Content intelligence may be “all the rage”, but before your marketing team decides they need to jump on the bandwagon, buying the latest software to help their content strategy, it is important to understand (in detail) how content intelligence can truly make a difference. Many marketers are becoming masters of content which brings consumers into the funnel; they can create content that attracts leads, but may not know how to continue providing content which leads them to the bottom, or truly understand how specific pieces of content are affecting sales. However, content intelligence can dig deeper into data you may already have (or have access to), but have yet to pull out and evaluate. This will help you bridge the gap between what you THINK your customers want and what they really DO want, moving away from guessing and towards accurate data.
Here are some of the questions which can be answered with the use of content intelligence:
Content Intelligence Can Answer: What do I post?
Content intelligence delivers data which can direct many details about what content you should create based on what has been successful, what is shared, and even what others in the industry are creating successfully. Understand what questions and phrases are most often talked about by your audience, and find places where you can provide unique content or perspective on a popular topic. You can discover what has been “overdone,” which can help you become a leader by staying ahead of the game, avoiding re-hashing content which has been covered several times before. One important statistic is this: a 2016 Pew Research Center study found that almost half of people age 18-49 get news and information online! Content intelligence even goes so far as to let you know what holds their attention the longest.
Content Intelligence Can Answer: What do I give them next?
Instead of simply providing the most recent (or popular) content, your team can customize content based on that individual consumer’s specific history. Here are some of the questions content intelligence can answer:
- What was the most recent piece(s) of content they consumed?
- In what order could you schedule the next 1, 5, 8 pieces and formats of content to fit their needs?
- What should my calendar for content delivery look like in terms of day, time, and frequency?
You can create your own content calendar using free templates available, or simply create a spreadsheet. Monitor your results, and make revisions according to your successes (and failures).
Content Intelligence Can Answer: What do I revise?
If some pieces of content were successful, but the information has evolved over time, can you possibly revise the material and reuse it? Content intelligence provides automation for this, and allows for fresh content to be offered to consumers based on what you learn from them every time they engage with your brand. Another approach is to discover what topics result in high engagement. If a topic has hundreds, or even thousands, of comments and shares, you know it is a hot topic, worthy of covering again in some form or another. With the growth of mobile, you can revise and reuse content for mobile devices, injecting new life into a blog or article by altering it to an infographic, for example.
Content Intelligence Can Answer: Who do I write for?
You likely know your buyer personas, but as your audience differs depending on where you are engaging them, take into consideration consumer behavior models: understand which social media channels and other websites consumers are visiting, and track how they interact with the previous content. The site where your leads are engaging with your brand will help you define what they want to read; those leads meeting you on social media channels, are likely looking for different material than those who searched for your site specifically.
You can gain more comprehensive info based on your campaign’s goals: do you want to educate about the use of your product, or would you rather engage your audience to discuss current events in your industry? Are you attempting to reduce churn or attract a new demographic of customer? Additionally, there are variations in what customers want to read based on their status with your company (new, established, renewing), so you can personalize content based on their specific interest.
Content Intelligence Can Answer: How do I promote it?
With all the information used above, content intelligence will provide a veritable map of engagement for your content. By lining out a journey for your customers to selecting content specifically for where consumers are viewing content, whether it be desktop or mobile, via your blog, social media platform, or website. You will also know which segments are drawn to your brand, promoting your content to each segment differently. And don’t forget timing; several software companies already provide tools on optimizing the time to send content.
One statistic to keep in mind is this: 5 times. According to an Orbit Media survey, the is an almost five time increase in paid content promotion since 2014. The most comprehensive type is Google AdWords, which has already been proven to offer huge returns (200% ROI, according to Google). You already understand that many searchers choose a business on the first page of the Google results, so getting your company on page 1 is certainly a step in the right direction!
Content Intelligence Can Answer: What ISN’T Working!
There is one other question which content intelligence can answer, and that is: What isn’t working? Although we want to focus on how to create more content, we also need to remember that along with the positive comes the negative. Content intelligence also allows marketing teams to discover what was a disaster, and how to move forward. Now that you have an idea of HOW content intelligence can help, you are prepared to investigate how to utilize it and what tools fit your needs. Let the team at Digital Marketing Agency help you with strategy, a path to content intelligence success, and remarkable content creation!
