Inspired by a great article on 10 Shocking Facts About Content Marketing Today, we wanted to repost this information for our own readers. But first, let’s make sure we understand what is meant by the term “Content Marketing.” Content Marketing is simply using informative or valuable content to market a company or product. It is designed to attract a specific audience for the purpose of encouraging customer action.
Content marketing pieces are shared online every day, in fact, in quantities of over 27 million. Since content marketing is a relatively new strategy, this number is only expected to rise. Social media outlets are embracing and encouraging the use of content marketing as well. Sites like LinkedIn or Twitter have focused on making it as easy as possible for companies to share content about their products and services.
As marketing departments continue down the content marketing path, working to compete with each other to present the best and brightest content they can, the future prospects of content marketing have no choice but to continually improve. Below are, according to the article, some of their 10 shocking facts about how content marketing not only affects the purchases we make, but even how we use the Internet.
1. An active blog can generate 67% more traffic each month for a company’s website.
Blogs have been around for a very long time for one simple reason – people love to read them. By blogging, a company appears to be more down-to-earth and approachable to their customers. The information their blogs contain can be considered “from the experts” and, therefore, a credible source. Blogs can inform others of special savings or deals. Additionally, if a company already has a website in place, getting a blog up and running is a simple extra step.
2. There are approximately 12 tactics that content marketers are using – not just one.
Every social media site, or blog, or other various method for communication works best with a different content marketing strategy. And more channels continue to open up every day. Different tactics may include videos, white papers, research reports, podcasts, and photos to name a few. It is important for each company to examine their own strategies and see which mediums work best with what strategies.
3. Companies can reach 8 out of 10 Internet users in the U.S. simply by putting content on social media sites and blogs.
Eight out of ten is a staggering number. And incontrovertible evidence that a company needs to have a presence on the larger social media channels if they wish to reach a wider audience. Just hitting the big ones—Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter—will expand a company’s reach by a very wide margin.
4. LinkedIn is an incredibly popular choice with marketers, 47% of whom use the site regularly.
LinkedIn is used in ways that Facebook or Twitter are usually not. Through LinkedIn, professionals can network with others in their industry and share relevant information. This is content marketing at its best. In fact, the top salespeople in their fields use LinkedIn for six hours every week—looking for information and reaching out to network with new people.
5. Despite all the spam messages out there today, Email remains the most popular communication method.
In addition to posting valuable content on their blog or through their social media accounts, companies also need to invest in real email marketing campaigns. There are a great many services out there that can help with automation and tracking, which enables a marketing team to focus more on the content being shared than with the details of actually sharing it.
If your company isn’t presently engaged in a content marketing campaign, a real opportunity to reach a new audience and expand your sales potential is being missed. As other online marketing techniques grow and expand (SEO, for example), the use of content marketing to increase sales will only go up. If you have any questions about how your company can get started with content marketing, please contact us.