What are 4 Key Goals in Content Marketing?

We  consume information with an almost manic obsession. In most homes the 50 inch plasma high definition television is babbling on in the corner enticing us to watch and listen while cooking, cleaning  or chilling out.

We jump in the car and the radio or GPS is informing us as we drive to work or as we head off to the shops.

At work the computer monitor tempts us with high definition photos on Facebook  or an online news stream filled with a torrent of multimedia content.

Escaping media while out and about is now almost impossible as walking down the street is now an exercise in collision avoidance with 3.5 inch screens filled with apps distracting most of the population.

We live in a noisy world of  three screens with digital media content that is hard to escape whether it is  television, computers or a smart phone.

The lonely printed  newspaper is now often just reserved as company for the weekend coffee as most media moves online.

Digital Media will Dominate by 2020

It was predicted as far back as 2008 that digital media would dominate by 2020. This momentum is accelerating and content is fast moving out of the offline closet and onto a digital screen near you.

This has been confirmed by new research from the Isobar/Carat global report that digital media will consume 80% of media usage.

The explosion of numbers in this digital and increasingly mobile media consuming world are headlined by these facts

• On Christmas day, 6.8 million smart phones were activated
• In the last week of 2011, 1.2 billion apps were downloaded
• The Guardian Newspaper gets 1 million page views per day via Facebook due to its Facebook app which was downloaded 5 million times with half of those being under the age of 24
• In 2011 YouTube had over 1 trillion video views

If the majority of your content is not being created for online viewing then you need to listen to these numbers.

Challenge of Content Creation

Creating content for this social online world is a constant challenge and what to write, record and produce comes down to time and resources.

If it is a text based article it needs a good headline, a enticing opening paragraph and an easy to read structure so people will not click away.

If it is a video it needs a professional persona and in a world with short attention spans the message needs to be delivered in seconds not minutes.

The Old Spice videos are typically 20-30 seconds!

4 Key Goals for Creating Content

The ultimate goal of content marketing is to be so engaging that your customers will eventually buy, but before you get that far you need to achieve one of these 4 foundational objectives to attract interest, increase page views and maintain reader loyalty.

1. Educate

This type of content is often prefaced by a headline that starts with “How” . People’s thirst for knowing how to start a blog, market their business or solve a problem that is consuming their attention will always be content worth creating and sharing.

Examples:

How to Create a Twitter Marketing Strategy that Rocks

5 Lessons from Coca Cola’s New Content Marketing Strategy

10 Reasons Why “Liquid” Content Should be in your Social Media Marketing

2. Inform

Keeping people up to date with the latest news was the domain of the  newspaper, trade magazines or television. Today the blog or social network such as Twitter or Facebook is the source.

Remember with this type of content it will quickly become old news and only has a certain shelf life.

Examples:

Apple makes Huge Announcement about Twitter

6 Social Media Networks to Watch in 2012 [Plus Infographics]

Google+ Sets New Growth Records

3. Entertain

Entertainment is quite often best done by video and you only have to view a Coca Cola ad or a funny video to appreciate the marketing power of entertainment . It doesn’t have to be a video and entertainment can also be a media type that informs and entertains.Infographics can also be included in this category. Humour is one of the vital components in this category.

Examples:

Test Your Breath   – The Stench that Stole Christmas [Video]

10 Reasons Why Ducks Just Don’t Get Social Media

20 Stunning Social Media Statistics Plus Infographic

4. Inspire

So educating, informing or entertaining when creating content is vital in your mix of content but one often overlooked goal is to provide “Inspiration“.

This can be a challenge but inspiring people to be better, to push their limits or to be successful should be woven into your content.

This content can be examples of other successful people that have overcome adversity people or creative examples that showcase others achievements.

Examples:

The 10 Best Facebook Campaigns

The 10 Secrets Of A Successful Social Media Blog

Choose a Dream

These types of content can stand alone or they can be integrated into one post or woven together.

How about You?

Remember that creating and publishing the content is just the start of the journey, the hard work has just begun after you hit the publish button.

Promoting and marketing your content to make it visible online is the next important step to success.

How is your content? Does it educate, inform and sometimes entertain?

Does it  inspire your readers?

More Reading

• What are 10 Addictive Types of Content?
• How to Increase Your Blog Traffic by 55% with One Button
• 5 Motivations for Sharing Content
• 20 Ideas for Social Media Content that Engages
• Is it Better to Share on Google, Facebook or Twitter+
• 9 Questions to Ask your Customers When Creating Content

Image by just.Luc