Content marketing is one of the most popular and effective ways to reach your intended market. It doesn’t matter if your content is within a blog, or is something else, if you fail to engage with the correct audience, a piece of work isn’t going to do well.
When creating a piece of content, a large chunk of time is spent in the planning stages. There’s a lot to think about, whether it be on your brand image, the service you provide, or the people you aim to target. But what is the most important part?
Without even a second thought, it’s easy to see why the audience is the most important part to consider when thinking about your content marketing. You could produce a piece of content that is amazing to read, but with no one to read and share it, it isn’t going to be seen by anyone.
A good piece of content is shared over and over again. This can happen on social networks, in magazines, or even in email newsletter. I once saw a blog written by a friend featured in the Guardian, even though he has no affiliation with them.
Studies have shown that blogs have given websites more than 434% indexed pages, as well as 97% more indexed links. This fact alone shows just how vital marketing is to attract people to your website.
If you don’t understand who your audience, your content will be a waste of time. A piece of content that is vague as to who it’s for can be a mess and incoherent for a person to read.
Who is content marketing for?
When writing a piece of content, think of it as you selling a product. You’re trying to sell your product to a particular audience. You wouldn’t try selling skateboard shoes to an older demographic, as that product is more popular with a younger demographic.
You want to make sure that your content is targeted at the appropriate audience. This can be done through the message your content has; making sure that you make a specific point that they can relate to. By doing this, you show that you understand who your audience and what they’re interested in.
Content marketing has four main objectives that you should definitely consider when you are writing for your audience. They include:
- Sale encouragement- Why would you produce a piece of content? To sell what your business is about. Making sure that you provide information that your target audience will understand and appreciate can make your content be successful.
- Consistency- If your business provides a specific service that your audience is interested in, producing content can draw them to your website. You can be known as a reliable place to browse regularly. Showing off what your business provides is key, as well as not boasting about something you don’t provide.
- Awareness- One of the things that a lot of business struggle with is brand awareness. They want to be well known by their target audience, but just can’t figure out how to establish themselves. If you allow your audience to understand exactly what your business does, it shows that you understand your demographic.
- Showcase- Something that gets ignored on a regular basis, showcasing what your business is about is key to any message. It’s the perfect way to show off your service, knowledge and expertise that differentiates you and your competitors.
Another thing to note is the tone of your message. The way you communicate to your audience will either make them pay attention to your work, or completely ignore it.
What are the different types of audiences?
This is something that has been argued and discussed for year after year. No one could decide on how to categorise their audience with specific categories. It wasn’t until Jeff Rohr produced a book named Audience, that allowed people to agree on what the audience could be.
It’s a great book to read, as it has vital information for modern day content marketing. One of the most important parts of the book is when Rohr splits the audiences into three different groups. By understanding these groups, it’ll be incredibly easy for you as a business to understand who content is for.
Seekers
Seekers are the people that have their needs fulfilled by going online. These people are generally looking for something that is of a personal interest to them. By making sure that your content is associated with these interests, it’s easy to get their attention.
One of the key things about seekers is that they can come and go as they please. There isn’t a way you can ensure that someone will connect with you, or even the way they communicate with you. They are in control of themselves, so it’s important to make quality content that will catch their eye.
Some of the best things you can do to attract seekers is to share your content on social media. This is what the majority of seekers will use in their spare time, making it a key place to target. Utilise what the social network websites have on offer. A catchy headline and interesting headline is what will attract a person, so make sure that you carefully choose what you use.
One of the biggest problems with having a large seeker audience is that once their needs have been catered for, they have no need to stick around. They will simply leave, so it’s important seekers are converted to being customers, Amplifiers, and hopefully Joiners.
Amplifiers
The best way to think of amplifiers is as small media companies. They have their very own audience, and they can assist you when trying to spread out your content marketing. They are often already a part of a business that work under the names reporters, reviewers, analysts or influencers.
As an amplifier works both professionally and personally, a piece of content that interests them can be shared to a wider audience. They can share the content whenever they want, and they have the option of sharing it though both private and public channels.
One of the main things to understand about amplifiers is that their main purpose is to grow their very own content. This means that if a piece of content is not interesting enough for them, or doesn’t have a good enough purpose, they will simply stop sharing any of your content.
Amplifiers can cover a wide range of people, from a customer who is happy with the service you provide, to a strategic partner or an employee. Overall, there are two main steps that are part of this process.
They firstly have to read and understand the content you have provided. It’s then crucial for them to share the content with a wider audience. If they simply stop sharing your content, then they’re no longer considered your amplifier.
There are ways you are able make sure that an amplifier will share your work. Blog posts are incredibly popular, and if they are appealing to the specific audience it’s bound to be shared multiple times. Then there’s visual content such as infographics and videos which are simple to share.
Amplifiers are important for a business as it gives you no cost marketing for your business. This works hand in hand with seekers, who will find your content through the amplifier. They are truly one of the best ways to reach your specific audience, while they reach theirs. By working with Amplifiers, they can grow into joiners.
Joiners
The whole point of using seekers and amplifiers to to try and earn a joiner. As with any piece of content, the main aim is to try and find an audience, as well as keeping them. Joiners can be the way you utilise a wide audience.
What makes joiners unique compared to the other categories of audience is how they give you permission to have communication with them. They are incredibly useful, as they will share the content you provide on a regular basis.
Joiners will allow you to send them direct messages so they know exactly is is they’re going to share. They will also give you a way to contact them, such as through an email address or phone number. The way you are able to contact them any time you want creates a unique bond that not many other audience members will have.
As you share personal data with each other, it allows you to understand them more. This is incredibly valuable, as being able to make sure your content is customised specifically for them means they can work as better customers.
It’s easy to see why joiners are one of the most powerful audiences you can work with. They have allowed you to have control over how you message is delivered, which is something that doesn’t happen with other audience types.
With joiners volunteering to give you their personal information, you can use their information to work side by side with your content. Being able to specify a demographic, a individuals click behaviour and content absorption behaviour, you can be one step ahead with your content.
Joiners are clearly one of the most important audience members you can have. By developing a long term relationship with one of these audience members, you can be sue that your content will work better for you target market. If you are aiming to earn revenue for the content you create, it’s essential to grow your joiner audience.
Although you have these three main audiences, you still need to focus on the quality of your content. Nobody will read an article if it isn’t useful to their needs, as well as being entertaining. Find out your target, then work hard to make sure you produce something that is of the highest quality.
Consider an alternative form of content
A lot of the time, creating content that’s different from the norm can be appealing for an audience. You may find that people don’t want to read a block of text to understand what your brand is about.
Infographics are a great way to get your brand image across to your audience in a manner that the majority of people can easily absorb. A well made infographic will catch the attention of a person, explaining specific information that is explained in an interesting format.
If you want to make the most out of your infographics, check out the blog post I created about infographics and how to best utilise them.
Video content is something that a lot of businesses are starting to embrace. Websites such as Vimeo and Youtube have a massive audience that log on to watch videos on a daily basis. With the rise in modern technology, it’s so easy to create and upload video content.
A major benefit of video content is how it can be shared on a wide range of social networks. The majority of these social network websites allow you to insert videos for people to view, which can be a benefit for any blog or website.
Never restrict yourself when creating content. You’re trying your best to attract an audience, so it’s important to do this anyway you can. A person is more likely to remember an interesting video they watched. As human beings, we respond to images faster than writing, so it’s always worth investing in visual marketing.
The audience and you
At Neil Walker Digital Group, we understand just how important content is, and how writing for your specific audience can be your make or break. Make sure you spend the time to create good quality content that is both interesting and informative, as you’ll be sure to attract a wide audience.
What do you think of this blog? What’s your opinion on the audience and how they interact with content? Get involved in the conversation on Twitter, @theukseo, we’re excited to see what you have to say on the subject.
Pictures courtesy of Shutterstock.