The power of great branding can not be measured when it comes to content marketing. The amount of engagement, referrals and word of mouth marketing can go a long way when it comes to connecting to your target audience. For branding to be effective in the online arena, you not only need to able to speak to your customer’s interests. You have to be able to create a relationship where information and value is constantly exchanged.
Think about our everyday lives and the value being created. We go to the gas station to get gas; we go to the grocery store to get food. The same concept can be applied when it comes to content marketing. Is your target audience coming to you for information? A connection? A sense of community?
There’s a number of approaches you can take to solve the given equation.
As business owners, entrepreneurs and content creators we need to consistently create conversations where there is a clear exchange of information and value. The overall goal should be to form a pattern that’s natural to your business and brand. Taking this approach will not only help you connect your brand to your content. It can also help you with figuring out:
- How your target audience interacts with your content.
- Identify how your target audience makes decisions.
- Cultivate more customer personas.
- What information is needed the most (creates the more value).
4 Key Questions That Need To Be Answered
- Who is your target audience? Identifying your target audience is about listening to the information that is being presented. The next step is to perform a series of experiments that speak to the interests of your target audience. Including identifying the main channels of communication and which content formats are most popular with your customers. This is a key step in the process because you will eventually be using content to engage with your target audience.
- Where does your target audience consume content? When discussing platforms and channels on the Internet, a great way to think about it is like Broadcast TV. You know where to find sports, food or drama. When connecting your content to your brand, the focus should be distribution. Content is flexible, your target audience’s channel may not be. The goal is to identify your target audience’s channel, create engaging content and encourage conversations that promote value. No matter which channel you choose whether it be Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter or all four. You’ll have to sit back, do your research and study online behavior. Be aware, all social media platforms are not the same and may require a different online persona.
- What information does your target audience need? Turning “information” into content is about control. Controlling the conversation, controlling the way people view your brand, even controlling how people engage with the information that’s being presented. When it comes to content marketing, information and the use of it can be a business owner’s greatest advantage. To properly control content, you need to understanding how content performs on every level and how you can create conversations around it. The key is to take the information you want to share and transform it into a content format that your target audience is use to seeing. Information transforms into content when it is received in a format that we recognize. Once you have gathered the appropriate information for distribution, the next step is to find the right channels and to make sure your content is there to be discovered.
- What is the culture surrounding your target audience? Creating a culture around your online community is just about combining the right experiences to your brand. It all starts with people, process and technology. The key is to always make people feel welcomed when it comes to your brand and online persona. No matter what industry or business sector you’re apart of, it’s about creating an atmosphere that speaks to people on a social level. Consistently creating a narrative not only helps create a culture around your content. It helps to reinforces ideas, experiences and lessons we’ve all learned throughout life. As humans, we will always gravitate towards our natural interests.
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