If you’re part of the 86% who use some form of content marketing in your overall marketing strategy, then you know that a content strategy is imperative to your success with increasing brand visibility for your company.
This is the beauty of content marketing, that writing a few words can make such a difference. But it only makes a difference if the people you’re writing for are actually reading what you have to say.
Content can get your brand in front of potential advocates or customers if they know it exists. If they know where to find it.re
If you’re creating unique, compelling content that’s not reaching your target audience, then you’re missing out the true power of content.
And since brand awareness became the #1 goal for B2B organizations in 2015, it’s important to ensure your content is reaching the right people.
You should be targeting specific people that can benefit your brand – think future customers, advocates, and partners.
As for the question of how they find your content?
At first, you need to go out and find them.
While blogs, social media, and newsletters are excellent ways to share content with your existing audience, there are other ways that are more effective for reaching new people.
If you want to use content to boost your brand’s visibility and reach a new segment of your target audience, try one of these content types:
3 ways you can use content to increase brand visibility
Guest blogging
No, it’s not dead. Not by a long shot.
The thing about blogging on your own branded platform is that the people visiting your website directly already know who you are. It won’t expand your reach.
That’s why it’s important to branch out and get your content on other sites as well. Guest blogging lets you reach another brand’s audience and “borrow” their platform for one post.
Not only will it increase your brand visibility by reaching a broader audience, but it also helps position you and your brand as a thought leader in your industry.
Content bundles
As any savvy marketer knows, creating killer content takes time.
And if you’re dedicating time and effort to each piece of content, you want to make sure you’re getting everything you can out of it. A long-form piece of content, like a white paper or ebook, can easily be turned into several shorter-form pieces like blog posts, infographics, or SlideShare presentation.
Repurpose until you can’t repurpose anymore.
This gives new audience members so many different ways to discover your brand, as opposed to a single landing page for a single piece of content.
Then you can recombine all of the different content types – posts, videos, graphics – into one big content bundle.
The magic in bundling content pieces together is that it allows you to cater to the various preferences of your audience. Some people might want to learn whatever you’re teaching during a webinar, but they prefer text content to video. Publishing a written recap solves for that and gives everyone what they want!
Shorter pieces can also be used to tease and promote the full piece. For example, placing a CTA at the bottom of a blog post to drive readers to the full whitepaper. More action = more awareness.
Interactive content
Video marketing has become an overwhelmingly popular preference for both marketers and web users alike.
Not too surprising to hear, since of the 76% of B2B marketers who reported using video in their 2015 marketing strategy, 80% found it to be an effective tactic. Even more impressive is the 80% of senior executives who watch more video now than they did a year ago!
Interactive content like video propels users to stay and continue watching, to learn more. People don’t just fast forward to the end, the way they might quickly scroll through a blog post.
It’s also worth noting that if they find the first video they watch valuable, they’ll come back for more or share with a friend – furthering your brand awareness and increasing your visibility.
Now what?
So you’ve cranked up your content efforts to appease your audience, but how do you know your increased efforts are increasing your brand visibility?
Because so many of the content metrics you measure will be in the form of social media engagements, shares, and website traffic, using a brand monitoring service can help you better understand who are interacting with your content.
Keep an eye out for anyone who shares your brand’s content or provides feedback. See what they have to say about it. You want to make sure your content strategy meets your audience’s needs and builds community.
