Five Content Marketing Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

It seems like every time we turn around, a brand-new best practice is jumping out of nowhere and scaring marketers into making common content marketing mistakes.

Though it can be frightening at times as we attempt to create, publish, and distribute content to our target audiences on the right platform and at the right time, it doesn’t have to be.

If you’re guilty of making these five content marketing mistakes, we’ve provided some not-so-scary solutions to get your efforts back on the right track.

Mistake #1: You’re not digging into the data.

You’re collecting data and pushing what you’ve gathered to the side to blindly create something you think your audience will like.

Solution

Don’t collect data for the sake of collecting data. It’s important to be strategic so that you can create content that speaks directly to your target audience. If you’re not sure where to start, ask yourself the following questions to help get a better understanding of who you’re trying to reach:

Who is the target audience for this piece of content?
What do you need to include for them to find what they’re looking for?
What value does this piece of content provide the end-user?

Mistake #2: You’re posting the same content across all social platforms.

You published a post to Facebook promoting your new blog and you take the same exact verbiage and media and use it for your LinkedIn post. This continues on Instagram, Twitter, etc.

Solution

You can no longer get away with posting the same exact content to every social channel. Your audience expects more from you so to avoid this mistake, you have to study each platform individually and pay attention to the type of content that your target audience is engaging with.

Take that information in stride and change the creative, add hashtags, or adjust the copy.

Remember that a person’s mindset on LinkedIn is far different than when they’re on Facebook. It’s your job as a marketer to keep that in mind and create and deliver content that fits within the context of that platform.

Mistake #3: You have tunnel vision.

You focus on one piece of content without thinking about the big picture and how it fits in with your overall strategy and approach to content creation.

Solution

Content marketing is cyclical. Every single campaign is a cog in the wheel and isolating your focus and placing it only on one initiative and ignoring the others will derail your efforts.

Work to articulate your messaging across all touchpoints. Whether it’s through ads, blogs, or social posts, everything you publish needs to be in coordination and in support of your overall messaging and goals.

Mistake #4: You’re not patient.

Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither will your content marketing results. If you publish a few blog posts and expect immediate, impressive results, you’re setting yourself up for failure. More times than note, you’ll give up. And, when you give up too soon, you don’t know whether or not something worked or needs adjusted.

Solution

Content marketing requires consistent effort and it takes time to see results. Keep reassessing your target audience’s interests/problems/etc. And from there, continue to create and tweak your content so that it continually provides value for your readers.

Mistake #5: You’re doing too much.

Just because it’s best practice, doesn’t mean they are best practices for you. If you force yourself to do something you’re not passionate about, it will translate through the content you’re creating and your target audience will suffer because you’re not providing them with the value they deserve.

Solution

You need to take a look at the content your target audience consumes and engages with most and build your strategy around it. It’s better to use the research and data that you’ve collected to create strategies that are catered to your brand than to blindly follow what the masses are doing.

Staying true to your brand will help build trust and relationships with your target audience.

Be sure to keep these solutions in mind to avoid making these five content marketing mistakes again in the future.

Whether your content marketing strategy needs an overhaul or an update, we can help. Contact us today.