Key Takeaways:
- Keys to Frequency and Consistency of Content
- How to Showcase Your Unique Expertise
- Optimizing Your Content
- Analyzing Your Marketing
You know you’re an expert in your field. Your team knows this. But how do you let other people know this?
How do you position yourself as an expert – a thought leader – especially in the COVID era, which has accelerated a massive influx of content?
“Attention spans are short. If you don’t pull buyers in quickly, they’re gone.”
–2021 B2B Thought Leadership Impact Study
This means – No rambling thoughts. Direct, concise content is key. But is that enough to get attention?
What Are the Keys to Successful Content Marketing?
Frequency drives traffic.
Research has continually proven that an increase in content marketing will drive traffic.
Blogging monthly and posting on social media weekly should be considered a bare minimum. What does that really look like? That’s 12 articles + 52 social posts per year.
For some that are starting at zero, that’s a lot. It’s a good place to start.
If you’re already there, we suggest you plan to double it – and then double it again in 6 months. This will get you up to weekly blogs and four posts per week on social media – 52 articles + 208 posts.
This isn’t unattainable. Many successful businesspeople accomplish it regularly. If you sat down and dedicated time to your content plan, this could reasonably come together in 1-2 days.
Consistency is Key to Successful Content Marketing
To help build awareness, loyalty and trust, consistency is important. This is mostly focused on branding, but it can also be applied to the content itself.
Brand consistency allows people to visually recall, and not have to think about, ‘who you are’.
It allows for a faster trust response and greater loyalty.
Look at it this way: Think of how much easier it is to go into a store a second time vs. the first time. Think about a chain restaurant – once you’ve been in once you’re more confident in visiting any of them.
Content is king – and so is consistency.
Content consistency keeps people returning to your site for specific information.
Here’s an example: If you publish a weekly wrap-up on Facebook every Friday, that could keep someone returning to your page looking for that every Friday. Then, based on Facebook’s algorithm, they will naturally see more of your content through the week as well.
Decision Makers Want Quality Thought Leadership Content
Thought leadership is about more than just information and keywords on your website.
Thought leadership is about creativity and innovation, being a scientist in your own field. So, you have to be willing to be original and pioneering in the content you present.
Some ways to share or showcase your thought leadership:
- Video or Podcast Interviews
- Case Studies of your work or results
- Articles or Videos explaining your thoughts or hypotheses
- Articles or Videos sharing your research
- Writing a book
- Developing a course or program
Thought Leaders Benefit from Validation & Social Proof
It’s a great start to share your thought leadership on your own website and social media channels.
But the real proof often comes when others validate you as a thought leader by sharing your content on their sites and platforms.
If you’re good at consistency and quality, this will eventually come on its own. But, you can speed up the process. For instance, many sites accept guest blogging submissions or look for guest hosts on their podcasts. There are also PR sites and even hashtags used by journalists to find experts in particular areas. When you’re ready to seek, you will find…
Thought Leadership + Technology
Let’s dig deeper into one of our thought leadership areas on the topic: technology and systems.
In addition to Consistency, Quality, and Validation – all of which are necessary – you need to incorporate some tactics with technology to compete with all the content that’s inundating our online world right now.
Strategy:
We’ve already broken down exactly how many articles and posts you needed to fill an entire annual content calendar.
In most cases, this shouldn’t just be a random collection of thoughts and musings.
Your content calendar should be planned out and strategized based on:
- your ideal client profiles
- considering annual trends
- your client needs
Why do you need to do this?
Simple. What your clients need and want will translate into what they’re searching for, which leads us to the next point: search engine optimization.
Search Engine Optimization Helps Thought Leaders Get Found
Everyone wants their content at the top of a Google search.
If you want your content to show up in Google when someone searches, you need to help Google find it by optimizing your page, content, images, and videos.
To optimize, you need to:
- First, do research on what exactly your ideal clients are searching for in the first place.
- Next, optimize by working those words and phrases into your title, sub-titles, text, image alt-text, video descriptions, and anywhere else you can.
Optimization Tip: If you use WordPress, Yoast SEO is a very popular, easy-to-use plugin that can help you analyze each article and give suggestions for improvements.
Analytics
Okay, you wrote great content, you optimized it, you shared it, now it’s time to analyze the results.
This is more than just looking at the numbers. This is actually part of the cyclical content planning process.
The data you derive from the content you created should help you make educated decisions on where to focus your efforts going forward. If a particular topic got a lot of interest or if a particular word in a title gets more clicks, it makes sense to write about it again.
Consider Outside Trends to Shape Your Content Marketing
Look at what’s going on in the world and in your industry. Don’t be afraid to pivot or add on when you see an opportunity. An extra post or two never hurts.
From our experience with our clients, the best results and return on efforts have come from people meeting the needs of their ideal client on a consistent basis.
Team up your knowledge in your field – with our first-rate digital marketing techniques – and let the world know who you are. To set up a time to chat, click here.
