A recent research done by Content Marketing Institute states that 76% of B2B marketers are creating more content than they did one year ago.

This goes to prove that content marketing has significantly evolved these recent years. Content marketers surely realized its importance so brands can reach out to their audience.

Content marketing done right will definitely help businesses grow in terms of creating brand awareness, generating leads and building a steady flow of sales.

Here are 10 best practices for content marketers:

Start With a Plan

Without a solid content marketing plan, you will end up marketing your content in the dark.

As you start planning, you should be able to at least answer to the following questions:

• Who is your target market?
  This important because it will help you create content that your audience can resonate with.This is a sure-fire way to create audience engagement and increase the probability of them taking action.
• What types of content will you produce?
  As you start content marketing, it is good to have a mix of content types. Later on, you can identify which ones you should keep or not based on analytics. Here are examples of the types of content: how-to articles, list articles, infographics, quotes, interviews, roundups, product reviews, case studies, contests etc…
• How will your content be managed?
  Have a system in place. Consider the following: who will create the content and how will it be created, when will content be published and what tools will you use to analyze content performance.

Keep Your Content Short And Simple

We are in an era of bite-sized information. The simpler you present your message or idea, the easier it will be digested by your audience. The outcome: increased possibility of your content being shared.

Keep your messages short and straightforward. Refrain from using complicated words that will only confuse your audience and make them abandon your page.

Repurpose And Publish Content Consistently

There is no need to come up with a unique idea every time you need to publish a content. Convert one content type to another and tweak as necessary.

Example, convert your how-to article to an infographic or convert your audio interviews to a slideshow presentation.

This is a good way to ensure that you have enough content in the pipeline.

Delegate and/or Outsource

One key element in content marketing is it must be up-to-date. This means you have to produce quality content fast. This is when you should consider delegating or outsourcing tasks you are not good at.

If you love social media management but you have a limited design skill, hire a graphic designer to create compelling images.

Or if you are an expert in a certain topic in content marketing and very much in tune with the trends in digital marketing but hate to write, look for a writer who can translate your ideas into written words.

The possibility is endless when you learn to delegate and/or outsource.

Use SEO

Yes, you should right for your audience. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t write for search engines, too. Knowledge in SEO will keep you apart from mediocre content marketers. This is will be your secret arsenal. You should at the very least know the importance of using:

• relevant keywords, where they should be placed and how often they should be used
• unique and compelling meta description
• image ALT Tags
• Internal and external links
• anchor text

If you need to learn more about SEO, you can read  A Complete Guide to SEO.

Have The Right Tools

It wouldn’t hurt to have the right tools to help you with certain areas of content marketing.

Find time to review your existing tools. Ask yourself does it still fit my requirements? Are there other tools that are more up-to-date? Is it better to outsource someone instead than use this software?

In deciding for the right tools to use, consider these to keep these 5 essentials:

• Social media scheduling tool like Hootsuite
• Writing app like Grammarly
• Design tool like Canva
• SEO tools and plug-ins like SEMRush and Yoast for WordPress
• Email marketing tool like Aweber

Know The Right Words to Say

Write compelling content. I am sure you always hear this. It is because you should. Aside from solving a problem, your content should always convince people to take action – to click the “buy now” button, to sign up to your opt-in form or to visit another link. Here are a few things to consider in making sure you use the right words:

• Evoke emotion
• Avoid passive words
• Create a sense of exclusivity and urgency
• Craft your CTA carefully

Have a Crisis Management Plan

Everybody who has an access to the internet has the power to leave both positive and negative feedback about your brand. Be prepared in handling nasty comments.

If you are working with a team, train them how to strategically respond in case a “crisis” happens. Prepare pre-approved or canned messages that can be used during certain situations. Be witty, be creative, be apologetic (if you have to) and always take accountability.

Have a solid escalation process in place and know when to take conversations offline.

Always be Learning

Be up-to-date with the latest trends in the digital marketing space. Attend networking events that will connect you with key players in the field.

Learn from the experts by studying what they do best. Also look into their weaknesses so you can avoid doing their mistakes. Sign up to their newsletters and follow them in social media.

Implement what you have learned over time and experiment if this is something that your audience will appreciate.

Promote Consistently

Awesome content is nothing if nobody will benefit from it. Have a marketing calendar in place. Update your calendar quarterly.

Determine your evergreen content and set it up as autoresponders/follow-up messages to your newsletter subscribers.

Schedule content promotion in your social media accounts – consider reasonable timing so it won’t appear spammy or too pushy.

These best practices we’ll guide you in making sure you have stellar content marketing strategy. Do you have anything else to add to this list? Feel free to share it in the comment section below!

Featured image via Pixabay and edited with Canva.

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