Easy to Rank

Videos, particularly from YouTube, are ranking highly in the search engines. For keywords with low search volume, creating an optimized video can be enough to rank on the first page. Wherever possible, search engines look to include different content types, so you will often see videos, images, local results, or recent news. This variety of content is perfect for video creators. Tougher search terms will require more promotion, but videos are currently benefiting hugely from the authority of the YouTube platform.

Internal Traffic

A major upside of using popular video sites is the internal traffic that occurs naturally. When someone views a video similar to your own, most sites will offer alternatives in order to keep visitors on the site. An optimized video can appear as a recommendation alongside established content, major brands, and social media celebrities. This internal traffic can lead to recurring traffic that doesn’t require any additional work on your part.

Reach Your Audience

Video has become so popular that many people will be reluctant to read long articles. A good marketing plan will use a variety of content styles, but video should be at the heart of everything you produce. According to Merchant Marketing Group, sites with video have an additional two minutes dwell time over sites with no video. Aside from the increased engagement, this extra time can help with SEO as search engines start to place more emphasis on visit time and bounce rate.

Video Creation Made Easier

Video creation was previously very expensive, requiring expensive equipment and a team of professionals. The barriers to entry have been reduced considerably, with very few obstacles preventing video production. An extremely polished video might still be expensive and time-consuming, but flashy productions are not always the best option. Simple videos presented from home can work well, while basic slideshow presentations can even work in some niches.

Cost-Effective Strategy

While video creation has become easier, the complete marketing process has also become more manageable. As a strategy, video marketing must budget for content creation and promotion. The cost for a video can be as little or as much as you desire, while the same can be said for the promotion. You can promote your content on social media and through blogger outreach, allowing you to sacrifice time for money. Alternatively, you could invest in advertising, including retargeting and paid posts.

Video has grown consistently over the last few years, providing results for large companies through to individual vloggers. If you are aren’t already embracing video, now is the time to implement it in your content marketing campaigns. Start to engage your audience, find out what they like to see, and produce consistent content that gets a positive reaction.

Auphonic

Available from Georg Holzmann, the Auphonic iOS app is another post-production podcast tool you’ll want in your audio marketer’s arsenal. This handy app lets you record in multiple formats including MP4, WAV, Opus, FLAC, and ALAC. You can share your completed files on numerous platforms including SoundCloud, Amazon S3, and Dropbox. With multiple features like low-frequency noise reduction, meta data management, and loudness normalization (ATSC A/85 and EBU R128), this is one podcasting app you can’t afford to miss (it’s free!).
(itunes.apple.com/app/auphonic/id575204274)

Audio Memos

Offered by iCubemedia, the Audio Memos app lets you record and edit on your iPad and iPhone. You can trim your audio files, attach text overlays to your recorded material, and backup your files to cloud storage options like Dropbox and Cloud.
(itunes.apple.com/app/audio-memos-trimming-playback/id542915060)

Spreaker DJ

Available from Spreaker, the Spreaker DJ application is like having a sound mixing engineer living inside your iOS device. Mix audio files, broadcast live podcasts, and automatically share your audio content to social media sites like Facebook and Twitter. You can even mix your recorded podcast material with content and sound effects from your iTunes files.
(itunes.apple.com/app/spreaker-dj-mix-record-broadcast/id585625596)

Acast

Available from Fran Acast, the Acast app adds additional content to podcasts. Listen to your favourite podcasts and enjoy accompanying video, images, and recommended reading. You can listen to an entire feed of podcasts and follow your favorites just like on Twitter.
(itunes.apple.com/app/acast-makes-good-stories-great/id925311796)

Downcast

Offered by Jamawkinaw Enterprises, the Downcast app is an excellent choice if you want to discover and download podcasts without having to sync your new finds to your iTunes files. You can search for both video and audio casts, subscribe to new finds, import audio files, and search for old episodes of casts you enjoy.
(itunes.apple.com/app/downcast/id393858566)

Capitalizing on the podcasting boom is made easier when you have the right tools in your arsenal. Whether you add podcasting downloads to your website or offer episodes as links within your email newsletters, connecting with your mobile audience via audio content is a huge trend you should consider integrating into your marketing efforts. Do you think you will be downloading any of the above-listed iOS podcasting apps to your iPhone or iPad?

Reference:
journalism.org/2015/04/29/podcasting-fact-sheet

The truth is that content marketing takes a great deal of time, effort and skill, which is precisely why the majority of brands outsource all or part of their content creation to professionals. In fact, relatively few hopeful entrepreneurs have the necessary set of skills and tools to formulate and maintain a solid content marketing strategy all by themselves, and instead they find themselves falling victim to some of the many myths and misconceptions surrounding the industry.

1. Everyone Can Write Content

Though writing is a very broad discipline, it’s certainly not a skill anyone has. People might try to tell you that your perspective is the most valuable thing of all, and that only you can truly get your brand’s message across. However, while anyone can write, not everyone can write in a way that captures the attention of the intended audience while remaining consistent with a specific brand image. In fact, poor writing will harm a brand by soiling its reputation and damaging its search engine rankings.

Fortunately, content is not just about written material. You might excel at graphic design or you might look great on a camera, in which case you’ll likely be well-equipped to create eye-catching infographics or do a video series on YouTube. If you have the time, energy and passion to master a new skill, then you should go for it. However, if you cannot find the right approach, you’ll be best off outsourcing content you don’t feel confident in creating yourself.

2. Great Content Will Market Itself

You might have outstanding writing skills to the extent you can happily publish several blog posts every day, along with the occasional whitepaper, case study or e-book. However, the Achilles heel of any content strategy is the ability to promote content so it actually reaches its target audience. Many will tell you that great content promotes itself, and while there is an element of truth in this statement, you’re not likely to get very far if you pay no attention to the actual marketing element.

Digital marketing teams need to work hard to amplify their content using a variety of methods, and this is precisely why a content strategy cannot stand alone without being part of a greater online marketing plan. Additionally, promotion needs to be a part of the content creation process itself in such a way that it is tailored for specific audiences and driven by a specific goal. There’s far more to marketing your content than simply sharing it on Facebook and hoping it will go viral.

3. Content Is About Search Engine Optimization

If, when creating and publishing your content, your primary consideration is SEO, you’ll end up having nothing of value to offer your human audiences. This very belief has done more damage to the world of digital content than anything else, but numerous search engine algorithm updates over the last few years have completely redefined the game. Ultimately, thinking of content as nothing more than a way to boost your visibility in the search results is a sure-fire way to harm your business.

In the earlier years of digital marketing, brands would publish content on low-quality article directories and guest blogging websites with the sole purpose of expanding the link profiles of their websites. However, these marketers also failed to take into account that the search engines make an increasingly clear distinction between a bad link and a good one. Google’s own Matt Cutts even famously claimed that guest posting was done for in light of the constant abuse of links as a key ranking factor.

Final Words

There’s no doubt that digital marketers’ perspectives on content continues to evolve, but many still refuse to evolve with the times. After all, if you’re not writing for a clearly defined human audience and taking extra steps to promote it, you’ll end up wasting your time and money. Worse still, if you continue to use dated marketing strategies and keep thinking of content marketing as a way to earn greater visibility in the search engines, you could end up causing irrevocable damage to your brand.