Three Content Marketing Mistakes You Should Avoid

Business LoungeOctober 24, 2018

“Content is King” – Bill Gates

We often hear this term when it comes to the digital marketing world. There’s no doubt that without content, websites and online business are doomed to fail. We have to create fresh, relevant, and unique content to entice our customers to click it. The moment they like the content, they are most likely to share it with their friends and circulate it. This circulation and propagation of content increase the exposure of the website. That way, one can reach as many potential customers as possible. Therefore, content creation and marketing are critical in any online business.

If you feel like your website is not getting the exposure you want, there must be something wrong with your content. We recommend that you reassess your strategies together with your marketing team. Moreover, avoid these three content marketing mistakes as they may wrecking your ROI.

Mistake #1: Your Content May Be Too Branded

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The use of sponsored content is an effective way to promote our products and services. However, you should limit posting contents like this. If you have a tendency of repeating sponsored content, your readers may lose interest to further engage with you as they may feel that your website’s main purpose is to promote your brand, not engaging and connecting with them. If you want to promote your products, do so in a more natural way. Don’t sound too promotive. Engage with your readers well without sounding something like an ad post. Here are some quick fix you can do:

Focus on featuring benefits, not the features or brand itself.
For example, if you’re a car insurance company, create content about safe driving, not about how to find the best insurance out there.
Place your logo on content once in a noticeable but not eye-catching area. The bottom of an infographic or a single link in an article work well.
Use subtle methods of incorporating branding, like fonts or colors, that don’t immediately call attention to the company but are reminiscent of the brand.

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Mistake #2: Not Getting Your Audience Involved

When you write content, make sure that it can engage and connect with your customers. Don’t create content that will only demonstrate about you, your brand, or your company. Create a content that your audience can relate to. A great example for this is to give out some tips, how to’s, and benefits. At the end of your content, invite your readers to give out their opinion too. It will make them feel special and they will most likely engage with you in the comment section. Studies show that an interactive or a two-way interaction is effective in engaging with your customers. Aside from writing articles, interactive and live videos are great way to connect with your customers too.

Mistake #3: Conveying Facts But Missing Emotion.

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This is actually in connection with the previous mistake. Your blog is a great medium to demonstrate your expertise in your field. As such, you should express various facts and technicalities to back up your knowledge about a certain topic. However, don’t be tempted to overload your customers with facts, graphs, and technical terms. These signs are a major turn-off to your customers.

While it is a great idea to share some knowledge with your customers, you have to remember that not all of them have the same level of expertise as you. It is important to empathize with your customers. Connect with them through real-life stories and emotions instead of technicalities. Your content will become more powerful and meaningful if you invoke an emotion to your customers out of your content. Here are the fixes you can make:

Don’t think of content as an article or instructographic — think of it as a story. Ask yourself: What does this information actually mean to the person reading it, and how can I illustrate this? That’s when the story comes in.
Read your own content. Write down three words about how it made you feel, being as specific as possible. If none of these words are an emotion or they’re too vague (and are instead “informative” and “interesting” rather than say “surprising” and “inspiring,”) start from scratch.
Consider incorporating the emotions that often lead to virality in order to give your content an edge right from the beginning.