“Authority” and “Expert” are two terms that you’ve no doubt heard quite often in the realm of Internet Marketing. They both refer to people or businesses that are considered trusted resources or influencers in their field or industry. It’s a good place to be and everyone wants to get there.
Content Marketing can help you reach those goals.
What is Content Marketing?
Content Marketing is all about creating and sharing interesting, useful content. It’s not about making the sale right then and there, it’s more about building relationships with your audience. The expectation is that, over time, your audience will come to associate you as a trusted resource (aka an authority) for a certain product or service because you’ve been so diligent about putting out information and resources without the hard sell; once you’ve become an authority, sales will naturally follow.
Becoming an Authority With Content Marketing
Becoming an authority through content marketing isn’t as simple as throwing up some blog posts every once in a while. It takes strategy, dedication, and understanding your audience. Here’s how you can use content marketing to become an authority yourself:
1. Identify a Niche. Every successful authority has a very narrow and defined niche in which they dominate. Whole industries are just too broad and unwieldy to be manageable, so niches are a necessity. For example, I love Instagram. I think it’s an underutilized form of Social Media Content Marketing so I’ve been spending more time building up my Instagram content. Your niche may be a specific platform like this or it may be a specific skill, service, or product depending on your industry.
2. Be Different. Your content has got to stand out if you want to be noticed. Skip over the generic stuff and dig deeper to answer audience questions or address a problem or concern. One of the easiest and most effective ways to do this is through a simple Google search. Take a look at what’s ranking on search engines for your desired niche and build on it. If the results are text-heavy, maybe you want to put out videos, slideshows, podcasts, or infographics (other types of content).
3. Promote It. “If you build it, they will come” sounds great, but that doesn’t really You’ve got to promote your content for it to get noticed. The more places you can promote it, the better: social media, guest blogs, videos, participating in expert roundtables or events – and do it consistently. The idea is to get the content as much exposure and reach as possible.
Know Your Audience
One thing I can’t stress enough is the need to know your audience and cater to their use patterns. Posting videos on YouTube does you no good if your audience doesn’t watch videos or if they aren’t interested in the content you’re providing. Tracking your website analytics and social media activity can show you where your audience is spending their time and which content is generating the most engagement. This gives you solid direction on where to focus your content marketing efforts, further defining your niche and maximizing your reach.
Google Analytics can help you evaluate the most effective, engaging content on your website. Using this tool, you can see how long visitors spend on your site, which pages or posts get the most views and/or comments, and whether or not any posts or pages have led to conversions via form completion.
Social media sites make it easy to evaluate engagement. Simply look at the number of Shares, Likes, or Comments a post receives and whether or not any of those posts resulted in a clickthrough to your website. You can also take a look at a piece of content’s reach if you use the social site’s analytics tools.
Content marketing is an excellent way to establish trust, build authority, and boost your reputation as an expert in your field. It takes time and it takes work, but the payoff is worth it.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Follow @Tracy_Gibb
Tracy Gibb
The Founder of the Marketing Shop
Tracy is the Founder of the Marketing Shop.Tracy is an Experienced Marketing and Brand Strategist with a demonstrated history of working in the professionaltraining & coaching industry. Strong marketing professional skilled in Public Relations, ContentMarketing, Social Media Marketing, Public Speaking, Fundraising, and Leadership.