Creating an effective content marketing strategy can be challenging. This challenge, however, can be easily met when a marketing automation platform is deployed to streamline both the strategy and the content output. Let’s take a look at some best practices for creating fresh and engaging content, and how to properly encompass this content into your preferred marketing automation platform.
You Can’t Just Throw Content On Your Marketing Automation Platform
It’s important to note that content has to be carefully and thoughtfully curated before being included in your content calendar, regardless of whether you use an automated service or not. To that end, it’s important to engage in such things as keyword research, content writing, infographic creation, video creation, and more.
It’s also important to remember that the ultimate goal of automation is to increase efficiency and productivity. For that reason, it’s all the more important to get the content right the first time — having to go back and fix what was automatically put up wastes time and decreases productivity.
Let’s take a look at some best practices for content automation
- You don’t have to automate everything. Through keyword research and A/B testing, you can determine which content can be deemed evergreen (that is, content that’s informative in nature and will never go stale) and which content can be deemed trending (that is, content that’s in the here and now, and has the potential to go viral at the moment). The former content — the evergreen content — can be automated, and you can certainly use your marketing automation platform to do so.
- Remember to share your content across multiple platforms, including social platforms. Social media — Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram — may be fun for the younger generation, but the savvy businessman/businesswoman knows that these platforms can be used as free sales funnels when used correctly and professionally. Don’t be afraid to share this content across all your social platforms, and don’t forget that you can automate your social shares, as well.
- The follow up is most important. Marketing automation doesn’t mean just “set it and leave it alone.” Rather, marketing automation is just one part of a multi-pronged marketing attack — which means that the subsequent follow-through is not only important but essential, to closing the sale. As you automate your content, make sure to gather meaningful analytics (what’s working? What’s not working? When does your content perform the best?), support your customer interactions (who’s replying to your social media shares? What are they saying? How can you engage the customer effectively?), and reallocate your budget when necessary.
Factoreal provides an easy and affordable marketing automation platform suitable for businesses of all kinds. With options ranging from email automation and website tracking, to social media ads and built-in eCommerce integration, Factoreal can perfectly tailor a solution that’s right for you. For more information about us and our services, contact us today to see what we can do for you.
