Welcome to Part 2 of my series and I am discussing some content marketing changes happening over the next few months that will impact blogging. It doesn’t matter if you are a beginner or experienced because you will have to ensure you start incorporating these changes to stay ahead of your competition. Content marketing can be awesome to generate traffic, conversions, and profit, but you’re still going to have competition. This means you have to continually tweak your content to understand the way your audience engages with it going forward. In Part 1, we discussed how the following:
- Mobile friendly blogging
- Images and infographics
This will help push you in the right direction and allow you to engage more people with your content. Please provide your feedback on Part 1 and let me know if you agree or disagree with my statement. Today, I’ll be discussing some more important elements of content marketing that you have to pay close attention to. Let’s get started…
Personalization
I can’t explain how personalization and building a connection with your audience is important when blogging. You have to find a way to stand out compared to your competition and building a “personal†brand is the best way. This is why many bloggers have decided to start a blog using their name, for example:
- JohnChow.com
- NeilPatel.com
- ZacJohnson.com
This strategy is NOT only important within blogging because you see other successful entrepreneurs doing the same, like Donald Trump. Personalization within content marketing is especially important because if you can build trust and credibility, it’ll help promote your content when your name is mentioned within inner circles. Imagine how many pieces of content you have read simply because of the author. This is because you know the author will provide value and you can trust their opinion on a product or service they are endorsing. I know many of you are asking how can you implement this into your content marketing…right?
Here are a few ways:
- Always provide value
- Be genuine
- Answer feedback
- Provide unique content that can’t be found anywhere else
Going forward, I can promise you that blogging and content will be more personalized going forward. You want people to hear your name and know right away that they’ll find something special on your blog.
Networking
Here’s a new trend developing and you might have noticed it if you are online a lot reading blogs. First, you’ve noticed many people are guest blogging on other popular authority blogs. It’s also not uncommon to find expert posts, interviews, etc., about influential bloggers within your niche. Building these relationships opens huge opportunities for both the experienced and beginners within the industry. This is why, going forward, you should try to network as much as possible so you can build your brand.
Here are a few ways this content marketing strategy can help going forward…
First, writing content on other bloggers builds your initial connection with them so the next time you reach out, you have a better chance of them replying. Secondly, by writing guest content, you have the potential to drive traffic to your blog, which, again, increases your brand and conversions. Expert posts help because after publishing, they often get shared, which is great to build social momentum. For example, here is a quick roundup I did months back: 14 Expert Bloggers Discuss Their Most Effective Link Building Techniques
Investing in Content Marketing
Here is a short one that I think will apply to those with a budget but is very important. Many bloggers and companies will shift how they spend their money toward content marketing. This change is, again, because they understand the importance and know how an investment now can produce long-term success. If you are starting, then you might not have the investment, but this won’t stop bigger companies from doing it. You should try and learn from them so you can maybe one day implement the same strategies into your content marketing.