In this article I will explain how to master content marketing by creating content that offers value to your audience, demonstrates your expertise, and creates social media content for a month or more.
Many entrepreneurs struggle with content creation. They focus on social media marketing, churning out hundreds of short form posts every year. Often repeating themselves and unfortunately connecting with few quality clients. If they do get a good response and find clients to work with, they produce less content meaning they lose their reach, and their client intake slows down. It takes planning and determination to keep this unproductive method working for you.
Short form content alone is not truly sustainable and can easily create many growth pains for entrepreneurs. Why?
- Writing short form content that connects takes practice and skill.
- Remaining consistent at writing posts is hard when you are busy with clients
- Once those posts have been published for about two weeks, they offer little value because they will appear low down in the search results, on your profile, plus they’ll only get to about 20% of your audience and that is being optimistic. (Usually it’ about 5%).
- Handing this crucial part of your business over to someone else can be a hard and painful process. VA’s, PA’s an even most agencies will not write as you do or know what you do.
I have been managing the online presence of small businesses since 2009. Combining content marketing and social media marketing, more specifically blogging, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. I have helped small businesses grow to over a million in turnover with effective content marketing strategies.
So, how can any expert or keen entrepreneur, effectively master content marketing and create social media content to promote their business on the internet with minimal effort?
1. Decide what you are going to write about.
Choose your topics. I tend to focus on four main topics over the entire year. Don’t reinvent the wheel. Use topics that people will understand and desire. These are mine, Entrepreneur Marketing, Growth Marketing, Entrepreneur Skills, and Heart Centred Business. I then share my experience, knowledge, and expertise within these four topics. These topics relate to the goals for my business. I can write about multiple different things under one topic. Getting specific about what you are about and defining four topics will improve your consistency.
2. Write Long form content.
Aim to write one thousand words or more. I Guarantee it will not be as hard as you think. Decide a title, for this article mine is “5 easy steps to master content marketing and fill your social media channels for a month.”.
Then write the objective of the article, an introduction. For example, “In this article I will explain how to master content marketing by creating content that offers value to your audience, demonstrates your expertise, and creates social media content for a month or more.”
Write only the subtitles, the points you are going to make and then write the conclusion. My subtitles are listed 1, 2, 3 ,4 and 5.
Once you have your structure write the main content in more detail. It’s best to keep it informative and to the point. Don’t over explain. One crucial thing is to mention who you are and what your expertise or experience is. This helps people know why they should listen to you.
Long form content with you name on it is the first step to becoming recognised as an expert by the internet. Once you start consistently producing longform content you start your journey to getting organic clients for life. Never remove it, always create more, and update the old content if things change or you have new knowledge.
3. Use article templates
Use article formats or templates that are easy for people to read and give you a guide to follow. They will stop you writing too much, save you hours of editing, and make it easier for your audience to understand.
There are many article formats available to you. All the big internet magazines that you most likely read use them. See if you can spot them. This article is written as a super list with context and images, for example.
Other formats are “the contrarian truth”, “the popularity piggyback” and many others.
(Get in touch if you would like to know more article formats).
Using these formats makes writing articles easy, fun, effective, and most importantly understandable.
4. Use keywords when creating content as marketing
What are keywords? Keywords are the correct terminology to define what you do. They are the words that your audience will search to find you.
They are called keywords; however, they are often actually a combination of words, a phrase. For example, “master content marketing” and “create social media content” are two I have used in this article.
You can find your keywords in various ways. Searching google, asking your clients what they searched before they found you, and by using the many keyword tools available to you. Keywords will get you found. They are also often understandable to your clients. Knowing your keywords will make all your efforts worthwhile.
5. Break your article down into social media posts
If you have used a listicle like this it’s easier to break your points down into individual posts. In this article I have focussed on the conflict and the problem that people have and, in the problem, I have made four points. Then I have created a hook that leads onto my five tips, and then I have a conclusion. I will share each of these things as separate posts to social media.
Like this
- The conflict
- The problem introduction statement
- Point 1
- Point 2
- Point 3
- Point 4
- The Hook
- Tip 1
- Tip 2
- Tip 3
- Tip 4
- Tip 5
- The conclusion
That means I have created at least thirteen social media posts writing this one article. I will most likely create two posts for each point. One longer form and one shorter form. With a photo or without. I can even make short videos on my phone explaining the points and do a story and even live for each point.
So, how to put it all together. The magic!
Write the post and publish it on your website. Take the points I have demonstrated above and edit them slightly for social media. Create two versions of each post. In this example I have created twenty-six posts.
List the lives and stories you can do that relate to the article. I can see seven here.
The conflict, the problem, and the five tips.
Find some relevant pictures to draw attention to your posts on social media. Post the article as a link to your website on all your social media networks first. Then share your posts you’ve created in the order you see fit to all your social media channels.
Pro tips:
Only post the article once and pin it to the top of your wall.
Do not include a link in every post.
Create some branding.
Invest in scheduling software. Especially one with a csv import.
An article a week keeps the paid advertising cheap.
– Matt Love
