Blogs, Podcasts and E-zines are three platforms and mediums which showcase your brand, the people behind it and their expertise. Producing good content online using these mediums should be a priority for your business.
Blogging: Google, Blogspot and WordPress are the two most popular blogging sites online. You can post articles, pictures and videos about your products or services. It can be a great tool to start a conversation with your customers.
Podcasting: Podcasting refers to regularly posting videos, audio files, articles, books and more. However, in recent times, audio streams are the most popular form of podcasting. Podcasting is usually used for posting radio shows, conversations, tutorials and news.
Developing E-zines: An e-zine is an email newsletter through which you can write articles on your industry, products or services for your customers.
‘Content is King’ may be a cliché, but nothing could be more truly said. When you want to catch the eyeballs of potential customers surfing the web, you have to focus on content, content and content.
Which Platform Should You Use?
Understand that all these three platforms may not suit your business. If you are an e-commerce site, selling pen drives and other electronic goods, blogging and creating e-zines would be perfect for you. If you are a theatre group, posting a teaser conversation of your upcoming play would work wonders in creating anticipation for it.
Chose a platform which would work to sell your product or service.
Good Content Gets Attention
Online marketing always puts content in the back seat. Things like SEO, website design, etc always gets more attention. However, it is good content that gives the final push to the customer and that calls upon action from the customer to purchase your product or service. Plus, search engines are becoming more and more focused on quality content.
Quality content must also be accompanied with good presentation. The articles can’t be too long. Take your target audience’s needs into account to decide style and length of your content. You can consider adding pictures and videos. Or you can just create an infographic to present all your information.
Customers are Always Looking to Learn
Customers who stumble upon quality content are always looking to learn. They are looking to gather valuable information. Consumers go to search engines not to find flashy ads, but to get information on particular topics which you can provide.
You do not want to post something irrelevant to your business. You don’t want to post an article about David Beckham when you are selling furniture. Instead, consider posting an article on types of wood used in furniture making. Internet users who search for types of wood used in furniture are planning on purchasing furniture.
If people like your information, they will keep coming back and will even recommend your site to friends.
Content Drive Traffic
Search engines are growing smarter by the day and the top results are usually from sites that have good quality content. Search engines also use keywords; however, good content is not overloaded with keywords. In fact, if your article is overloaded with keywords, it would be ignored by search engines as a marketing gimmick.
If your content is good, customers will share it through social media sites.
Good content drives traffic to your website. People become aware of your brand name and once they are on your site, there are chances that they would purchase your product.
Builds Audience
When you post quality content, it engages customers, provides information and keeps bringing them back. With RSS readers and social media sites, you’ll find customers subscribing to your website.
Viral Power
The internet has a viral power that crosses time and countries; however it is only good content that can unlock viral power. Through social media sites, the instant your content is posted, it can be shared across networks and if it is really good, don’t be surprised if it is circulated all across the internet.
With good content, your brand name will carry forward, creating awareness and building long lasting relationships with your customers.
About the Author,
Peter Hart – Tech Entrepreneur and Director at Rapid Boost Marketing. Experienced in helping Small and Medium size services business with digital marketing. Connect with Peter on LinkedIn and Twitter