As Bill Gates said, content is king. But how many times have you scrolled past a Facebook post or website page because it was confusing and hard to read? Your content marketing should be informative, clear, and concise. And even if your business is on the smaller or informal side, professional content is a must. There are three parts of polished content marketing: the actual content, how it works, and its appearance.
Create it!
The first step in having content is (obviously) creating the content. Characteristics of exceptional content are originality, consistency, and conciseness. Not only will original content establish credibility, but people also enjoy reading something new. Consistency is key to keeping readers. Find a niche and stay there. People will come back if they know what to expect. And lastly, let your words be short and sweet.
Now make it work!
Mechanics is an important detail of writing, even if you’re writing for social media. Two ways to improve mechanics are to learn common misused words (you’re, their, they’re, a lot, etc) and practice proper punctuation (say hello to the Oxford comma). Need help? Add Grammarly to your browser to check content for proper spelling and grammar as you type.
Lastly, improve it!
In our instant society, first impressions are often the deciding factor. If it doesn’t look pleasant, people won’t stop to read it.
There are a couple key ways to transform mediocre content into excellent content. First, post visual content when possible. Share images, graphics, and videos that have decent quality and match the business’ brand (we’re big fans of GIFs).
People don’t just want to read what you have to say, they want to see it too. Plus, a recent study found that Facebook posts with images received 2.3 times more engagement than posts without images.
Second, shorten links. Long links aren’t appealing and they crowd posts. Using a link shortener like Bitly will clean up your posts.
Still lost when it comes to content marketing, or just don’t have the time? Let us do it for you.