Would you ask someone to marry you after one date?
Even if you hit it off immediately, this kind of commitment in an intimate relationship seems a little outrageous, right? Yet, there are many businesses who expect to see immediate results after posting one blog to their website and sharing it to their social accounts. This is one of the most common content marketing mistakes you can make.
Like any kind of relationship, it takes time to build trust. You start with small talk to initiate a connection, find commonalities, maybe make them laugh and feel good about themselves and, over time, you establish yourself as someone they can trust. Only then do you have a solid foundation and a loyal follower who is likely to turn into a customer.
No strong relationship is built over night and it’s certainly not built with one article—unless it’s one hell of an article that’s backed up by Facebook and Google ad funnels that drive traffic to it. Oh, and the article would need to compel them into immediate response with some kind of call to action that they couldn’t resist. It’s not impossible but it’s a big ask.
A much more realistic strategy to avoid making content marketing mistakes that will affect the effectiveness of your overall approach is to be consistent. Post consistent content on different platforms regularly. Diversify your approach so that you deliver content in different mediums. Blogs on your website are great but don’t forget to use all the features available to you on social media platforms. Instagram stories, Instagram TV, LinkedIn articles, Facebook Live—all of these are great ways to connect with your audience and expand your content marketing strategy on top of your regular blog, Instagram and Facebook posts.
Other common content marketing mistakes businesses often make include:
- Thinking that email marketing is dead
- Not thoroughly checking for grammar and spelling errors
- Not taking SEO into account
- Thinking quantity is more important than quality
- Not developing a content marketing strategy with direction
1. Thinking that email marketing is dead
Another common content marketing mistake is to assume that email marketing doesn’t yield results. Statistics tell us that email marketing is far from dead and you really need to include it as part of your effective content marketing strategy. Yes, you need to ensure you stand out from the crowd—but really this is no different from any platform you use. Noise is everywhere. You have to find a way to cut through it!
2. Not thoroughly checking for grammar and spelling errors
If you’re not a grammatical guru who’s confident they’re there with their attention to detail, then find someone who can check your content prior to it going live. And if writing really isn’t your thing and your content isn’t compelling, it’s probably best to find a content marketing professional who can handle this for you. It’s that important. (Psst, if you want some quick tips on writing effective blogs, we’ve compiled some here to get you started in this Master the Blog article.)
3. Not taking SEO into account
If you’re not including SEO in your content, you’re making yet another massive content marketing mistake. The best place for SEO (besides your website) is on your blogs but you can also add Alt Text to your Instagram photos which will ensure they show up in the “images” tab of a Google search. The bonus is that it makes content accessible to those with vision impairments as screen readers can read them. This article explains how to do it.
4. Thinking quantity is more important than quality
The internet is drowning in content. Quality matters. While it’s important to have a consistent presence, don’t just post content for the sake of it. Really think about what your audience will benefit from and stick to what you know.
5. Not developing a content marketing strategy with direction
The final content marketing mistake that businesses make is getting trigger happy. Content marketing without a strategy is like firing a gun into the distance without a target. Start with choosing the tools that work for you, whether it’s a photo editing app for creating visual content, or a solid content management system to host blog posts. Utilise analytics software that gives you accurate benchmarking data as well. You need to be able to measure what you’re doing, to see what’s been effective, what hasn’t and tweak from there. You also want to ensure that your content marketing strategy is aligned with your business goals and targeted to the audience who will be most likely to become your loyal customers. Content marketing is a time consuming (and sometimes costly) process—make every post count.
