Most Common Content Marketing Mistakes To Avoid
Think of any marketing campaign that caught your eye – it would have done so because of amazing content. But content marketing is not just about creating amazing content; the success of any content marketing strategy depends on multiple factors. And this is where most businesses falter. So, what are the common content marketing mistakes to avoid? What should you do to avoid them? The Computing Australia Group digital marketing team answer these for you.
7 Most Common Mistakes to Avoid in Content Marketing
According to Google’s data, daily searches rose from 3.6 billion to a whopping 6 billion after March 2020. Content marketing is the most efficient tool to tap into this increasing surge of organic web traffic. While this marketing strategy was essential before the pandemic, 2020 and 2021 have emphasised the significance of content marketing on organic traffic. So, let’s look at the mistakes you can easily avoid to tap into the available resources seamlessly.
1. Not knowing your audience
Not meeting your audience’s expectations is one of the biggest mistakes you can make as a content creator. Of course, you need to research what is happening in your industry and with your competitors. But you also need to ensure that it is relevant to your customers. One way to do that is to analyse the audience data and see what type of posts or campaigns get the most engagement. Surveys and polls on your social media accounts is another effective way of finding customer interests. You can also check what kind of content is most popular for your closely related competitors.
2. No content goals
Your content marketing strategies should aim to increase brand awareness, generate more traffic, and create content that caters to your audience’s preferences. Strategies are built on goals. It will be hard to have a successful campaign by taking blind shots in the dark. So, create buyer personas and outline the goals you have for each persona. Your content strategy should be centred around the goals you aim to achieve.
The content goal should also be ensured at the individual post level. For example, if you want to write an SEO guide for business owners, there is not much use in talking about technical SEO in detail. Business owners will be more interested in the financial and time aspects of SEO rather than the actual heavy technical process. That’s an SEO professional’s job.
3. Inconsistent schedule
While it is good to have a website, having an active website is even better. And what can make your website more dynamic than a well-maintained blog? Publishing blog content regularly will increase your organic web traffic, earn you more visibility on the SERPs and give you more social media shares. Make use of a content scheduling calendar to upload new content consistently.
Need to start a blog but not sure how to begin? Read our blog on how to start a blog in WordPress.
4. Not tracking your analytics
The key to maintaining success is by improving constantly. For a content marketing strategy to be effective, you must look at the available data and rework your strategy accordingly. Observe the trends, demographics, channels that produce the highest ROI, and content with the highest engagement. Compare the results with your goals. If you have already achieved the goals, go for higher goals. If you haven’t reached the goals yet, improve on the areas lacking and persevere by focusing on the tactics that are performing well.
5. Sticking to one form of content
Off the top of your head, how many types of content will you be able to list? Blog posts, articles, videos, images, audios, infographics, polls, lists, e-books, reports, case studies, memes… the list is pretty long. Now, how many of these items do you use in a blog post generally? While adding an image or two to a long, written post is a start, it’s never enough to keep a reader engaged. Videos and infographics usually have the most engagement rates. Why? Because they are more enjoyable and often easier to understand. So, spice up your content marketing by infusing multiple forms of content.
6. Not optimising for mobile devices
Mobile devices, mobile phones especially, are an inseparable part of our day-to-day lives. According to popular studies, 55% of the population prefer mobile devices over laptops or desktops. Most people check websites out and read through the blogs on their mobile devices. Imagine the number of leads and customers you could lose by not creating content that they can easily consume through their phones. Failing to optimise content for mobile is a fatal mistake you don’t want to make as a content creator. Learn how to create content optimised for mobile here.
7. Not adding enough CTAs
Have you ever wondered why you get enough traffic on all your posts, but the conversion rates don’t get better? A great blog post wouldn’t always grant you more leads. You have to give the visitors an extra push to convert them into a lead or a customer. And CTAs are the perfect way to do that. Remember always to insert a CTA on every piece of content that you publish.
Content marketing is an excellent tool for increasing inbound traffic and generating more leads. Though it sounds easy, content marketing is a tricky aspect to navigate. Understanding what not to do is as important as what to do to help you establish a name for yourself as a thought leader. By avoiding the most common content marketing mistakes, you can appeal to a broader audience and have a successful campaign. Here’s a handy content writing checklist to skim through before you hit “Publish”. Do you need a reliable marketing team to push your content to higher grounds? Contact us or email us at sales@computingaustralia.group for high-quality content and creative marketing strategies.
Jargon Busters
Buyer persona: A buyer persona is a detailed depiction of someone who represents your target demographic.
CTA: A call to action (CTA) is an instruction to the audience on what they should do as the next step when they come across a piece of content.
Technical SEO: It is the optimisation of the technical aspects of a website to help search engines crawl, index and understand web pages better.
Vaikhari A