What’s in Store for PPC in 2016? Predictions from the Pros

2015 was a jam-packed year filled with some really exciting developments in reaching our audience through digital ads.

Looking ahead, our friends at Acquisio gathered some pros in the industry to chat about predictions in paid search for 2016, and there’s some great stuff to look forward to. Let’s dive into some of the most interesting projections from the crew!

Ad Targeting in 2016 Will Be Awesome

The ways we can reach our audience get more awesome every year. When I first started advertising online, the ways in which we can target our audiences today would have been literally unthinkable. Now, we can target potential customers according to virtually any metric, demographic, or behavior, and many predict 2016 will help advertisers be über-relevant beyond keywords alone.

“Consumers want—and respond to—advertising that is customized to their interests,” says Lisa Raehsler. “Advertisers who evolve to strategies such as in-market audiences, retargeting and demographic targeting will see positive performance results.”

Greg Sterling predicts a move in the right direction as offline action and sales data will better integrate into audience segmentation and online/mobile ad targeting in the coming year. This will lead to more offline-to-online retargeting, he says.

John Gagnon predicts that 2016 will see better retargeting, too, like reaching those “you’ve engaged with at tradeshows (pixel on an event registration page)” and reengaging “folks who’ve signed up for a whitepaper (customer email list).”

I agree. Advances in PPC marketing such as customer match in AdWords and custom audiences in Facebook make PPC look and feel a lot more like email marketing. As a result, PPC marketers should prepare for 2016 ad campaigns to look and feel more like what you might expect to see in a marketing automation drip campaign.

Finally, Brad Geddes suspects enterprise companies may start questioning if their agency is the best fit for them in the coming year based on how they adopt to customer journey marketing.

No More CPC WTF?

You may be wondering, what is the future of the cost per click? (SPOILER ALERT: They’re going UP).

Lisa Raehsler points out that while search has been a “dependable stand-by,” rising CPCs are making it too difficult for small and medium-sized advertisers to rely solely on traditional keyword search and compete with the “big guys.”

But Aaron Levy points out that “given the marketplace economy and its impending saturation, I expect these rises are going to slow lest engines price their own advertisers out of the marketplace.”

Bryan Minor agrees, suspecting there will be an “overall downward suppression of CPC” due to increased efficiency in the marketplace from machine learning.  

Unfortunately, as much as I’d like to see CPCs go down, I’m pretty sure CPCs will continue to rise in 2016 and beyond.

“When competing in a world of higher CPCs, it’s more important than ever to understand the full value of search ads in order to be able to set competitive bids,” says Frederick Vallaeys, who expects Google to make it easier to understand the full value with enhancements to conversion tracking and attribution modeling.

This, Vallaeys says, will make it easier for every advertiser to decide just “how much value should be assigned to each type of interaction whether they be calls, offline sales, requests for directions, etc.”

Greg Sterling concurs that “vague digital metrics such as clicks and impressions” will give way to more tangible outcomes like store visits, offline sales and “other concrete actions more reflective of actual customer activity and value.”

Mobile Advertising … Because Duh!

Mobile advertising is not really an option anymore – it’s required.

Let’s see what industry folks said is in store for mobile:

“The number of responsive sites, built-for-mobile sites and apps will flourish,” says David Szetela of Bruce Clay, Inc. Digital marketers should plan accordingly with things like click-to-call ads and shortening ad copy, he says. 

Brad Geddes believes that the best companies will “start testing mobile ads and pages completely separately from their desktop ad and page tests.”

“We’ll also see considerably more ‘m-commerce,’” says Greg Sterling, which includes scheduling/bookings and payments for offline services as well as the more traditional e-commerce transactions. 

Finally, Aaron Levy points out that store visit tracking “will grow exponentially to fully value mobile.”

Social Media Ads: Kicking Some Serious Ass

Social advertising is quickly becoming a favorite for many businesses.

In fact, Brad Geddes says 2016 will be the year of “Google trying to catch Facebook” in targeting users by more than just keywords.

Marc Poirier agrees. “The next battleground to challenge Google’s market share may very well be non-traditional search platforms. Facebook and Netflix, as an example, have shown that WHAT people search is as important as WHERE they search.”

David Szetela forecasts that advertisers will spend a growing percentage of their budgets on Facebook ads and Instagram. “They’ll be attracted by Facebook’s retargeting, custom audiences (especially email lists) and dynamic product ads.”

And Greg Sterling points out that “on the consumer side, Facebook will finally get into ‘local search.’”

“Consumers seek answers not only through search, but also through social media platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn,” Lisa Raehsler points out, “so exposure on these platforms is complementary to search engines.”

SMBs Rule!

On the SMB front, Frederick Vallaeys says local shops will see improvements to the Google Merchant Center where it will be easier to submit and manage small product feeds, and that AdWords “will make it easier to turn these feeds into Shopping ads.”

He also predicts AdWords will “integrate tools for retailers in Google My Business,” and that “Google Shopping Express will make it easier for small shops to start offering their inventory for sale on Google’s same-day delivery shopping service.”

Greg Sterling says that in terms of ad sales, “data will be more widely and effectively used to improve efficiency and reduce churn, in part by identifying and segmenting prospects based on their individual needs or challenges.”

And Frederick points out that “video ads are cheap compared with search ads, so they present a great opportunity for small businesses to connect with prospective buyers” in the coming year.

When it comes to tracking, Aaron Levy predicts view-based attribution and cross-device influence will grow exponentially. “No longer will they be relegated to a non-default column or hidden in the corner; instead, they’ll become core bidding functionality and must-use tools.”

He also thinks that signals to track in-store visits, which he points out are already in the works at Google, will help “measure what we can’t see with a pixel.”

Bye-Bye AdWords, Hello Bing Ads??

Several weighed in on the future of Bing Ads in the coming year – and it’s looking bright.

Marc Poirier predicts Google’s share of search in the U.S. as measured by comScore “will drop below 60 percent in 2016 as a result of Bing’s rapid growth following the acceleration of the deployment of Windows 10 with Bing globally.”

David Szetela says Bing Ads search and display traffic will finally be viewed as “must have” by a growing number of advertisers. “This will be driven by the fact that the increasing click inventory will continue to be priced below Google CPCs.”

Mona Elesseily points out that Bing Ads has also integrated search functionality into various Microsoft products like Xbox, Microsoft Office and Cortana, and is “attempting to understand search/user behavior from different platforms, different device types, etc.”

With all these fantastic developments on the horizon, we can’t wait to see what 2016 will bring to the paid search industry, and how it will allow businesses to better connect with their target audience at precisely the right moment.

You can download the predictions eBook in its entirety here.

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How [and Why] to Build a Booming Facebook Group

Posted by ryanwashere

Over the last 2 months, I’ve driven well over 6,000 organic Facebook visits to my site.

It’s not coming from a Facebook Page; it’s coming from a Facebook Group.

Several months ago I started my own Group, Digital Marketing Questions — this week we hit 3,000 active, engaged, spam-free members.

In this post, I’m going to retrace my steps and tell you exactly how to build your own Facebook Group.

What are the benefits of building a Facebook Group?

Before I tell you how to build one, I quickly need to talk about why you should build one.

Facebook might not be “cool,” but it’s crazy effective

All the kids left Facebook years ago for Instagram (now Snapchat) and a number of businesses gave up on Facebook marketing efforts when “organic reach” plummeted.

Despite this, there are still hundreds of millions of users still on Facebook.

In fact, Mark Zuckerberg posted a status a couple of months ago stating that for the first time in the network’s history, Facebook had over 1 billion active users in a single day.

Let that marinate for a second.

Facebook is a powerhouse that isn’t going anywhere anytime soon — it’s time to re-invest back into the network.

Group updates send notifications to members

Facebook pages and personal posts rely completely on the Newsfeed algorithm for organic exposure. Facebook Groups send users a notification whenever someone posts to the Group, thus driving traffic to each post.

On mobile as well:

Facebook gives users the option to silence these notifications. However, if your Group consistently adds value, they won’t.

Groups have more organic “reach” than Pages

A while back I ran a test:

• My page had 660 likes; My Group had 660 members
• I took a link from my blog and tagged it with 2 different CIDs in the URL Builder
• I called tagged the first URL as “Group Test” and the second as “Page Test”
• I took both appended URLs and posted “Group Test” to my Group and “Page Test” to my Page at the exact same time
• Results: Group = 122 visits, Page = 8 visits
• That’s over 15 times the traffic!

Owning a quality Group is a bargaining chip

Let’s piggyback off the previous point for a second.

• When the Group had 660 members, we were driving 122 visits per post = 18% visit rate (CTR)
• A recent post when the Group had 2,700 members drove 600 visits = 22% visit rate (CTR)

With the ability to drive quality traffic with a single post, you’ve got a powerful value proposition. I do a ton of link outreach for clients — including the Group in my pitch has skyrocketed success rate.

I mean, which outreach email would you respond to?

Outreach email 1:

Hey [Editor’s name],

I came across your post [insert URL] and really enjoyed it. I noticed you’re linking out to some posts about [insert topic] and wanted to pitch you on my latest guide that fits in perfectly.

If interested, let me know and I can send you the URL to check out for yourself.

Outreach email 2:

Hey [Editor’s name],

I came across your post [insert URL] and really enjoyed it. I noticed you’re linking out to some posts about [insert topic] and wanted to pitch you on my latest guide that fits in perfectly.

If included, I’d be happy to share it with my active Facebook Group [insert link] that regularly drives over 600 visits every time I post.

Link building (and marketing, really) is about the exchange of value. When you’ve got a solid value proposition in exchange for the link, your acceptance rate goes through the roof.

Can you say… free content?!

Despite the lack of organic reach, Facebook Pages are still a tremendous marketing resource. However, you need invest time into creating content to be successful. This is a full-time job in itself which requires you (or someone else) to spend time managing it.

When properly managed, Facebook Groups run themselves because the content is crowd sourced from members.

All you need to do is stay active on threads and make sure you’re keeping a close eye on spam.

How to build your own active Facebook Group

Hopefully I’ve convinced you about the benefits of building a quality Group. Now, let’s talk about the how…

Step 1 – Create a Group

I’m not going to go into detail on how to create your Group because it’s easier than setting up a Facebook Page.

I do want to talk about creating the context of your Group. In other words, what should your Group be about?

Unless you’re a brand, don’t make it about you.

Shopify has a number of helpful Groups geared towards customer support, marketing, general tips, etc. They’re able to build communities based on their brand.

For those of us who aren’t brands, we don’t have that luxury.

In the grand scheme of things, I’m a nobody. If I would’ve made my Group “Ryan Stewart’s Digital Mastermind”, I wouldn’t be writing this article right now because nobody would’ve joined.

Focus the context of your Group on the value it provides to members. I like to approach it like I would content strategy:

• If you own a coupon website, create a Group focused on exchanging couponing tips
• If you own a local bakery, create a Group about recipes, holiday treats, etc.
• If you own an oil-changing business, create a Group for motorheads

Facebook Groups shouldn’t be approached with a conversion or direct marketing mindset. They work best when approached as a branding tool.

If you can create a valuable resource, your brand will grow with the Group by association.

Step 2 – Keep your Group active

Remember, Groups are communities—they need to be focused on what engages members. That means hold off on promoting yourself, your business, and links until you’ve earned the Group’s trust.

How do you build trust? By delivering value.

Create native content for the Group

Some Facebook groups are just a feed of links to the admin’s blog articles.

Don’t do that.

Instead, create native content specifically for the group. Keep ALL the content and engagement within the Group, instead of trying to drive them to your latest post.

In fact, I went a full month without posting a link directly to my site.

Things to try:

• Polls
• Images
• Native video uploads

Make it obvious you’re there to help them.

Do this well and when you do post a link to blog/promotion, people will trust you enough to click it.

Step 3 – Promote your Group

A Facebook Group can grow much faster than a Facebook Page (my Group grows 20x times faster than my Page). However, they don’t grow on autopilot. They need a significant investment of time, energy, and resources to drive members.

The key to growing a Group (or anything, really) is making it a priority. If you foresee value in owning a Group, take it seriously by investing the necessary resources into growth.

Get influential people to join

First, let me say this…

DO NOT add people to the Group without their permission.

2 reasons:

1. It’s annoying.
2. Facebook’s algorithm is heavily based on engagement. If you add people who don’t want to be there, they won’t participate. If they don’t participate, your Group’s content will get poor engagement, i.e. poor visibility.

Instead, target influencers in their space and share their content.

Tag them in the post so they know you shared it.

They’ll most likely join the Group on their own. This is a huge bonus for Group members and incentive for more to join.

Promote the Group on your site

You’ve got your Facebook Page on your website, right? Why not add (or replace) this with a link to your Facebook Group?

If your website does significant traffic, this is a great way to grow your Group.

Data shows the standard logos in the header attract little to no attention. Instead, I added a link to my Group in the bottom right-hand corner of my footer and tagged the link with a tracking CID.

Over 3 months, it drove 346 clicks. Not a massive amount, but every little bit helps.

Create “gated content” to entice people to join

It’s not uncommon to create a great piece of content to entice email opt ins (aka “gated content”). Instead of asking for emails, you can drive people to your Facebook group.

For example, I wrote a post about how to create an SEO proposal. I also took the time to create a free proposal template for visitors to download for their own use.

I hosted the proposal template within the “Files” section of the Group.

To download it, they had to join the Group. Of course, just creating content isn’t enough, we’ve got to promote it as well.

I chose to use organic channels like Inbound.org, GrowthHackers, Warrior Forum, and a few others.

This was by far the most effective method I used, not only to gain members, but quality ones as well. Try and focus your promotion efforts in places where your target users are spending their time.

We want to focus more on building a quality, engaged member base as opposed to a massive, inactive one.

Facebook Ads are extremely effective

It took me some tinkering to figure out how to promote the Group with Facebook Ads.

You can’t promote a Facebook Group the way you can with a Page.

Here’s how to get around it:

1. Write a post on your Facebook Page and drop a link to the Group
2. Create a new Ad, select “Boost your posts”
3. Select the post with a link to your Facebook Group

I started by targeting by remarketing list and then expanding to lookalike audiences after that was exhausted.

In honor of full transparency, exact results from the ads are difficult to track.

“Results” are calculated by post engagements, i.e. Page likes, comments, shares, etc. Not included in “results” are people who clicked through and joined the Group.

From my own calculations, the Group grew 300 members during the 1 week we were boosting the post — that’s three times the organic growth rate.

Even though you can’t directly track new members with analytics, Facebook ads are no doubt a valuable promotion tool.

Drive [indirect] traffic to it

I write a lot of guest posts. Within my posts I often link to my personal website.

That site has a big ol’ call to action to join the Facebook Group:

This helps to strategically reach new audiences without directly promoting the group within the post.

You can also use guest posts to drive traffic to your post with “gated” content. Both tactics work well, but this one is slightly more direct.

Cross-promote with other Groups

If you’re consistently adding new members, you can pitch other Group admins to exchange cross promotion posts. I’ve had good success using Facebook’s internal search to find similar groups.

It takes a while to find spam-free Groups, but once you do it’s just a matter of tracking down admins, adding them as friends, and sending them a quick pitch.

If you’ve got a different audience base, you can add tremendous value to each other by exposing your Groups to new audiences.

Step 4 – Keep your Group spam-free

The biggest knock against Facebook Groups is spam. A Group can turn into a discount Ray Ban marketplace overnight if not carefully watched by the admins.

It’s your job to set and enforce the rules.

It starts with a strong Group description

Leave no room for guessing. If someone joins the Group and immediately promotes a link, they’re banned, no questions asked. It’s entirely too much work to give individual warnings to people.

Encourage Group members to flag spam if they see it — stand firm on your no spam rule.

Remind members of the rules from time to time

Some people are in a lot of Facebook groups. They don’t always remember what they can or can’t do in each group.

If you get an uptick in spam in your group, post a reminder about the rules. This has the added benefit of pulling the group together, since the members genuinely want a spam-free place for questions and discussion.

I got tired of repeatedly posted warnings so I created a video and pinned it to the top of the Group. Since doing that, we’ve seen a significant drop in spam posts.

Handle rules infractions via PM

Even established members of the group will occasionally break the rules. Usually it’s because they forgot or weren’t sure if something was okay to promote.

In those cases, delete the post, but also PM the offending member and let them know what happened.

Often the person will apologize and that’s all you’ll need to do. If they argue with you, just remember it’s your group, not theirs. You get to decide who stays and who goes.

Occasionally let people know when you ban someone

When you ban someone from the Group, it’s an opportunity to reinforce the pride people feel at being part of the “inner circle.”

They get to stay, because they followed the rules. The other people broke the rules, so they got banned.

This also reminds people to report spam or rules infractions when they see them.

Moderate disputes by PM

Sometimes a passionate discussion devolves into an ugly argument. When that happens, PM to the parties involved and let them know it’s not okay to have a big public fight in the Group.

Usually that will calm things down. If things got really nasty, you also have the option to just delete the entire thread.

Consider getting a full-time moderator

Finally, when your group gets big and active, you might not have time to properly moderate it.

That’s the time to hire a moderator. Often you can find someone who’s already active in the group, knows the rules and is willing to do it for free.

Bottom line — a Facebook Group can turn to spam quickly. Make sure you’re prepared to invest some resources to make sure it stays clean over time.

Conclusion

The numbers don’t lie — my Facebook Group is the strongest brand asset I have.

If you’re looking to build an active, engaged community around the problems your business solves, I strongly suggest you look into creating one of your own.

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Our 13 Best Content Marketing Tips… Ever!

Although paid search is our primary focus here at WordStream, we (along with almost every other company these days) are also in the media business. Purely by virtue of having a blog, we’re constantly looking at ways to not only optimize our content’s performance, but improve the content itself.

Since content is such a big part of what we do here at WordStream, we wanted to look back at our content marketing advice and collect it all into one, invaluable post. However, we weren’t “content” (pun most definitely intended) to focus on our content marketing advice from 2015, but rather the very best content-related content from the entirety of the WordStream blog.

So here we are – the best content marketing advice we have to offer. Whether you’re a seasoned blogger with strong traffic or a fledgling newbie with a small (yet beautiful), brand-new blog, you’ll find plenty of actionable advice you can use immediately in these 13 tips and strategies.

13. Only Publish Your Very Best Material – and Be Consistent

With so much content being produced, competition in today’s so-called “attention economy” has never been more intense. As such, it’s vital that you only publish the very best content possible, or you can’t possibly hope to succeed. It’s better to publish one excellent post per week than five mediocre posts per week.

 

Not only do you have to set the quality bar incredibly high, but you also have to keep meeting (or exceeding) this standard. This can be a challenge for even the most experienced content production teams, but it’s essential in standing out from an increasingly large crowd and making your voice heard. Accept that producing exceptional content takes time, effort, and money – and that there are no shortcuts.

For more advice on how to stand out in an increasingly competitive crowd, check out this post on 11 of the biggest content marketing challenges and how to overcome them.

12. Evaluate the Success of Your Content with Data

One of the most common misconceptions about content marketing is that simply by publishing blog posts, your business will magically take off and you’ll be besieged by armies of eager prospective customers clamoring for whatever you sell. Unfortunately, this is rarely the case. Smart content marketers don’t just produce excellent content, but also know how to measure the results of their efforts.

 

Some bloggers are content to glance at the number of social shares their latest post has accrued and make a judgment call on its success based on that. However, even the most widely shared blog post may fall short of achieving your business goals. What do you want your content to actually accomplish, and how will you measure it?

Whatever you want your content to do, it’s crucial that you evaluate the performance of your content using analytics and other data-driven approaches – otherwise you could be wasting your time and money on content that isn’t doing anything for your business. For some, success might be measured in overall traffic using Google Analytics. For others, social shares or “attention metrics” such as scroll depth might be more important, a metric that can be measured by tools such as Chartbeat.

However – and whatever – you measure, be sure you’re actually assessing the performance of your content consistently to ensure your time and money are being used wisely and productively. For more advice on content marketing metrics and how to measure them, read this in-depth guide by WordStream Founder and CTO, Larry Kim.

11. Repurpose Your Content

The best content takes time, effort, and skill to produce. Even if you’re giving away your best content for free (which you should be), that doesn’t mean you can’t get a greater return on investment from your content. This is why so many businesses repurpose content from one format into several.

Think of the last blog post you published that performed strongly. Did it resonate with readers because it served as a valuable, evergreen resource? Did it offer your audience something they couldn’t find anywhere else? Then it would probably do well as a downloadable guide. Similarly, some blog posts might be well-suited to an email blast, or a live webinar. However you choose to repurpose your content, be sure you’re getting your money’s worth from your content production investment.

For more on how (and when) to repurpose your content, check out this blog post.

10. Reuse Your Best Headlines in PPC Ads

If you’re running a PPC campaign and producing content, you should also consider repurposing your most strongly performing headlines into your ad copy. If a headline resonated strongly with your readers, a variation of it will likely resonate strongly with prospective buyers.

If you think about it, PPC ad copy and content share a lot of the same “hooks,” such as an emotionally engaging angle, strong verbs, and easily understood benefits. They’re also similar (or should be) in length – AdWords and Bing Ads have mandatory character limits in their ads that advertisers have no choice but to follow, while shorter headlines of around six words tend to perform strongly from a content perspective.

If a recent blog post, webinar, or whitepaper exceeded your expectations, run an A/B test to see if it performs as strongly as an ad. Check out this blog post on how to think like a content marketer for PPC for more tips on how you can make your content go further.

9. Accept That Not All Content HAS to Tell a Story

One of my biggest pet peeves about the content marketing industry is the focus on storytelling. Don’t get me wrong – I firmly believe that storytelling is a crucial skill for aspiring (and even experienced) content marketers to cultivate, and that brand storytelling is one of the most effective ways to reach prospective new customers with your message.

However, that doesn’t mean that all content is storytelling, or that all content marketers are storytellers.

You are not a storyteller – Stefan Sagmeister @ FITC from FITC on Vimeo.

Not all content has to tell a story. Sometimes, a straightforward blog post that serves a purpose and provides value for your readers is more than enough. Oftentimes, the people who talk the most (and loudest) about storytelling in content marketing are those who either don’t do it, or don’t understand it. Don’t listen to these people, and don’t worry if you’re not a natural-born storyteller – it’s far from a prerequisite for content marketing success.

Don’t shy away from telling stories if that’s what makes the most sense for your content, but don’t buy into the hype that every single piece of content has to be an engaging, complex narrative – it simply isn’t true.

8. Be Bold and Speak Your Mind (Especially When Others Don’t Dare)

One of the biggest challenges facing content marketers is competing with and overcoming the sheer volume of content being produced. With literally millions of blog posts being published every single day, making your voice heard over the tsunami of (poorly written, useless) content can be an almost insurmountable task – unless you take a stand that nobody else is willing to take.

 

So much of the content being produced (especially in tight-knit industries such as digital marketing) merely parrots and regurgitates the opinions and viewpoints of a select few. This is why readers are rapidly becoming desensitized to content – if there are hundreds of blogs all saying the same things, why should readers waste their time consuming that content? This is what makes producing contrarian content so powerful.

Taking an unpopular stance, speaking your mind when others won’t, and flirting with controversy can be a powerfully effective strategy in your content. Of course, you should take care not to offend or be contrarian for its own sake, but dare to be bold and speak your mind. If nothing else, your readers will likely appreciate your candor. In addition, you’ll probably sound and appear much more authentic than you would by merely repeating what others have said.

Read more about the power of contrarian content marketing here.

7. Go After Specific Keywords with Your Content

In an ideal world, we wouldn’t have to worry about SEO. We’d publish insightful, thought-provoking blog posts about our chosen topics, and find enormous online audiences eager to learn from our experience and buy whatever we’re selling.

Obviously, we don’t live in that world, and we do have to think about SEO.

Some content experts advocate for a “keyword-less” approach to content; publishing content that serves reader interests first and foremost, and doesn’t concern itself with anything as “distasteful” as keyword targeting. Again, this is great in an ideal world, but it’s a jungle out there – if you’re not thinking about keyword targeting, you can bet your competitors are. That’s why it pays to target specific keywords with your content before you produce it.

A topic as broad and complex as keyword targeting for SEO is far beyond the scope of this post, so I won’t try to condense it here. Suffice to say that you should be thinking of keywords you want to rank for before you sit down to write a blog post or produce any other type of content. To learn more about how to target keywords with your content (and how to optimize your content for a better shot at ranking highly), check out this post on blogging tips.

6. Back Up Your Arguments with Data

In today’s digital media environment, trust can be hard to come by. With fact-checking and journalistic due diligence at all-time lows, it’s easy to see why so many readers have become reluctant to accept “facts” as the cold, hard truth. That’s why it’s so important to back up your assertions with data.

 

Using data in your content should be as natural and commonplace as spell-checking. If you make a point, include statistics and facts to back it up. Similarly, if you cite data to make a point, be sure to cite it appropriately and, if possible, include a link to the original source. After all, you wouldn’t want somebody else using your data in their content without tipping their hat to your research, right?

Read more about using data in your content in this blog post about marketing data and how to use statistics to make your content more convincing.

5. Ensure Your Content Reflects Your Brand’s Voice

Content marketing is one of the best ways to develop and refine the “voice” of your brand. However, even large, well-funded businesses with dedicated content teams can struggle to identify and define what their brand voice actually sounds like, especially when working with larger teams.  

 

Ensuring continuity of brand voice, especially across larger teams, can be a challenge. It requires constant review of editorial standards to ensure that both quality and tone are consistent, as well as a higher-level overview of your blog and content in general. However, while developing brand voice through content can be challenging, it’s definitely worth considering.

For each and every post, ask questions about how the content advances and develops your brand’s voice. Does the writing reflect your company’s values? What does the tone say about what it’s like to do business with you? Is your brand voice sincere, or forced and artificial? These are all questions that can help you take control of your brand’s voice and refine your messaging through content. By answering these questions (and correcting course when necessary), you’ll also provide your audience with a more cohesive experience as a brand, something to which all blogs should aspire.

4. Don’t Copy Other Corporate Blogs – Look to the Indie Superstars Instead

In the past, I’ve worked with several clients who asked me to make their corporate blog “sexy” and more appealing. In such discussions, corporate content managers often point to the blogs of influential solo bloggers who have established vast, loyal readerships as an example of the direction they’d like their blog to take.

This is a more challenging task than it might appear.

Even large, well-established corporate blogs can learn a great deal from the influential blogging superstars who dominate web publishing. For one, these blogging rock stars simply ooze authenticity, because they’re writing as themselves and representing their own brand by being themselves – a challenge for many corporate blogs. They’re selling themselves by being themselves, a valuable lesson that any corporate blog could stand to learn (and practice).

Whether you’ve been tasked with revamping an ailing corporate blog or launching one from scratch, don’t look to other corporate blogs for inspiration. Study how the individuals behind the most popular and influential blogs on the web have established their audiences, and emulate those strategies instead. Your readers will thank you for it – and come back for more.

3. Constantly Hone Your Writing Skills

One of the questions I’m asked the most often is, “How can I become a better writer?” To many would-be content producers, their relative lack of experience or confidence is the biggest obstacle to their aspirations, and there’s nothing worse than telling people to just stick with it in the vague hopes that their writing skills will improve.

 

I’ve been blogging professionally for quite a while now, and although I’m confident in my abilities, I’m always trying to improve and seeking out advice and help from the experts. Writing, like many skills, is a craft that you can always improve. Read more widely and extensively by reading material you may not ordinarily read (and yes, I mean actual, honest-to-God books, not just blogs). Write every single day – yes, every day, even if it’s only a hundred words or so. Be relentless in your pursuit of excellence, and don’t settle for mediocrity.

Even if you know what you’re doing when it comes to content, adopt the mindset of the perpetual student, and never be satisfied. Strive to push your writing skills to their limit – then push even farther. The more time and effort you invest in honing your writing skills, the more readers you’ll attract.

2. Answer Complex Questions with Your Content

Earlier, we discussed the value of targeting specific keywords with your content. If you’re already doing this, the chances are pretty good that you’re targeting (and hopefully ranking for) a solid number of simple keyword terms that are relevant to your business. While this is still a worthwhile strategy to pursue, going after rankings for complex search queries can have an even bigger payoff, namely ranking in the Google Featured Snippet – or, as Moz’s Dr. Pete Meyers calls it, position zero.

 

The Google Featured Snippet is some of the most coveted real estate on the search engine results page. If your content answers a complex question by appearing in the Featured Snippet, not only could you drive a ton of referral traffic to your site, but you could also give your brand a major lift in terms of subject matter expertise. User trust in the content promoted in the Featured Snippet is high, meaning that if Google chooses your content to answer a complex question, your brand wins big.

Want to rank in the Featured Snippet? Read this post on position zero and the value of answering complex questions with your content.

1. Start Content Remarketing

So much time and effort goes into content production, only for a blog post or whitepaper to underwhelm you. Along with the actual overheads of producing content, it’s this (sometimes inevitable) poor return on investment that dissuades newcomers of content’s value to their business – a fallacy that even larger companies and experienced marketers can buy into. However, there’s a surefire way to make sure that more people see, interact with, and respond to your content, and that’s content remarketing.

 

Just as you’re (hopefully) using remarketing in your PPC campaigns to maximize their impact, you can use remarketing to get more eyes on the content you’re producing. First, you define the audience to which you want to remarket your content, then you tag visitors who come to your site so that you can remarket to them using banner ads on the Google Display Network later. This results in greater brand awareness and – hopefully – greater engagement with the content you spent so much time and effort producing.

While incredibly powerful, content remarketing is still very much the exception, rather than the rule. Many companies simply don’t even think about leveraging remarketing to promote their content, so if you want to get ahead of the curve and broaden your content’s reach, check out this exhaustive guide to content remarketing courtesy of Larry Kim.

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