As always, we aim to deliver the best results for our clients, and the Content Marketing team here at Creare have been busy creating all sorts of exciting content over the past few months to really add to our client’s search engine optimisation campaign. One thing we undertake with any work is keeping the client’s objectives at the forefront of the project.
But what does successful content look like and what’s involved?
Business Objective:
Firstly, it depends on what you class as successful – businesses have specific objectives so it’s important that you understand what these are before creating any content. Different types of content will generate different results but not all content will generate every type of result, so knowing whether the client wants engagement or conversions, traffic or social shares, is crucial to choosing the most suitable format.
We have spent some time testing different types of content for a variety of industries and have both seen the successes as well as experienced the difficulties of generating desired results to become confident in our approach to promoting a business through a solid piece of content.
Target Audience:
As well as finding out your business objectives it’s important to have an understanding of who the target audience is. This will highlight the style, tone and format the content should take, and by understanding this you can narrow down the types of content that will be applicable.
For example, we have found that a survey such as this here: ‘Which Wacky Racer Are You?’ may not be the best type of content for a business wanting to portray a very corporate brand , however for perhaps a fashion blog, this is ideal to get people to engage with the website and follow through with purchasing the product that’s being promoted.
We have tried this format with a few of our clients, and they have great responses in terms of engagement from perspective clients which has been emphasised by pushing content such as this within their social channels.
Can it be promoted again?
We strongly believe in fresh content, but there are pieces which have longevity and that can be re-published as a result of a strong, initial response. You don’t want to lose out on re-promoting content if it has legs to go further, which can sometimes be the problem with really topical or seasonal content. Again, success of content should be measured on what you are trying to achieve for your client, so if something goes viral it all comes back to what it’s meant for the business.
Finally, strong promotional strategy
Before any content is created the promotional strategy needs to be discussed. Are social channels available? Is the client’s blog all up to date to support the content? Are there other parties that need to be involved in the promotion?
Understanding what happens both prior and post content creation, needs to be part of the plan from the very beginning otherwise the content can fall down at the last hurdle.
Content fails because of poor planning and execution, not necessarily because the time isn’t right or the industry is hard. With the content umbrella opening up so many different opportunities, there are few ideas that can’t come to fruition with the right strategy.
Here you can see some of the other work our team have recently produced:
Video: Weird Facts About Your Feet
Quiz: Who’s your celebrity style twin?
Interactive Infographic: The Domestic RHI Explained
Style Post: Mens Style Guide S/S 2014