Flipping the corporate marketing model from all about your brand and its products and services to all about your customer is a lot like turning the Titanic.
It is slow and hard to do.
The challenge is that most companies have been brought up on a diet of pushing ads in front of people to sell their “stuff”.
It was about selling first and then engaging. In a digital world it is now about engagement first and selling second.
Content’s role in this is about creating such great value whether that is entertainment or education that it engages your customers and prospects.
This can be achieved by tempting them to subscribe with an email to obtain that information (content), join your Twitter feed to see the content stream past or “like” your Facebook page to be reminded when new content hits the Facebook timeline.
Content Impacts Search and Social
There are two other roles that content has that are maybe not apparent to the casual web user.
- Search – It is vital for optimizing your website and blogs to rank higher in search engines. The better the content and the more it is shared tells Google and other search engines that your website is worth reading. So it is pushed up the search rankings. If it is really good content it may even appear on the first page or even at number one (by the way by obtaining top ranking it receives about 40% of all clicks).
- Social – Important for driving social media sharing – the better the content the more it is shared. It is as simple as that. Crap content does not get shared. Fullstop!!
Here are 5 Infographics that share some valuable insights into how the content marketing game plays out on the world wide web.
#1. Anatomy of Content Marketing
This cool infographic from ContentPlus is about some of the fundamentals of content marketing.
Key Insights
- It provides a solid footing for your marketing as 70% of customers prefer getting to know a company through an article rather than an ad.
- Websites with blogs receive 55% more visitors.
- 63% of companies said posting content on social media has increased marketing effectiveness.
#2. Content for SEO
This awesome infographic by Brafton provides some more detail in the role of content in helping your website and blog rank higher in search engines.
Key Insights
- 92% of marketers say that content creation is either “very effective” or “somewhat effective” for SEO.
- 76% of marketers who have a strategic SEO campaign invest in content creation.
- 60% of business decision makers say branded content helps them make better product decisions.
- 52% of consumers say that blogs have impacted purchase decisions.
#3. Make Content Marketing Work in a Social and Mobile World
This infographic from Brightcove illustrates the importance of content (including video) that is able to be easily shared on social networks and viewed on mobile devices.
Key Insights
- Video is the best storytelling medium with a 1 minute video equivalent to 1.8 million words on the social and mobile web.
- Videos are 53 times more likely to appear on the first page of search results
- 84% of Internet users in 56 countries watch video at home on a computer at least once a month
#4. How we Consume Content from Brands
This infographic from Zmags is a look into the different types of content and how it is shared.
Key Insights
- 79% of content is viewed on social media
- The top three “go to” content types are article posting (78%), case studies (55%) and blogs (53%).
- The top 3 most effective content to inspire action are: Entering sweepstakes (40%), reading a promotiional email or newsletter (37%), becoming a fan or follower by liking a Facebook page.
#5. Is Content Marketing Advertising’s New Rival
This well designed infographic from Marketo looks at the rise of content marketing and its inroads into traditional advertising market.
Key Insights
- Companies with over 1,000 employees use on average 9 content marketing tactics.
- Twitter is the top social network when it comes to sharing content at 55% with Facebook at 54% and LinkedIn at 51%.
- 51% of companies said they were going to increase content marketing spending over the next 12 months
What About You?
How is your content marketing? Are you doing it well or can you do better?
What type of content works for your business?
Look forward to hearing your stories and experiences in the comments below.
Want to Learn More About How to Create Compelling Content that Your Audience Wants to Read, View and Share?
My book – Blogging the Smart Way “How to Create and Market a Killer Blog with Social Media” – will show you how.