It’s getting incredibly noisy online, isn’t it? Email inboxes are bursting at the seams, Facebook can only serve a fraction of what’s posted, and Google ranking is both competitive and expensive.
It’s never been more important to stay relevant to the eyes and ears you’ve attracted to your business. You might be looking for a few ways to gain an edge over competitors, in terms of reader relevance! Below are three methods of remaining relevant today.
1. Ask
When people join your newsletter, like your Facebook page, or follow you on social media, ask them two things: What kind of content they want, and how they found you. That will help you know what type of content to create, and where to invest your time and dollars during future marketing.
2. Deliver
It seems simple in theory, but it’s not the easiest thing to accomplish: executing and delivering good content. It’s helpful to create a content calendar, one that shows all the channels you’re marketing to, and build out your content team in the same way a traditional newspaper or magazine used to work.
An editor-in-chief, a team of writers, photographers, and video creators, all collaborating, and all aware of the content schedule (and the purpose, and timing of their deadlines). That’s how great blogs and content creators deliver.
3. Curate and serve
What is content curation? That’s where you pull in content from other sources (with permission) and serve it in a way that your consumers and readers would find useful. This can happen all sorts of ways (see method number one: ask!). When you start to do it, monitor the usage patterns of your website and content using Google Analytics or a similar tool.
Thinking of a page’s purpose for both you and your reader is a key detail in the design and success of this approach. A great example can be found online, where people compare mortgage rates in Canada. This is a page a consumer would visit when he or she wants to know how the rate they’re considering stacks up against other choices, because even a fraction of a percentage point can mean a difference of thousands of dollars over the life of most loans.
Being able to compare all rates and have access to lenders is something the consumers and readers want, and delivering that makes a company and website very relevant to its users!
Originally posted on December 12, 2013 @ 6:52 am