Content marketing is a method of reaching prospective clients and spreading information about products and services a business offers. There are different techniques of content marketing followed by content marketers. Social media, Blogging, Influencer marketing, Newsletters, White Papers, and Case Studies are some of the most popular mediums of marketing content. Come to the age of smartphones and enter new methods of content marketing such as video marketing, messaging, artificial intelligence, and many others.
Content Marketing methods will keep evolving but do content marketers evolve or grow with these changing methods? The crux here is what is growth? Well, I believe learning from mistakes helps us all evolve. The same applies to content marketing and content marketers. They must learn from their mistakes and also from their fellow marketers and introduce changes in the way they work. Here, we present the top mistakes committed by content marketers so that you, if you have anything to do with content, can also steer clear of them and EVOLVE!
1. Not Using High-Quality Content:
Many businesses fail to understand the importance of quality content. They save on the content creation cost by using average quality content for their websites and blogs. They fail to realize that quality comes at a cost. By hiring average quality writers, they upload ineffective content which ultimately brings down their readership.
This is a costly proposition as it will impact your business in the long term and take your website away from the first page of Google search results. Do you want this to happen to your website? Of course not! There are businesses who were able to establish their brand name based on just a slogan. Taking an example from your businesses, organizations should hire high-quality content writers who can deliver impactful copies.
2. Underestimating the Importance of Proof-Reading:
No matter how much occupied you are with content requirements, it doesn’t mean you upload content filled with typo-errors. In this age of informal blogging styles of writing, it is very easy to wink-at grammar and punctuation rules. However, the key is to present content in a style that is easily comprehensible for your readers.
Though you may not follow all the grammar rules to the letter, you have to ensure that you at least follow the basic tense rules which ensure that your readers understand your point without getting confused. After all, grammatical rules were set with certain outcomes in mind and following them is no harm.
To ensure that your copy is free of typo or glaring grammar errors it is important to proofread before publishing anything on your website or blog. Even if it is a one-liner, you should go through it to not only ensure that it is error-free but also easily makes sense to the readers.
3. Using Large Chunks of Content
Don’t use too large blocks of text in your blog posts. Make it convenient for your readers to flow with the content. Reading large paragraphs is often tiring and disinterests the reader at a single glance. Though your article or write-up may be an interesting and engaging one, the thought of going through long content can make the reader abandon your article.
Keep your paragraphs up to 4-5 lines. Using short paragraphs makes the user feel that your write-up is very brief though the user may have to scroll and scroll to complete reading your article. Many writers don’t let a paragraph exceed 2-3 lines if their article is around 2000 words. This keeps the readers hooked to your article.
4. Not Including Highlights in Your Article
The content you write should include highlights to emphasize certain points. By highlights, I mean you should include side headings, different font sizes, font colors, font types, etc. to highlight certain points so that readers can easily skim through your content. Sometimes, readers may feel interested in reading your content but they may not have sufficient time to go through the entire write-up. In such cases, highlights can be very helpful so that the reader can get a gist of what you are trying to convey.
Including italicized text also catches the attention of the reader. You can use different ways to help the reader just browse through your content instead of intimidating him or her with just paragraphs.
5. Framing Content as It Is Even for The New Format
Many websites reuse the content in various formats to make the optimum utilization of the available content. For instance, they wrap up an article in the form of PPT and present it to their readers with a different title. However, when a reader is viewing a PPT then he or she is expecting to read bullet points rather than huge paragraphs.
So, when you are transforming that article into a PowerPoint presentation ensure that you use headings, bullet points and present your ideas as succinctly as possible. Reframe content as per the new format you are going to rather than just change the envelope and present it to the reader.
6. Keyword-Stuffing
All content marketers are cognizant that keyword stuffing is no longer going to work with the new changes Google algorithm has introduced. However, there is a propensity to do that with long-form content. Many content marketers use keywords randomly without the sentence making any sense. This is a glaring content marketing mistake which will only make Google penalize your web page and bring it down on the Google Search Results page.
Fit keywords in a way that the sentences don’t sound awkward. They must naturally fit in your content and the reader should not be able to point them out. Even if, in rarest of rare cases, Google may not be able to point them out, readers can clearly differentiate between a meaningful and keyword-stuffed content.
7. Publishing for The Sake of Publishing:
Many organizations fail to understand the importance of social media content calendar. They post randomly on various platforms whether it is blog or social media. They miss posting on certain important occasions and this is the surefire way to put your content marketing campaign in jeopardy. Content marketing should always be done in a planned way and should have specific goals and targets.
There should be a plan on the type of content you want to generate for your readers and the type of audience you are targeting to bring to your website. This will help you in carrying out a result-oriented content marketing drive with solid goals and fruitful outcomes.
8. Considering Social Media as an Advertising Platform:
Many organizations consider all social media platforms as a channel to advertise and expect specific returns after a period of time.
However, it must be understood by business owners or managers that all social media platforms serve as a tool for engaging and connecting with the customers at a higher and a deeper level. It helps them reflect the organizational values and culture.
9. Failing to Deliver Value:
Some content marketers generate content for the sake of generating or keeping their blog updated with new content. However, they fail to realize that every content they post on their blog or social media platform should deliver some value to the audience. It must add to their knowledge or make implementation of existing knowledge easier for them.
There must be some 'take-away' in any content that you post on any platform representing your company. Forgetting to deliver value and just keeping on promoting your business through content is a major content marketing mistake to avoid at all costs.
10. Taking Audience for Granted
One blunder which companies sometimes make while delivering content through blog, email, or social media is taking the audiences for granted. Whenever there is a hiatus in posting, they never come up with an apology or an explanation for doing so. This makes readers feel that they are not being given importance and are regarded as someone who can be approached at any time.
Many times organizations stop posting on the blog or sending content through mailers for a period of time. Later, without any explanation, they restart sending or posting content. This leaves audiences lost and some left.
This is also a big content marketing mistake. It is not wrong to stop posting for a while due to any reason but you should inform your audiences if you have a plan to do so and also give them an estimated time when you will be back.
All in all, it can be said that the above content marketing mistakes must definitely be avoided if you want your content marketing campaign to be successful. The take-home point is that if your content lacks quality no matter how effective your content marketing strategy, it cannot pull your content up or help your business gain popularity.
About the Author
Ankit Patel is a Marketing/Project Manager at XongoLabTechnologies LLP and PeppyOcean, which are offering top-notch mobile app development solutions globally. As a hobby, he loves to write about new & upcoming technology, mobile & web, business & marketing, and more. His articles seen on some of the great platforms like TechTarget, SmallBizDaily, JaxEnter, Social-Hire, TorqueMag and more.
