How to Supercharge Your Content Plan in 2016

4 minute read

Upland Admin

With so much pressure to pump out viral content, marketers sometimes forget to incorporate the customer journey into their content marketing plan.

But if brands really want to create content that captivates and converts, their content must be aligned to the specific needs and desires of their target audience. After all, if a blog post is completely irrelevant to you, why would you read it?

In honor of the new year, we’ve put together four effective tips for supercharging your content plan. From native advertising to social media publishing, each of these tactics will help you resonate with your audience in exciting new ways.

1. Take Advantage of Native Advertising

Television commercials and flashy billboards just don’t cut it anymore—and haven’t for awhile. Authentic content is a must, overly-promotional content has taken a back seat, and brands are seeking new options for native advertising.

When consumers are met with branded content within the apps they already use, they’re far more likely to engage with it. Brands like Pinterest and Instagram are leading the way by offering simple, efficient options for native advertising.

Instagram gives brands control by making it easy to choose audience criteria, such as gender, age group, and location. Marketers can link their Instagram post to anything they’d like—many link to an e-commerce shop, website, or blog, for example.

Likewise, promoted pins on Pinterest reach customers in a place where they’re actively looking for ideas, so the right pins increase brand engagement and drive traffic to a website.

2. Use Social Publishing to Expand Your Brand Reach

From Facebook to LinkedIn, brands have a range of options for publishing on social media.

To make sure you’re choosing the right platform for publishing on social media, you first have to think about your main goal.

For example, if you’re trying to establish yourself as a thought leader, LinkedIn might be perfect for you. LinkedIn influencers have extensive social reach, and their ethos boosts common perception of the brand they work for.

If you’re trying to raise awareness about your brand and show off your content, then you might want to try becoming a publisher on Flipboard. By simply writing about your industry and tagging certain topics interested customers will be able to easily find and consume your content.

Lastly, Medium is an effective publishing platform if you’re trying to amplify your brand story and connect to your audience in a meaningful way. Medium offers options for publishing free branded content so you can save money while getting your content seen by your target audience.

3. Adopt a Digital Asset Management Platform

With so much pressure to churn out different types of content, digital asset management (DAM) tools are becoming increasingly important for content marketers.

A DAM provides a centralized location where internal teams can easily store all the content they need. They’re also extremely useful for locating the right version of every digital asset, and responding to media and press requests.

When all your assets are easy to find, you’ll be better at delivering timely, targeted content that meets customers exactly where they’re at, without the internal stress of disorganization.

Full disclosure: I work at Brandfolder, and as a content marketer myself, I use our DAM solution every single day to manage blog graphics, images, infographics, and even videos—I honestly can’t imagine my life without it!

That being said, there are dozens of different DAM tools out there. Just make sure you choose one that’s easy to learn and use—you don’t want to stump your team with a steep and frustrating learning curve.

4. Spice it Up with Social Video

We can all agree that the internet age has reduced our attention spans and decreased our tolerance for mediocre content.

Whether it’s Snapchat, Vine, or Twitter, your brand can test out new forms of video on social media to keep your audience engaged.

Snapchat is a highly effective tool for brands because it’s easy to use, and it’s easy to gain a large following. When brands upload their own unique snapcode (basically a QR code) to other social media outlets, fans can follow by simply scanning the snapcode.

Twitter’s free live-streaming video app, Periscope, is becoming increasingly valuable for brands of all sizes. Some brands are using the tool to host webinars that boost brand engagement, and others are using Periscope to post product demonstrations or feature releases.

Whether you want to reach new audiences, build brand awareness, or create stronger relationships with existing customers, these four strategies are guaranteed to supercharge your content plan in 2016.

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