“Don’t wear white after Labor Day” is one of the most prevalent fashion myths that is still resounding today. There is no reason why it’s such a preposterous sin to do so, other than the possibility of a rainy day (to avoid stains and see-through surprises). But many fashionistas keep spreading it and obeying it faithfully.
Every industry has its own set of hard to kill myths. Content marketing isn’t the exception, and it’s dangerous. Creating and executing our strategy through old, debunked rules will make our product look old and debunked. Customers are smart and are harder to bait with old-school methods.
Here are five of the most prevalent content marketing myths and how to ditch them once and for all.
Your website is enough
A website is just part of a good digital marketing strategy. Telling people who you are and what you do is not enough to get potential customers to find you. In the highly competitive world we live in right now, brands need to offer a reason to click on their link instead of on the other one before or after theirs. Content marketing, SEO and inbound marketing tools are must-haves for today’s websites if they want to get visits from current and future customers.
You have to be in all social media channels
As I write this sentence, there are 209 social networking websites listed in Wikipedia. I bet that by the time you are reading this other sentence, at least two more have appeared. It’s simply not possible, or even necessary, to waste your efforts by being in every channel.
We have to be where our audience is. We don’t even have to be in The Big Four (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat) if our audience isn’t there. Study your customers’ social media habits and be sure to be there when they’re connected.
You have to go viral or bust
Viral, that little word that makes us content marketers go crazy. What was previously associated with terrible things (from the flu to any big pandemic), is now one of the most desired traits for marketers.
I have some news for you: viral isn’t necessarily a good thing.
The key for highly shared content (I like this one better) is to create things that people are genuinely interested in, with no hidden motive, only because they want to educate, entertain or create bonds. We have all seen cases of brands creating something just to cash in on the virality, trying too hard, and getting terrible feedback from it.
The main goal of creating content isn’t fast fame and a short-lived peak of visits, it’s to keep people coming back to your site because they like what you do.
Post all the time, or you will be forgotten
Posting frequency is essential to be seen by your audience. You can’t expect to share one update per month and wait for the RT’s to come out of thin air. But, this doesn’t mean that you have to shower your audience’s timeline with new posts every five minutes. This will definitely lead you to their spam folder.
Look at your analytics and search for trends in your audience. If there’s a big influx on Tuesday at 9a.m., by all means, post at that time to increase the odds that you will be seen. Platforms like Buffer even suggest the best time to share your content, and encourage you to schedule your content at that time.
You can write about anything
This one gets both a yes and a no. Not every topic, in its pure form, is suitable for every brand. Let’s say you have a mobile tech site, and you’re secretly passionate about puppy and kitten cams because baby animals are cute, and people love clicking on them. Maybe writing about pets is boring for your audience; but how about a roundup of cases featuring pets? Or an article about the best tech for your dog? As long as we don’t lose the focus of our main strategy and it doesn’t look forced, you can take elements from almost anything and apply them to your brand.
However, it’s important to determine which subjects are off-limits to avoid harmful controversy and the wrong type of attention. Some current events, such as politics and religion, may be too heavy for most brands. Steer clear from them.
In conclusion
Whether you’re implementing your first content marketing strategy, or you’ve already had some experience, it’s important to review your perspective and make sure that you’re not making mistakes based on outdated rules. Taking calculated risks and focusing on the audience are key factors for content marketing success, so we invite you to get out of your marketing comfort zone and go all in.