The Twin Cities were buzzing last week as Target Field played host to MLB’s All-Star Game and festivities. In addition to saying goodbye to iconic Yankee Derek Jeter and hearing about Giancarlo Stanton allegedly mashing a 19 year-old kid’s hand in the Home Run Derby – a story that has turned out to be a hoax – one of the most talked-about stories was the introduction of self-serve beer kiosks.
Target Field became the first major league park to install Draft Serv’s self-serve beer machines, giving the technology tremendous exposure throughout All-Star week. The self-serve technology speaks to a growing desire among consumers to use the latest and greatest technology whenever possible, whether it’s for pouring their own beer or finding answers to their questions by typing queries into Google.
“Google it” has become an everyday phrase for anyone with a smartphone or internet access. The incessant need to know and know now has fueled the digital age, and in order to satisfy the consumers’ thirst for knowledge, your business needs to provide the answers. You can do this in many ways, of course, but the most common practice currently is through content. Here are some guidelines on where to kick-off your content strategy.
Where to Start
Anybody can write a 400-word blog post on the perfect beer for every meal. But what inspired that topic to begin with? The best way to understand what your target market is searching for and the answers they’re craving is through thorough research:
- What are your competitors talking about?
- What are the most frequently asked questions your business receives?
- What are the most popular keywords that lead consumers to your business?
Answers to these questions will point you in the right direction so you can create meaningful content for your audience.
After compiling a base of keywords, phrases and questions, you can dig deeper to create more pages and provide answers to the questions consumers ask most. Use sites like Buzzsumo to search keywords and get a pulse on which stories are gaining popularity through social media, or keywordtool.io to generate a long list of potential search terms that will help generate more topic ideas.
Produce the Content
Decide what type of content you want to produce. Depending on your industry and topic, you can introduce a wide variety of content – from blogs and videos to newsletters, whitepapers or webinars. Content production can be done in-house or with help from content marketing agencies like Brandpoint, which employs many talented writers who create sharable, high-quality, optimized content for a variety of industries.
Distribute the Content
So you’ve created fresh, quality content. What’s next? Let it be seen. Send it out through your social channels and proclaim why your content will help each unique audience solve a problem or answer a question.
As a full-service content marketing agency, Brandpoint has teams of content strategists to research your industry and devise a plan of attack on the best ways to target your audience with content. Writers are available to develop content, and social media gurus are ready to execute the delivery and distribution of your content for maximized results.
Whether you’re looking to improve traffic, increase sales or generate awareness, content is a great way to strengthen your web presence.
