Are You Undermining Your Own Content Marketing?

We meet a lot of small business owners who have only the best intentions for their own content marketing efforts—but, well, you know what they say about good intentions. Sometimes, you can be totally committed to a content marketing plan but also subtly, unintentionally undermine it, diminishing its impact through a haphazard or misguided strategy.

We’ll show you what we mean. Below, we’ll list some common ways in which content marketing is set up to fail. We’d encourage you to steer clear of any of these potentially disastrous practices.

Common Errors in Content Marketing

Putting Together a Sloppy Editorial Calendar—or No Editorial Calendar at All

You should have a basic road map for your upcoming blog posts and social media shares; we’d recommend planning at least a week in advance. This ensures that, even on a busy day, you still have an idea of what you’re supposed to be posting that day, and that there aren’t any gaps in your social sharing. A slapdash editorial calendar—or the complete lack of one—means you’re marketing without a clear sense of the big picture. If you need help putting together a good, well-organized editorial calendar, contact Grammar Chic, Inc.

Pouring All Your Effort into One Type of Content

Variety is needed for a strong content strategy. Blogs are usually going to be foundational, but we also recommend emails, white papers, video, images and infographics, and more. Don’t get stuck in a rut.

Having the Wrong Goals

It’s great to dream of your content going viral—but not only is that unlikely, it’s also unneeded. You need your content to resonate with a specific, targeted audience—the local consumers who might buy from you. That’s both a more modest goal and a more achievable one.

Not Sharing Enough

How many times do you share a company blog post, on average? If the answer is just once, you need to up the ante and start getting more mileage out of your content!

Not Considering Mobile Users

Do your blog posts and company Web pages look good on mobile devices of all kinds? If you’re not sure, now is the time to check—and to ask your Web developer for some help if you don’t like what you see. You can’t afford to leave mobile users out in the cold, as they likely make up more than half of your user base.

Ignoring Metrics

Metrics and analytics show you how well your content is performing, and which types of content seem to get the most traction with your readers. To ignore your metrics is to fly blind through your content marketing efforts.

Bring it All Together

There are a lot of little ways in which your content marketing efforts can come up short—which is why we recommend working under the guidance of professionals. We’d love to chat with you about breathing new life into your content marketing. Reach out to Grammar Chic, Inc. to learn more, either at www.grammarchic.net or at 803-831-7444.