You’ve done everything you can with your content, but still aren’t seeing results. How come? There’s a chance you may have made a mistake somewhere along the way. With 250 million pieces of online content being created every single minute, your content marketing strategy has to be on point.
(Image Source)Not Creating Reusable Content
Marketers can reuse a blog post by taking the data from a piece of content and creating something else with some of the same information such as an infographic or video.
All of the research has already been completed so it can sometimes take less time and effort than the original piece. Basically, what you’re doing is repacking information and turning it into a different medium.
Here are some great reasons to use repurpose old content:
Benefits of reusing old content
- Faster than creating new content
- Appeals to a new audience on different platforms
- Covers a range of bases
Content repurposing ideas
Here are a few ideas to get you started repurposing your content:
- Review a blog post, find content holes, and fill them
- Create a podcast or webinar about your blog post
- Create a video about your blog post
- Create an infographic with valuable information from your blog post
If you haven’t already, take some time to review some of your old blog posts. Sometimes you can find holes within your content that you may have missed or that don’t answer all of your audience’s questions. You can then recreate old posts and fill in the blanks.
Another good tip is to review some of your old content that has performed well with views, traffic, and engagement. You can then take your subject to audio. If you don’t have a running podcast, you can either create one or perform outreaches to other niche-related podcasters to talk about your subject.
Alternatively, you could create a video about an older blog post. In fact, 66% of marketers say that they will increase their budget spending for video marketing in 2022. And, 82% of consumers say that they want more videos from brands they know and trust.
Creating infographics and other visuals is a great option for repurposing old content. Visuals actually boost learning and information retention by 78%. That means that your audience will stay engaged longer and find your content more useful.
Not Creating Enough Content
A common misconception is that you need to go out there and publish as much content as possible. However, putting loads of content out there that is well, not that great, will not win you backlinks or rankings in SERPs. It will only show your potential audience that your content is lacking in substance which isn’t good for your content marketing efforts.
So, what can you do instead? Think quality over quantity. This is one of the easiest content marketing mistakes to avoid.
If you’re having problems keeping a set schedule for blog posts, then you can create what’s known as an editorial calendar which is a visual workflow that helps with any content creation schedule with posting content on time.
Not Knowing Your Audience
Taking the time to create a customer avatar can help marketers properly target the right audience with their content and understand their target market. Unfortunately, many businesses skip this step and just start creating content which can lead to businesses attracting leads that will never purchase. That’s why understanding the search intent of your target audience is an important step that some businesses fail at.
Don’t guess what type of content your audience wants. Instead, listen to your customers’ needs and get feedback on the types of problems they face in their business then produce content that answers their questions.
Creating The Wrong Content
Doing only keyword-targeted content usually does not result in a good user experience. Human readers will be unlikely to follow your blog because instead of targeting reader interests, your blog is throwing out keyword-targeted content for the search engines.
Don’t create low-quality content just to rank for keywords. Low-quality content can backfire and discourage other people from sharing your content or following you. Headlines are also the first things your visitors see, so make sure to use The HOTH’s Blog Topic Headline Generator to craft headlines that will interest your readers.
Not Optimizing For Search Engines
While creating content just for search engines is a mistake, marketers should also refrain from ignoring SEO completely. Search engines can drive continuous traffic to your site and the more content you create, the more traffic can increase.
Do some keyword research before you publish each article so that you can insert keywords into the title and meta tags. Look for similar articles that other people have written and look for potential keywords you can target. This will increase your chances of ranking in SERPs and increase your traffic to your landing pages.
Ideally, your article should contain a mix of content designed to engage your audience and other thought leaders in your niche, plus, designed to rank in the search engines.
Not Promoting Content
To maximize your reach, consider promoting your content in multiple channels or even repurposing it. Look for communities and social media platforms where you can share your content.
Build relationships with influencers by sharing their content and mentioning them in your articles. Participate in communities to get your name out there by visiting and contributing regularly to online groups and forums.
You should also consider using email outreach to share your content, along with paid ads. You can always adjust your content marketing plan as you move forward, but be sure you at least have a plan in place when you start out.
Expecting Results Too Quickly
How long should content marketing take before results are seen?
While the amount of time and effort required to do well with content can vary, organizations should plan for content marketing to be a long-term strategy.
As the number of articles on your site increases, your content will rank for more search terms, attract more links and social shares, and website traffic will start to accelerate.
Selling Too Much
While adding a call to action (CTA) into your content can make sense in certain circumstances, some businesses make the mistake of selling too much in their content. Mentioning your company in every single blog post makes readers question your authenticity.
Readers are more likely to follow a blog or read content from sources they feel are genuinely providing the best unbiased information.
Blindly Following Generic Content Marketing Advice
Don’t make the mistake of blindly “following the herd.”
To win at content marketing, you have to be able to make your own judgments about what works and what doesn’t. People who become thought leaders do so because they are able to form their own opinions and be creative instead of just following what everyone else is doing or saying.
If a marketing blog says that something is true, always look for examples where someone did the opposite and still succeeded. There are few rules in marketing that can’t be bent or broken, so be open-minded when developing your own content marketing plan.
Ignoring Or Disabling Blog Comments
The impact of blog commenting is hard to measure, but it can be more impactful than most people realize. Neil Patel generated $25,000 by commenting on other blogs in his niche. He also noted that replying to other people’s comments on his own blog caused readers to come back to his blog.
Don’t disable blog comments just because you don’t want to deal with the hassle of moderating them. Instead, view blog comments as an opportunity to build a community and possibly generate more leads for your business.
Not Investing In Thought Leadership
Achieving thought leadership in a niche is a content marketer’s dream goal, but many businesses may get discouraged from pursuing this goal due to the amount of competition. The significantly higher return on investment makes thought leadership a goal that content marketers should pursue.
If you want to win big with content marketing, then hire the best people and find someone that is an expert in your industry.
Luckily for you, at The HOTH we have created a way for you to effortlessly get expert content. With HOTH Blogger Pro, we pair you with one of our 100+ writers who are experts in specific niches.
Think you have an industry we can’t write about? I bet the answer might surprise you…
Don’t Let These Content Marketing Mistakes Hold You Back
Content marketing is challenging, but with persistence and the right mindset, any business can grow through effective content creation. Avoid the above mistakes and you will be able to create a winning content strategy.
What mistakes do you see other people making with content marketing?
Let us know in the comments!
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