Is Your Content Not Performing? Here’s 5 Things That Could Be the Problem

Content marketing has gotten bigger than ever,

but not every business is reaping the benefits. When looking at their targeted

marketing metrics, many are finding that their content marketing efforts fail

to make the needle move.

According to a recent survey, 89% of B2C

companies and 93% of B2B companies say that [in 2017 their content marketing campaigns performed\\

better or the same](https://www.pointvisible.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Content-Marketing-Stats-Infographic-2017.jpg "Link: https://www.pointvisible.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Content-Marketing-Stats-Infographic-2017.jpg")

as in 2016. Yet, there are still 4% of B2C

businesses and 2% of B2B businesses that say their content is performing worse.

So what can these organizations do to improve?

They can start by considering the following five common mistakes below, which

can cripple your content marketing performance and stand in the way of building

audiences who can become business leads.

You Aren’t Choosing Topics That Have Value

Too many content teams choose shallow,

uninteresting or overtly sales-y topics for their blogs and other content.

While these types of topics seem like they may help fulfill keyword-focused SEO

goals and marketing objectives, they usually just get ignored.

Even worse, people may learn to distrust a

brand or a business that consistently overpromotes. 53% of people have ad blockers installed

for a

reason, so any blog that feels just like an ad will get tuned out.

To create more interesting topics, let

keywords be your guide. Use them to take a guess at the intent of what the

search user was trying to accomplish by typing those words in.

Someone typing “family law attorney,” for

instance, may be searching for answers on a situation that isn’t even close to

going to court yet. Instead, they may want to know about specific legal

outcomes or how the process works for certain cases.

You can get better at predicting intent by

looking at things like Google’s related keywords at the bottom of the search

results page. You can also look to see what topics are being brought up on open

forums like Reddit, comments sections or industry-specific forums. Also, be an

active reader within your industry and take note of topics that are currently

trending.

Using these techniques and looking to your own

data for engagement performance can help you determine what topics audiences go

for and which ones they avoid.

Your Headlines Are a Mess

In many ways, the headline is the most

important part of a piece of content. It’s the cover people judge the book by,

so to speak. In our current outspoken era, people may even sound off their

opinion or share an article based on the headline alone.

There are a few things that help headlines

sell:

● Topic Keyword Signals

that trigger interest —

E.g. someone frustrated with ad reach may perk up the instant they see a blog

title that mentions “Ad Blocking”

● Clarity

— A.K.A., does the reader understand

clearly understand what the article will be about? Each headline is a promise

● Action Verbs

— Try to eliminate linking verbs

like “is” or “will,” and try and substitute strong action verbs or gerunds near

the front of the headline instead. Not “According to Recent Study, Brand X Is

Gaining on Brand Y” but “Brand X Pummeling Brand Y, Says Study”

● Length

— Blog headlines should be concise and

clear, but that doesn’t mean they have to be short. eMarketer data shows that [blogs with headlines 90-99 characters long outperform\\

shorter ones](http://www.emarketer.com/Chart/Branded-Content-Headline-Benchmarks-Worldwide-CTR-by-Number-of-Characters-Jan-Aug-2017/213249).

● Relevance with Article

— Tricking someone into

clicking on your article with deceptive “clickbait” headlines improves your

views and CTR, but it hurts your goals. Always balance appeal with accuracy.

There are other quirks to headline writing

that help you get clicks without making readers feel deceived. BuzzSumo has

some great data on top performing headlines for B2C companies

as well as B2B companies. Looking at B2B, for instance,

helpful phrases like “How to…” and “\_\_\_ Ways…” perform best, while the promise

of emotions like “...will make you…” drives B2C clicks.

You Aren’t Writing in a Way That Engages Your Audience

You don’t have to have Pulitzer-winning talent

to get people to read your blogs; you just have to have an organized structure

that’s easy to follow and a voice that sounds friendly. Try to write in a

conversational tone while still being clear and providing valuable information

with each sentence.

If you think someone may get lost on your

blog, split up your sentences and have each one communicate a single thought.

Have each thought logically flow into the next, building up each point

one-by-one.

Denser topics may require formatting elements

like additional sub-topic headers or a bulleted list. An illustration also

tends to help.

If you need help improving beyond that, look

to your competitors or hire a content writing expert for stylistic feedback.

Everyone gets better over time, but you also have to recognize what makes

certain writing engage more effectively.

You may also need to outsource your writing to

more-experienced and knowledgeable professionals in order to get the quality

your audience wants. You can always commission a test blog in order to gauge

how much other writers can boost your performance.

Your Content Isn’t Focused on Specific Goals

60% of B2C companies don’t have a documented

content marketing strategy, which means their team may have several competing

ideas on what their content is supposed to do. Without an aligned strategy and

target metrics everyone can agree upon, your content writing will be aimless

rather than effective.

Consider that just 2% of the worst-performing B2B content marketers

rate the alignment of the metrics they use to track performance and their

overall marketing goals as “very good,” reports the Content Marketing Institute

(CMI). On the other hand, over half of the best performing companies say that

their metrics and goals are well-aligned.

To get content to fulfill your marketing

goals, you have to focus on the conversion step you want audiences to take

after reading. For instance, if you want to create more leads, then you will

need to create free, highly valuable content that entices readers to submit

their information to learn more.

Or, if your goal is to earn shares or other

forms of engagement, you may have to embrace more topics that people have

strong opinions on or ones that elicit strong emotional responses.

Always have a few focused, well-defined goals

for your content, know what key performance indicators (KPIs) best represent

accomplishing those goals, and create content suited to the purpose of

improving KPIs over time.

You Aren’t Promoting Content Enough

Content marketing success requires not just a

budget for content creation but also for promotion. Put simply, the more money

you put into promoting your content, the bigger returns you can get from each

asset.

That phenomenon is likely why companies that

put a bigger budget behind their content find greater returns. According to a

2018 CMI survey, the average top-performing B2C company allocated 38% of their

overall marketing budget to content, and top-performing B2B companies allocated

an average of 40%. On the flip side, the least-successful B2B companies spent

just 14%.

The key to successful promotion is to identify

your target audiences and use ad-building tools to find them, specifically.

Social media ads, for instance, allow you to serve “Promoted” ad posts within

user news feeds to highly targeted audiences. You can even experiment by

serving ads to two audience groups to test which one offers the best

performance.

Over time, you can not only get more views for

your content but get views from targeted people you want to become leads.