The traditional news industry business has been in a state of chaos for quite some time with the explosion of digital content, social media and blogs. We no longer need to wait for a news reporter to tell us the story. We now all have the ability to be story tellers and news purveyors. The hard part is leveraging that opportunity strategically and effectively, and in a way that is meaningful for our targeted audiences.
For marketers and PR professionals, a core component of our marketing campaigns these days is content marketing – engaging and educating target audiences via content that is meaningful to them (and that also incorporates our own messaging, however subtle. Even better if we can direct readers to our websites…). Owned, earned, and paid marketing opportunities mean that having a clear strategy is important so your content marketing efforts work together, support each other and, most importantly, reach and mobilize your target audiences.
At NewsUSA, we are content syndicators who guarantee placement of your sponsored feature news stories on more than 2,400 local and community news sites across the country. We’ve put out a lot of stories. We’ve seen a lot of content marketing campaigns. We’ve helped them achieve success. And below, we’ve selected some of the key tips out there to ensure that content marketing articles get read and noticed, rather than buried and unacted on. These value, exposure and engagement tips may seem simple, but we assure you, they have impact!
1) Maximize Value
Be relevant
Your content should be relevant to your industry and niche. Understand who you are writing for. Know their problems, and the kind of content they search for and read online. Learn more with keyword searches. Apply your website analytics to know who comes to your site, where they go, and what they are looking for. Apply that information as you craft subjects and storylines for new content marketing pieces. The reader started reading your article for reason. Make sure to deliver relevant info to them.
Be interesting
Add personality and your unique opinions on the subject matter. That is the beauty of content marketing versus the objective-voices news coverage. People do business with people and companies they like. They get to know you by your content. Give your unique take on solving their problem. This makes you the expert. When they see you as the expert, who do you think they are going to come to when they want to do business…
Be concise
Get to the point. No one wants to drag through a long boring article looking for a few valuable points. Ensure that today’s “skim and scroll” readers can easily navigate your article.
2) Maximize Exposure
We always encourage our clients to post and share their NewsUSA articles on their social media feeds. We encourage them to send their most relevant regional media placements to their sales teams, customers and/or investors. After all, who doesn’t respond to coverage in their hometown news sites? So, when you invest in content marketing, don’t forget to also ask your sales and marketing teams to share articles with prospects. With NewsUSA’s content syndication, your article run on many high authority websites, and you can share articles directly from the sites they were place on. This gives your content a boost by sharing in the authority of that website and creates trust. If your articles are on regional websites, have your sales team share it with prospects in that region. This gives a stronger sense of relevance to those prospects.
This should go without saying. But SEO is complicated and ever changing. And nuanced – as you can’t too obviously incorporate key SEO words repeatedly or it impacts the quality of your article. Have you leveraged the headline? Subheads? Photo captions? Keep abreast of best practices, and/or collaborate with content marketing vendors who can ensure that your sponsored stories take full advantage of SEO opportunities so that your articles are found and favored by search engines. Search engine optimization offers long-term impact. Even better, you are assured of a quality audience because people who arrive at your content via SEO are looking for the specific solutions you are offering.
3) Maximize Engagement
You’ve created valuable content that is relevant to your audience, that is easy to “skim and scroll” and maximizes SEO. You have a cross-promotional plan. Now the goal is impact and action. Do you want the reader to simply be educated (for a health awareness campaign, for example), to learn more about a topic by visiting one of your web pages, to follow you on social media, or to make a purchase? As you develop sponsored content, be clear on the next step you are wanting your readers to take. Some best practices include:
- Clearly tell them what you would like them to do. For example, you might ask them to visit a webpage or call a number.
- Make your invite to action compelling by letting them know what is in it for them. What is the win-win in terms of the value they’ll gain?
- If relevant for your business, consider time-bound promotions to prompt readers to take action quickly.
You want your audience to take action. And one of your actions that can inspire their action is investing in and deploying content marketing.
Our articles share tips, best practices and lessons from the field. We encourage you to visit the www.newsusa.com home page to learn about the value of content syndication to your marketing and PR campaigns.