Content Creation: Promote With Advertising Most businesses have some understanding of the value of content production. Content has a number of benefits regardless of what kind of product or service you are trying to market. However, too often businesses spend a lot of money or time on content production but then fail to think about promoting that content. In fact, advertising your quality content is just as important as making it in the first place. That doesn’t mean that you need to spend extensive money on both content creation and advertising. You can incorporate your content into your advertising and use advertising to expand your audience for content and get new customers. Here’s everything you need to know about how to promote your content with advertising effectively. What Kind of Content Should You Have? Content can be a highly effective way to promote your business, build an audience, and establish trust with customers. However, too often, businesses realize that they need to produce content and get the ball rolling before they really understand exactly what kind of content will be the most beneficial for their business. Different types of content are better for different goals. Here are a few different kinds of content and how you may find them effective for your business Blog Entries A blog can be one of the most powerful ways to improve your SEO, build trust with customers, and deliver high-value content all at once. The best blogs can make a serious difference for your business. However, a poorly used blogs or a blog that is badly matched to the company can be a waste of money or even hurt your reputation. Here are a few elements that should be present in your blogging campaign: Interesting subject matter. If your company does something interesting or exciting, it will likely be much easier for you to develop great blog content than if your company is less compelling for customers. Useful information for readers. Even if your business doesn’t have a very compelling subject area, you can provide value to your readers by offering extremely useful information. You may worry that you are giving something valuable away for free, but teaching your readers how to do something simple by themselves makes it much more likely that they will come to you when they have a more complicated task or when they find themselves unable to accomplish something themselves. Social Media Posts If your business is not on social media, the chances are you are missing out on a valuable opportunity. Social media is a powerful platform where you can reach new customers and develop relationships with existing ones at the same time. However, bland or uninteresting social media makes it more likely that your customers may unfollow your account. Being unfollowed not only means you’ll miss the opportunity to market to them, but it may hurt their opinion of your brand overall. Therefore, you should only devote your energy to social media posts if you have something worth sharing. For some businesses, this will be very simple, as they can generate lots of compelling content for daily shares on social media. However, if you don’t have a very compelling business, you can still make frequent posts on social media. Giveaways, contests, shares of user experiences, and other ways to generate value can all be effective in your social media advertising campaign. White Papers and Ebooks If you recoil at the idea of giving away valuable content in your blog posts, you definitely won’t like the idea of a free ebook or valuable content in a newsletter or white paper. However, giving away a little bit of highly valuable content in this way is one of the most effective techniques for generating goodwill and positive relationships with your customers. As an added benefit, customers and potential customers are much more likely to be willing to exchange information they otherwise may be unwilling to give in exchange for truly valuable content like ebooks or white papers. You can get content information, email addresses, and participation in surveys in exchange for valuable content like this. Naturally, this technique for generating value from content will only be effective for you if your business deals in technical enough information that providing an ebook or white paper will be of value to your customers. Why Promotion is Essential If You Build It… Unfortunately, too many people are under the impression that if they build a gorgeous website with high-quality content, customers will swamp to appreciate their efforts. However, the truth is that consumers are overwhelmed with high-quality content all the time. Not only are they unlikely to be actively seeking out your content, but they will probably have a hard time telling your quality content from less meaningful efforts of your competitors. This is where advertising comes into play. Marketing your content is absolutely essential after you have developed sufficiently quality content to keep the attention of customers. The Difference Between Being on Social Media and Promoting There One of the most attractive places for you to advertise is on social media. Many business owners immediately think, “but I’m on social media.” However, there is a very meaningful difference between being on social media and advertising there. Unless you are lucky enough to create viral media that starts getting shares right away, you will likely need to put some work into drawing attention to your social media feeds. This is especially true at the beginning when organic shares are lowest. Here are some platforms worth advertising on as well as being on: Instagram. Instagram is one of the most powerful platforms for delivering branded content. On this platform, you won’t necessarily have to sneak your advertising content in: rather, customers may actually seek you out and be thrilled to follow you on Instagram. Advertisements with meaningful value like free giveaways can be especially effective on this platform.Twitter. Not every business makes an effort on Twitter, which means that you are likely to have an edge there even if you are having trouble on other platforms. Many people who use Twitter check it regularly throughout the day, so this can be a great place to advertise sales throughout the day, promote inventory that you are trying to move, etc. Facebook. Facebook is the giant on social media. People on Facebook are often more likely to engage extensively with content, so this can be a great place to spread long-form content or link to your blog. Influencer Marketing Whether you have a strong presence on a social media platform or not, you can dramatically increase viewership by utilizing influencers. People who have developed a strong following on social media for themselves can sell their endorsement to companies like yours. You may be astounded by the amount of attention that can be generated for a very reasonable price on social media platforms with the help of influencers. Don’t Overlook Graphics There are few ways to make sure your great content doesn’t get the attention it deserves than by overlooking visuals in your content creation process. A graphic designer is an essential element of every part of content creation, from the visuals that go along with the content to the look of the font. Without quality visuals, the time, money, and effort put into creating great content will be wasted. Get Started Promoting Your Content If your content isn’t getting the attention that you were hoping for, it might be time to invest in promoting it. The first step is to be sure that your content is up to par with excellent images as well as quality information and written content. Sources https://www.forbes.com/sites/blakemorgan/2018/06/11/how-to-build-trust-with-your-customers/ https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/7451184?hl=en https://www.wired.com/story/what-is-an-influencer/