Rather than letting them sit rocking away on the porch, hoping for a visitor, you can repurpose and re-share this content, giving it a new and deserved life. You’ve put a lot of effort, time and money into the creation of your blog posts.

10 Ingenious Ways to Promote Old Content

Don’t waste the potential of any of your content. Think Michael Jackson, not Milli Vanilli – there will be no one-hit wonders in your repertoire.

1. Strategic sharing

Get to know your audience. Figure out what they like and what they expect from you. Pinpoint which of your followers like certain content and then target them with this content. Mention these followers in your tweets and shares, presumably calling them out and asking for their opinions, and yes, their re-shares. “Hey, @soandso, I see you’re interested in recruitment. Check out this article on employee retention we wrote”. This personal shout-out will help your intended feel special and not like they are being sold to.

2. Targeted follows

Don’t just stop at your own audience. Get out in the Twittersphere and find like-minded individuals to follow. If your content could provide value to them, send them a quick note letting them know about your blog posts and how it relates to what they do. When they check out your profile, they’ll see your most recent and relevant article at the top of your feed and follow you back, creating a very easy and symbiotic relationship.

3. Try a new message

So many brands are leery about retweeting or sharing previously-shared content. But, this is a great tactic for keeping your followers engaged and active on your channels. Rather than sending the same message, you can re-share past content in unique and engaging ways. Try taking a quote or an important statistic from your content and share just that, with a link back to the original article. This chunk of info will pique the interest of your followers who don’t have any interest in reading the entire piece. Let’s face it, we’re all busy. One of the main reasons Twitter exists is because people want their information in short, easy-to-read chunks. If the chunk really appeals to them, they’ll go on to get the rest of the info from the article. A recent study proved this fact and found that 59% of content is shared online without even being read.

4. Toot your own horn

If a post saw a lot of engagement when it was originally published, bringing that fact up will provoke interest in those who didn’t get to see it the first time around. “Wow! This article got 6,000 shares when we originally released it. This hot topic is even hotter now…” Not only are you recycling your content, but you are showing your audience how well-received your work can be. Your popularity can actually increase your popularity!

5. Answer questions

Reddit and Quora are both invaluable resources for any brand in 2018. User-generated content sites like these are one of the hottest ways for brands to get noticed, and the technique is very simple. On both sites, users are generally looking to ask or answer questions. If you can provide them with a valuable answer, and link to your previous content at the same time, this is a huge win. Not only will your content get a click and hopefully a read, your work will be more likely to be linked to someone else. Your visibility as a brand gets a definite boost.

Similarly, you can use this strategy by posting links to your older content in response to another brand’s content, both directly in the comments section or on one of their platforms. The trick is to only do this if your link will actually bring value to those reading this particular article. For example, if an article touches on the four most-important SEO strategies, but you’ve got a fifth, let their audience know what it is.

6. In case you missed it…

Undoubtedly, your readers will skip some of your emails. Shocking, I know. Send them a reminder email and see if they bite. Link to your older content, letting them know you think it could be of value to them and that they really don’t want to miss out.

If you can, send this mail directly to your most high-value subscribers with a personal note so they know they aren’t just one of your thousands of readers.

7. Put it as your email signature

In the case of your most valuable content, which can include e-books, guides or pillar posts, you can make it part of your email signature. Those you communicate with each day will get the repeated message to click that link. The urge will be unbearable in some cases. And once they do, if what they find is valuable and relevant, they’ll be sharing it to their lists before you get an answer to your email.

8. Mention it in guest posts

You probably know by now that guest posting is an important part of any brand’s content strategy. It serves multiple purposes and one that you may not have thought of is to promote your content. Not only will adding a link to your older content add value to your guest post, it will be a natural and non-deceptive way to get readers clicking to your site.

9. Roundup of related posts

Can’t think about something new to write? Take inventory of your current content offerings and give your readers a comprehensive roundup of all of your related posts on a topic. What’s even more awesome about this is that in doing so, you can also link these to your current pillar pages, effectively creating a topic and sub-topic cluster that will excite the search engines.

10. Create a different format for the post

You know you’ve got something important to say, or you wouldn’t be trying to re-share your previous content. Why not say it in a different way? Create a short 60-second video espousing the most important points of your article, with a link to check out the full version of the content added in. Infographics are not only engaging, they are the perfect way to sum up the most important facts you are trying to get across.

Finding a new use for your old content is a very budget-friendly and effective way to show your audience that you are a thought leader, without constantly having to come up with something new to say. By re-sharing your previous articles, you’ll be sure that you are squeezing every bit of juice out of that lemon and making it into a very delicious lemonade (just don’t share the recipe!).

The post 10 Ingenious Ways to Promote Old Content appeared first on RELEVANCE.

Setting goals is the first step in turning the invisible to the visible.
--Tony Robbins

By setting content marketing goals, you can tailor your content strategy to meet your business objective. By strategically setting your content marketing goal, you can focus on the type of content that will achieve these goals. This is far better than blindly creating content and hoping it gets read. No experienced content strategist takes this approach to digital marketing.

Creating Brand Awareness

Whether you're a small business startup or have been pounding the content production pavement for years, brand awareness is where your content marketing efforts all begin. It should represent the foundation for your content strategy framework and be the content goal that fuels your blog posts, social media, and other marketing efforts.

You won't make any sales if potential customers don't know who you are. Not only do you want them to know you, but you want them to think of your brand when they think of your industry or main product line. When you sneeze, do you reach for a tissue or a Kleenex? While your brand may never realize Kleenex-level recognition, setting brand awareness as one of your primary content marketing goals is crucial during your initial content strategy process.

Conversely, if you are a well-recognized brand, brand awareness will not be your primary business goal. However, it could still remain at the forefront of any content piece you create.

Creating brand awareness can be done through concerted efforts of outreach, which means focusing on good content, be it a blog post or social media content that can go viral and get you recognized, as well as build your presence and get you connected with your target audience.

Because more than 91% of retail brands use two or more social channels, you don't want to be part of that 9% who aren't participating in making a name for yourself. One of the best parts of social media marketing for new brands who undoubtedly have low marketing budgets? It is absolutely free, and the return on investment can be astronomical when executed strategically as part of your content marketing plan.

Consider Inviting Others to Speak Highly of Your Brand

Another great content outlet that helps you gain brand awareness is guest posting. Guest posting is the new "word-of-mouth," one of the most helpful content ideas, and this effective content strategy can pay off big time.

Up to 85% of small businesses get most of their business by word-of-mouth, so it is an avenue any brand trying to create awareness needs to go down. By getting your brand talked about in relevant publications, your target audience will take notice. Your digital PR should focus on creating a problem, solving the problem, and selling your brand as the best solution.

At this stage, it is all about building trust with your audience, and your content should be tailored accordingly.

• Winner: Social Media Content and Guest Posting

Positioning Your Brand As a Thought Leader

Running a successful company is normally the primary goal of any business, but more important than that is being a leader in the industry.

Thought leadership shows your audience that you don't just sell your products, you live them. This is important because it builds trust in your brand and creates value for your customers, ensuring long-term customer relationships.

In setting your content goals, if being a thought leader is important to your brand, you'll need to address this in your strategy, and you can do that by putting out more long-form content. You can achieve this by creating guides, e-books, and blog posts that are 2,000+ words.

It's not only about length, but your content should also be super valuable and give your readers actionable advice that they can't get from anywhere else. Long-form content can also ranks higher in search engines. It gets more shares and views, making it a worthwhile endeavor on all fronts.

• Winner: Long-Form Content

Driving Traffic

Quality content begets content in the case of driving traffic.

You want your customers and leads to reading the content you've skillfully created and curated on your website, but how do you get them there? With more content, of course!

If your primary content strategy goal is to drive traffic to your website, you'll need to focus on your outreach and your social media channels, as well as your SEO strategies. You can have a regularly-updated blog, with targeted keywords and value-driven content that you can link back to while doing guest posts and social posts.

To drive traffic to your website, your content strategy plan should be comprehensive and incorporate all aspects of content creation. This includes blogging, newsletters, social media, and guest posting. All of your content channels are important when you are trying to drive traffic.

• Winner: All Content Channels

Generating Leads

Traffic is great (unless you are stuck in it), but it is nothing if you aren't gaining valuable leads from the people who visit your site or your target audience isn't reading your content.

This is where your website, especially your landing page, comes in. Your content strategy should always incorporate your website, especially if you have valuable content and good traffic...but few leads.

Before you begin to create content, start by figuring out the purpose of your website and the primary goal of your homepage. Your content should reflect this and give your readers a great user experience for your targeted audience. Your home page should be quick, colorful, and appealing to those who you've already defined as qualified leads.

Take a good look at your current website and its existing content. Conduct a content audit. Look for content gaps that surface in your Google Analytics reporting. Optimize what you do have for search engine optimization (SEO). Ensure your content format suits your brand and gives that amazing user experience your customers are looking for. Provide a full report of your findings to your content team.

Commit Your Plan to Writing

After all this has been done, you're ready to build an effective content calendar. In addition to clear deadlines, every item should identify content type. It should name the marketer on your team who is primarily responsible for completion. Who will be writing your blog posts? Which content marketer gives the go-ahead for your email campaigns?

Email marketing is another avenue that is important for lead generation. In fact, email can be more important than social media marketing in terms of customer retention. It's a part of any good content strategy. A full 80% of retailers say that email marketing is their most important customer retention channel. Another 59% of marketers say email is the most effective marketing channel and an especially powerful tool in the B2B marketing space.

• Winner: Web and Email Content

Converting Leads and/or Upselling

You may have a fairly large audience already but aren't getting the sales you want to see.

If your goal is to convert more leads and get more upsells, you'll want to tailor your content marketing strategy to hook your existing leads and customer base. Your focus should be on your emails and newsletters and your social media. This is where your customers have already opted in. They are most primed to see your content.

It's important to keep them hearing your name by sending out regular emails and social media updates. The information should be pertinent and valuable to your audience so that you can pull them back to your brand with everything they read or see. Specialized offers that are tailored to them as loyal customers will do the trick and turn your leads converted into long-term and dependable customers. (Make sure you take down or revise limited timeframe offers as part of your regular content audit!)

A recent study found that brands that post on social media regularly have more loyal customers. By keeping your social media presence up, performing your content audit regularly, and giving your current audience value, they'll go from lead to customer easily.

• Winner: Email and Social Media Content

By focusing your content strategy on one or two specific goals, you better position your brand to realize those goals. You will see a better ROI from the content you take the time to produce.

According to the Content Marketing Institute, there are four goals that ought to remain front and center whether you are engaged in B2C or B2B content marketing. However, your goals may change over time. Consequently, it is always important to reassess what you've done and how it has worked.

If you are interested in a call to help with your content marketing strategy, please schedule a call with a Relevance strategist.

The post 5 Important Goals for Your Content Strategy appeared first on RELEVANCE.