The ultimate goal of maintaining an online marketing presence is to influence. Developing a content marketing strategy that aims at influencing people has proven to be one of the fastest ways to improve visibility and become an industry leader.
You see, content marketing influences people by aligning content with your target audience’s persona. So whether you want people to convert to loyal followers or buy your products, you’ll need to build a reputation as an industry leader. That said, the question remains, how to go about it? Here are tips on how to make content that influences.
Identify your target audience.
The first step to creating influential content is identifying your niche, sweet spot, and audience. Who are you talking to? What are their needs? and what are their personality traits? This knowledge allows you to personalize your message and promotes greater engagement.
For instance, assuming you want to start a micro-influencer marketing campaign, you’ll need to find the right influencer that shares a similar audience with your brand to run your promotion post. You see, there are different types of online influencers, and the one you use for your social media influencer campaign would depend on the kind of outreach you want to achieve.
For instance, while a micro-influencer and nano-influencer typically have fewer followers than a macro influencer, they tend to have higher engagement rates and better influences on purchase decisions. Most nano and micro influencers present themselves as real people and tend to have more personal relationships with their followers. However, if you want an endorser or need to create brand awareness for a bigger audience, a celebrity influencer like the Kardashian sisters is your best bet.
Create personalized content.
Content personalization is a vital content marketing strategy that provides relevance to your target audience and produces better results than mass campaigns. However, to effectively personalize your content, you’ll need a good social listening tool to access real-time conversations.
Social listening keeps you updated on the conversations your target audience is having and takes away the stress of doing this all by yourself while still creating time to analyze, strategize, and create content. This means, with a social listening tool like Buzzsumo or Buffer Reply, it’s easy to know what topics are relevant to your target audience at the moment and tailors your content to reflect these topics.
Craft Irresistible headlines and CTA.
If you’re a blogger or an aspiring content creator and want your content to influence people, you’ll need to create a compelling headline that captivates the interest of your target audience. This will draw them to your content in the first place and make them choose it over other content on the web.
When creating a deadline, make sure you touch a nerve that convinces the reader that you understand their problem. However, don’t over compromise by making clickbait headlines. Ensure that your headline matches your article and stays relevant to the theme; otherwise, you risk ruining your SEO appeal and conversation rate in the long run.
Furthermore, don’t forget to use powerful CTAs (Call to Action) on your social media channels. The goal here is to inform your audience what’s expected from them. This could be in clickable buttons or words. However, the trick is to create a sense of urgency that guides them towards signing up, subscribing, or purchasing.
Use data to add value.
The use of data in content is a subtle trick that many successful influencers use to reinforce their points and add value to their content. Not only does data add value, but it also educates and makes your content more reliable.
A good example is the use of infographics in your content. For instance, according to Nielsen Norman Group’s eye-tracking study, people spend 10% more time on visual content than words. Therefore, including an infographic in your content will make it more digestible, shareable, and, not to mention, better looking.
