As a business owner, online traffic is vital to the growth and success of your entire operation. But in these trying times, it’s important to choose a marketing strategy that will give your business the most traction among your target audience.
Luckily, the road to success runs through content.
Content is the driver behind many of today’s successful digital marketing strategies, providing a unique opportunity to assist your target audience through the buyer journey with useful, genuine information. Much like your physical storefront requires appealing goods to catch your consumers’ attention, your digital presence requires similar love and care to increase traffic to your business.
As we continue to traverse through a digital-first environment, your business should have a content strategy and social presence operating in tandem to engage with your consumers and keep them up-to-date on the status of your operation. But before you invest money into the content creation process, it’s important to understand the ins-and-outs behind a strong content strategy during COVID-19.
Producing high-quality, informative content can be a difference maker for your business, but it’s not everything.
The content marketing process involves becoming an active member of your community, asking questions and providing moments of education for your consumers. And while many of your consumers are practicing stay-at-home and social distancing techniques, it’s important to be mindful of the content you produce and share to best inform your audience moving forward.
Invest time in better understanding your industry – its status during COVID-19, current trends, etc. – and following industry-centric resources to stay up-to-date with what’s pertinent for your business and its consumers. You’ll see a return on investment in the form of brand awareness, consumer engagement, and customer loyalty.
A strong content strategy is more than just churning out content. If you curate content to address specific problems and provide useful information to your audience, you can position yourself as a thought leader for your consumers and your industry.
Even if you think anyone can benefit from your content, focus on tailoring your content to reach consumers that will most likely engage with your content in a beneficial way. Your interest in providing genuine content will reflect with a higher retention rate towards your social page and greater awareness toward your business.
Your consumers will also build a better impression of your business as they engage with your content. If they find what they read to be helpful, informative, or enlightening, your business’s reputation can increase.
Lastly, your plan of attack is vital to your content’s success with your target audience. It’s imperative to choose a method (or two) that fits your company’s budget while being perceived as genuine towards that audience.
Paid media refers to content that is influenced by advertising dollars – such as boosting, targeting, etc. This form of media enables businesses to display content beyond their followers in areas where it otherwise wouldn’t show up. In fact, marketers spent more than $89 billion last year on social media advertising efforts alone.
With thousands of pieces of content vying for your potential customer’s attention on social media, paid media is sometimes necessary to break through the noise and gain traction toward your business. However, you should not overlook the impact that organic media can have on your business. As a cost-effective marketing tactic, organic media can help develop authentic interactions with your consumers and promote your value propositions without using paid promotion.
We recommend utilizing both paid and organic media in tandem to maximize on reaching a broader audience while crafting authentic, compassionate content that doesn’t bombard their news feed. By finding a balance between paid and social, you can supplement your social feed with brand-safe messaging that is promotional but also sensitive to the present climate.
We understand that today’s environment presents challenges to promoting your business and generating sales. But If your business has yet to incorporate a content strategy that is promotional while being mindful of these uncertain times, you may miss out on an opportunity to genuinely connect with your consumers to provide useful knowledge, now and in the future.
If you’re still having some trouble cultivating the right strategy for your business, it always helps to get a few pointers from someone who’s helped with messaging during the COVID-19 pandemic. Do not hesitate to reach out to us and inquire about how we can help navigate your business’s content strategy during these trying times.