Content marketing should be part of your strategy, especially in the new year and decade, where consumers expect brands to provide them with entertaining content. There are some practices from previous years that are still effective today, but there are some that you should be avoiding in your as they might be hurting your brand.Â
When you are creating a content marketing strategy you will need to understand your audience as well as what types of content they consume. Using uninspiring titles and email subject lines can lead to clients and possible leads ignoring your content, and creating too much content, rather than focusing on quality, will lead to your website or blog being dismissed as spammy. Confused? Below we take a look at some content marketing mistakes that could be hurting your brand.Â
Not Embracing An Editorial Calendar
Having a content marketing strategy is great, but not knowing who will be creating the content, where that content will be shared, when it will be shared, or how it will be promoted will lead to a possible failure in reaching your goals. An editorial calendar is an essential part of any content marketing campaign, and it does not need to be complicated or fancy to succeed.Â
 Using a Google Doc that everyone has access to and can edit will allow you to streamline your content marketing strategy and ensure that all brand messaging is cohesive. Without having a content calendar, it will become difficult to ensure a consistent message across your platforms, and you may find yourself struggling to create content that maintains this message.Â
Focusing on Quantity Over Quality
While it is a good idea to have more than one blog or social media post a month, creating too much content can also be detrimental. Google and other search engines have evolved rapidly over the years and are now able to easily identify high-quality content and thin content. Quantity over quality might mean that you are losing out on organic traffic.Â
You should perform keyword research to find long-tail keywords and phrases that your consumers are using and use these to create articles, blog posts, and social media content. This will ensure that you create quality content that is relevant and helpful to your consumers. Evergreen content (content that is always relevant) is ideal for helping to improve the quality of your content.Â
Not Posting Regularly
Posting infrequently is directly related to not using an editorial calendar for your content. If you are sharing valuable content at irregular intervals, your consumers will likely become confused and even disinterested in your content and brand. Make sure that you have enough time and enough content to ensure that you are posting regularly.Â
Luckily, in order to remedy this, many social media platforms allow you to schedule content well in advance which means that you can schedule content for an entire month if needs be. Using a content calendar and following a theme can help immensely in posting content regularly for consumers to enjoy. A lack of consistency can seriously hurt a brand.Â
Content Marketing Is Not Advertising
Many people who are new to the content marketing game assume that content marketing can be used as advertising. The truth is that content marketing is a “long game†and there will only be results after at least three months of creating, publishing, and sharing relevant and valuable content.Â
Content marketing is geared towards improving the search engine optimisation (SEO) efforts of a brand rather than helping them to outrightly sell a product. In today’s modern, online world, not having a content marketing strategy can be highly detrimental, and it is important to understand that it is a separate entity to an advertising strategy.Â
Using Low-Quality Images
Using low-quality images or not using images at all can have a negative effect on your content in the eyes of your consumers. The people of the modern world are increasingly visual, and even Google has begun to embrace this with visual search options.Â
Blog and social media posts that do not include an image are less likely to be viewed and shared, meaning that your content will not be seen by your desired audience. Using visual content also helps consumers to remember the posts better, especially if the image is informative and related directly to your content.Â
Keep Content Creative
While reusing old content and updating blog posts can help to improve your SEO results and online visibility, it is important to create new content for your audience to consume. You should always have an editorial calendar in place to ensure a cohesive message, and remember to always post regularly.Â
Focus on the quality of your content and remember that content marketing is not the same as advertising. If you would like an expert content marketing strategy created for your brand, contact NetMechanic today to find out how we can help you.
