Helpful Tips for Creating Goal Oriented Content
During my time here at Slice Communications, one of the most important pieces of advice I received as a social media intern is to primarily focus on creating goal oriented content. What is goal oriented content you ask? As Spiralyitics explains, “Goal oriented content is what drives your business towards success.” As vague as this may sound, it is actually quite simple. Goal oriented content is content that can easily be found, understood, and valued. As a result, your business’s target audience will likely be persuaded and want to work with you. With that being said, here are two key tips to consider when creating goal oriented content: the types of attention you want to receive and the type of content you will want to create.
Types of Attention
At Slice, we are focused on earning the right type of attention for our clients to help them succeed. We have developed our own attention model, which content strategist Marissa Bruette outlines in detail in her blog focused on goal-oriented content. The concept of the model focuses on how to move your audience through each of the 5 attention stages by developing a strategy that is timely, intelligent, practical, and motivating.
With a content strategy in place, we start with garnering awareness. It is key to share insights and resources that are pertinent to your business’s target audience if you want them to know you exist. Once you have established a connection and relationship with your audience, it is important to capitalize on their engaged attention. Better social media interaction indicates that your audience is more engaged with your brand, which gives you the opportunity to foster brand loyalty, drive word-of-mouth recommendations, and boost sales. This brings us to the next type of attention: conversion. According to Marketing Sherpa, a conversion is “the point at which a recipient of a marketing message performs a desired action.” This means that you have gotten your audience to respond to your call-to-action whether that’s signing up for your newsletter or downloading a piece of content off of your website. The last step in the attention model is getting your audience to become advocates. When this happens, your supporters, followers, and clients are willingly speaking for your brand among their own personal networks!
Types of Content
There are three sub-content categories that make up the big umbrella of goal-oriented content: content for engagement, SEO, and conversions. With the focus on these three main goals, it becomes easier to create the right type of content for your target audience.
The purpose of producing content for engagements is to increase interactions your audience has with your brand and to increase traffic to the content itself. Some of the most engaging content includes videos, blogs, opinion pieces, infographics, surveys, polls, and interactive emails. One brand that engages their audience very well is Colourpop Cosmetics. Colourpop Cosmetics is a popular makeup brand that is based in Los Angeles, California. When you take a look at their social media accounts, you will notice they use many different tactics to increase their interactions with their followers. Not only do they host giveaways, but they also post lots of fun polls, quizzes, and videos sharing helpful makeup tips and tricks for using their products. Not to mention their email campaigns are filled with lots of bright colors, cute designs, and coupon codes!
Search engine optimization, or SEO, is a set of techniques aimed at enhancing the positioning of web pages in organic search results. When creating content for SEO, it is important to focus on link building. One way to do this is by adding links to your owned content, such as blogs or eBooks, encouraging readers to stay on your website and read more of your content. Another way to build links is by having your owned content linked in industry-related publications driving traffic to your website. Examples of top-performing SEO content includes how-to guides, lists, downloadable ebooks, and research reports. Nike is an excellent example of a retail firm that uses SEO to grow its business. A blog written by Kevin Indig explains exactly how Nike was able to accelerate their online growth. From their site architecture to their launch pages, unique product landing pages, and better targeting of generic keywords all of these contributed to Nike’s explosive online growth.
Lastly is conversion-focused content. In order to achieve this type of content, you must create and nurture leads in order to expand your brand’s sales. Examples of content that can help you achieve this goal include before and after pictures, webinars, testimonials, and case studies. An example of a company that focuses immensely on conversion-focused content is Isagenix. Isagenix is a privately held multi-level marketing company that sells health supplements and personal care products. In order to advertise their products, they post many before and after pictures of real clients and the results of how Isagenix’s products have improved their health whether it be physically or mentally. Isagenix also posts many of their customer’s testimonials as well as hosts many events and webinars that are open to the public to explain their products and its benefits.
Take Your Content to the Next Level
Need help with evolving your business’s owned content development? Contact our team of experts at Slice Communications and we’ll help take your company’s marketing to the next level!
