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Infographic: 5 powerful ways small businesses can create engaging content
Content marketing is a powerful tool for small businesses to build a large and engaged audience. Now, the team at the BBB understands that creating content can be as easy as sending a tweet or as complicated as creating a video for your business. The key is to find a content creation strategy that works for you and then consistently execute that strategy.
Before diving into tips for creating engaging content, it's essential to understand how powerful content creation can be for a small business.
Content opportunities are endless
As a small business owner, you likely don't have the budget or resources to create large-scale marketing campaigns. But that doesn't mean you can't create high-quality content that drives business results. In fact, small businesses can create engaging content that generates high levels of engagement and, as a result, generates large amounts of web traffic, social shares, and more.
The best part is that many of the channels available to small businesses to create content are free, such as social media and even creating blog content on your website.
With approximately 77% of small businesses claiming to use social media in their marketing and customer services strategies, according to Score, and nearly 75% of them saying they believe internet marketing is "very effective" for attracting new customers, per Fundera, your small business has many opportunities to create engaging content that helps you build a large and loyal audience.
5 ways your small business can create engaging content
Hundreds of excellent articles tell you the different types of content worth investing in. However, there are more things you'll want to consider besides what content to create.
That's why we've outlined five tips to help your small business create engaging content that will help you build a large and loyal audience:
1. Create content that your targeted audience wants to consume
The most important thing to remember when creating content is to create content that your target audience wants to consume. With well over 600 million blogs online today across over 1.9 billion websites, consumers are inundated with content.
Not only that, but this content is then spammed across the internet via social media, email, and other forms of marketing, resulting in consumers who are simply frustrated with the amount of unnecessary information they are being bombarded with.
In fact, a new study found that nearly half of all U.S. consumers (49%) were incorrectly targeted with irrelevant content within the last six months. Approximately 42% of them immediately unsubscribed from the brand, and 24% of them chose to block the brand on social media.
Therefore, it is crucial to do your research and focus on creating content that your audience wants to consume. The more relevant your content is to your audience, the more likely they are actually to engage with it and share it with others.
2. Diversify your content
With nearly 92% of marketers and businesses reporting that content is a valuable business asset, investing in multiple content types is essential. This helps you build a large and loyal audience while also reducing your time creating content.
For instance, while written content is still crucial for small business success, studies show that interactive content can reach a 70% conversion rate. Creating interactive content, such as videos or quizzes can help you generate higher levels of engagement with your audience and generate more leads.
By diversifying the types of content you create, you can provide your audience with various options for where to find your information. This also allows you to experiment with different types of content and see what works best for your brand.
3. Invest in regular keyword research
Did you know that Google alone receives approximately 40,000 search queries every second? That means millions of keyword searches are being made every single second.
With so much competition for consumers’ attention, businesses must invest in keyword research. This will help you identify the most valuable keywords to target with your content, which will help you gain more visibility and increase the quantity and quality of leads you attract.
4. Never doubt the power of repurposing your best content
When creating content, many small businesses try to reinvent the wheel constantly. Essentially, they waste time creating repetitive content that has no real value to the reader.
With 70% of marketers actively investing in content marketing, a key strategy involved is reviving existing content pieces through repurposing.
Repurposing your best content will allow you to take content that has already been proven successful and increase the number of people who can access it.
Repurposing can mean several things, such as:
- Using existing content to create new formats of the content (ex. blog into a podcast)
- Creating updated content based on the original content
- Resharing content from your website to your social media accounts, etc.
5. Always monitor your content metrics
Finally, small businesses must take the time to monitor the performance of their content correctly. This will allow you to identify which types of content are working best for your brand, which will help you optimize your efforts and spend less time creating content that is not performing as well as you had hoped.
The metrics you'll want to focus on will entirely depend on what platforms you are using to share your content. For example, approximately 70 million small businesses have an active page on Facebook, meaning they would want to focus their attention on the analytics provided by that platform to understand their audience's engagement habits better.
Some standard metrics may include:
- Engagement rates
- Time spent on page
- Bounce rates
- Social shares
- Unique pageviews
- Scroll depth
- Appointments booked, etc.
Create more engaging content with more tips from the BBB
There are many ways a small business can expand its reach and increase the quantity and quality of leads it can attract. Blogging, social media marketing, and even search engine optimization are all valuable marketing strategies that can be used to build a larger audience.
Looking for more ways to help create engaging content that nets you real results? Check out the BBB business news feed and the BizHQ.
BBB of Southern Piedmont and Western N.C. contributed to this article.