If your organisation hasn’t embraced content yet, it should. Content marketing is the biggest marketing requirement for 2013. This is obviously great news for a company such as Content Amp that has content at its core (and in its name). The very latest figures show that content marketing is now a $44 billion industry.
But as demand and interest in adopting a content led approach to online marketing grows, at Content Amp we are aware of some of the wider questions around content marketing. The marketers and business leaders that we speak to week in week out often ask similar questions.
We interviewed Francis Turner (right), Content Amp Commercial Director and Co-Founder, to find answers to some of the most common questions that marketers often have around content marketing.
How can brands ensure that their content marketing fits in with their overall marketing strategy?
Lines between disciplines have blurred and all brands need to think about the content that goes into all aspects of their marketing strategy. Content strategy is one of the core building blocks you need to think about for your overall marketing plans these days; your social strategy, PR strategy and to a large extent your search and display strategy come after your content strategy, which is essentially deciding what you want to say. The size of the digital landscape has blurred the boundaries. Now it’s all about the creation of great content, amplifying that content and generating engagement. This is what we do at Content Amp. And we know it works.
Can SEO agencies and content marketing agencies work together?
The short answer is yes, of course they can.
There is some overlap between the two offerings, but in all honesty at Content Amp we work alongside and in partnership with some of the biggest SEO agencies in the world, either as outsourced content creators or in providing amplification services - and have never had any issues. It helps that we understand SEO and the overall objectives when working with SEO agencies. But we, as content marketers, are not an SEO agency; similarly, SEO agencies are not content marketing experts.
The role of an SEO agency is still very important, but given the increased emphasis on good content, few SEO agencies have the creativity, resource or capability to dedicate so much of their activity to the production of quality content.
When brands understand the difference and tap into the expertise of both disciplines, the results can be very powerful.
Who is Responsible for content strategy?
It is important to understand where content fits within your organisation. This is a crucial question within large organisations with different departments. We covered this question in our content marketing guide and the answer we gave there sums it up best:
There are many misconceptions about who ‘owns’ the content process. Is content strategy the responsibility of your SEO team? Or perhaps your social media team? Or maybe your PR or corporate communication team? The answer is, of course, all of them and none of them. All of these marketing departments should have input into the process. The core of your content strategy should be what you want to say and who you want to speak to as a company. It’s that simple. Your content strategy is not therefore a search or social or pr strategy. Download your guide to content marketing in 2013
Should more brands publish content on their own websites?
The SEO industry as a whole has been a big fan of off-site content in the past, as it can be used to generate inbound links to sites; but a growing trend has to be the publication of good quality content onsite too. Google’s Matt Cutts has cited one of the key things a website should do is publish unique content, preferably on a daily basis, on to your own website. Brands need to create meaningful, strong content to engage with their customers. They have a real opportunity to turn their websites into destination sites full of insightful content that their customers want to consume and share. More and more of this needs to be done.
Will native content ads increase in the coming years?
Content amplification such as native content ads that appeal to social, display and search are likely to grow. Native content ads are a form of media where the ‘adverts’ are part of the content or the content itself.
Estimates predict that as much as $3 billion is set to be invested into native advertising formats by 2016. All of these have content at their core. We can expect to see more and more products like this in the coming years. It is growing considerably in the US.
If you have your own questions around content marketing please leave a comment and we’ll put them to the team for future posts.
