Top tips: Creating engaging content

When looking at almost any company website, you’ll see a range of thought leadership, case studies, breakdown videos and much more. Yet when you poke around the wider web, those stories don’t exist anywhere else, in any shape and form. This is a sign of poor content marketing, and it’s one of the most common pitfalls of marketing strategy. After all, how will people invest in your products and services if unaware of them?

Getting eyes on your carefully curated content will drive traffic and generate leads for your business. The question is how… Do you regularly pitch out guest posts magazines? Do you badger bloggers with endless emails? Do you stream non-stop social media videos?

Grammatik is here to share our top tips to getting eyes on your content.

Press

External websites, magazines, and blogs can often be your best portal to a wider audience… but it’s also a portal you have absolutely no control over. Not to worry, there are a few ways to increase your chances of getting published….

The early bird gets the worm – Journalists are almost always up against a deadline. Give them a chance to fit content in their editorial calendar. When possible, send a trimmed down version of your press release under embargo in advance of the actual.
Be ‘press-friendly’ – Company content often needs to be re-written before it is pitched to external media outlets. Your language should be friendly, but formal, with practical takeaways for the reader. DO NOT be overly promotional or flowery. A journalist’s goal is to inform readers, not sell your product.
Bespoke is best – Think about the media outlet in question. Tech-heavy jargon is a big no when it comes to mainstream media like The Guardian, but is favourable for niche professional outlets like FXguide.

Social Media

If content marketing is about the way you distribute and promote a story, what better platform than social media? There are over 3.2 billion active social media users worldwide. That’s a massive audience.

Be aware of the big hitters – Every company should maintain a presence on several of the main platforms such as Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram.
Think about who’s online – The channel you use largely depends on the content in question. For example, business development stories best suit LinkedIn, whilst visual stories make up Instagram.
Update, update, update – Every channel should be updated with content on a semi-regular basis, and you should always include a link back to your company website.

Influencers

Promoting content on social media is not just limited to the channels you control. A great way to ensure better reach and visibility is to bring in other influencers – people related to your industry, who can agree with your viewpoint. Here’s how to make it happen:

Often times, these influencers will want compensation such as a free sample or payment. Think about what you’re willing to give.
Sometimes, influencers might be open to co-marketing. They post your content stories, and in exchange, you post theirs. Quid pro quo.
Very occasionally, they might just be willing to do you a favour. Give it a try!

Bonus: Newsletters

It might be ‘old hat’, but newsletters are a tried and tested method of getting eyes on your content. The main advantage of newsletters is that you deliver them directly to customers, have almost total control over the flow of traffic, and can present content however you like.

Newsletters are particularly useful for product updates and company announcements – any news that could appeal to your existing customer base.

Bonus: What not to do

Don’t promote ‘yesterday’s news’ unless there’s been a significant update to the story. You might be able to get away with delaying for a few days, or even a couple of weeks, but definitely not months. The news cycle is fast-moving and selective – and quality content adheres to this rule.
Don’t promote content without at least some visual interest (or auditory interest, for radio). Images and videos are vital in our digital world, and there are thousands of statistics to back this up. For instance, did you know that online video will make up more than 82% of all consumer internet traffic by 2020? It’s true!