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