Many companies have experienced similar concerns with management optimization. To help you tackle these content marketing obstacles, we’ve compiled a list of nine content marketing tips to help you successfully manage your program.
Think back to when you first decided that your company needed a content marketing program. To achieve that, you needed to create and implement new objectives, strategies, processes, teams and more – it probably seemed daunting to say the least. How were you supposed to find time to generate and launch an entire program, let alone manage and optimize it consistently?
If this question is still looming over you, don’t worry. Continue to read and find the answers on your questions.
Delegate a content manager
You need a point person within your organization who has ownership and responsibility for the program. If you don’t delegate a manager, your program will drift and ultimately fail because no one is overseeing its implementation.
Define clear performance objectives
You need to define clear goals. First, you need to determine the ultimate goal of your program, and then you need to identify the necessary steps to achieve that goal. Without set objectives, you’ll have difficulty detecting what parts of your program are working and what parts need improvement. Similarly, without goals, you’ll have no way of determining whether you’ve made any progress from where you originally stood.
When you do identify your goals, keep in mind to set realistic ones – don’t create an impossible timeline or unreasonable metrics to meet. You’d set yourself up for failure before you’d even have the chance to succeed.
Play the long game
You need to be patient with content marketing. Unlike a traditional marketing program, a content marketing program is prosperous over time. The longer and more consistent the program is, the greater the results will be. With intermittent programs, they aren’t active long enough to show any real improvements. You want to play the long game here – it’s the most reliable and results-driven approach.
Identify content metrics
Similar to defining your performance objectives, you need to determine your plan for the content itself. What type of content will best meet your goals? Where are you going to publish your content? How frequently will you publish it?
Establishing a detailed plan for your content will help you stay on track to meet your overall goals.
Budget for your content specifically
If you are implementing your first content marketing program, it is wise to allocate a small percentage of your entire digital marketing budget towards content marketing and treat it as a trial run. After it has run for 6-12 months, you can get a better idea of what type of budget will work best for you, and tweak it accordingly.
In our experience, businesses should allocate at least 20% of their digital marketing budget to content. This allow you to sufficiently cover everything from creation to publishing to promotion.
Publish consistently and publish often
At the very least, you should be publishing two or three pieces of content per month. If you have a larger budget and more established program, you should publish at least 16 pieces per month. At this level, you start to gain a competitive advantage against your competitors – the more information you present to your audience, the more likely it is that they will visit your site.
Take note: Don’t publish content if you don’t have anything to say. It’s better to publish less often if you present relevant, engaging information to your audience every time. If you’re just publishing filler content (information that your audience doesn’t care about), then that content is pointless and can actually harm the success of your overall program.
Publish at the right times
Research your target audience and determine what days of the week they are most active on your site. Timing your publications during peak traffic hours will help boost page views and engagement rates. Also keep in mind the time zones of your audience – 8am in New York is only 5am in Los Angeles.
Know some basic tech information
A good content marketer should have a basic knowledge of the simple technology associated with content marketing such as HTML. They should also know how to navigate their content management system and how to read their analytics software. Without this knowledge, it can be difficult to publish and track your content, therefore prohibiting you from identifying any pain points or problems.
Enlist some help
If you are struggling to implement your content marketing program, Tempesta Media can help. With our streamlined content marketing platform, you can successfully manage and optimize your program from one system. From ordering content all the way to publishing and analyzing it, we can simplify the process to help you create quality content at scale.
To learn more or receive industry-specific writing samples, contact us today.
