Communications, Media & Strategy Gavel

Those who ignore or are careless about content development and marketing for their brands today are playing with the future. The future is now and it can also be tomorrow. Wherever the future is for you, just be sure you are making it a great dawn.

For those who know, online content development must begin with listening and keen observation of your online environment. It is when this has been done that you can roll out your strategy and planning.

When this is in place, then you can begin the content creation and development journey. It is important to also think about your marketing and distribution routes otherwise your efforts will not earn you much result. It is important to note that content that cannot connect and convert may serve no good purpose except to fan the ego of the publisher.

One other stuff many forget in this journey is that they often overlook the importance of purpose and proper understanding of the brand’s identity before they set out. The other basic issue is to properly capture who the target audience, focus of the content publishing will be addressed to. No mass message if you must be successful. Your content must go through the ‘customization strong room’ where many other staff, audience may not be able to enter with ease.

In this piece, let us discuss some of the issues you must consider if your brand must maximize content marketing for your brand.

Quality: Always note, the noise level is on the increase and there is no guarantee it will go down in any time soon. The web 2.0 property has placed power in the hand of everyone. Getting out quality content will help.

Quantity: Because of the high ratio of online lurkers, many content publishers believe it is appropriate to join the quantity group. This may not be a total bad idea since you are likely to increase site traffic. The only snag is making sure the quantity you are pushing is vital, helpful and highly relevant to your target. Otherwise you will do more damage than good to the brand.

Keyword research: to take greater advantage of content publishing for your brand, first do a keyword research online and find out how your effort will be rewarded. Content publishing without a focused on keyword is a wasted effort and which may not enjoy better reward for the time and energy involved. First, do your homework on which keyword will help you achieve your aim. Without this basic exercise, you may be on a long journey to nowhere

Search engine focused content: in addition to the above, be sure you are publishing search engine focused content. If your content cannot help your search engine visibility and optimization, it is better you do not start out at all.

Mobile compatibility: majority of your target are now using mobile  equipments. If you cannot programme your content for mobile compatibility, most of your efforts will not be beneficial to you or your target. Carry your web designer along so they know what you are aiming at.

Understand content platforms: this is a golden advice. Know what works in different content platforms so you do not run against established rules.

Central hub: One easy way that can cause the failure of your brand’s content publishing and marketing strategy is lack of a central hub. This is often called the power house through which content arrows are shut. While it is great to run accounts on 140 characters, faceBook and Linkedin, having a platform which allows the use of greater flexibility in the use of words will help you to enhance quality of the dialogue. The central hub will be house to your Case studies, RSS feed, WhitePapaer, EBooks etc.