Brands that have any desire to succeed in the digital age are honing their understanding of how to maximize the systems in which their content is delivered. And for good reason. The role that content plays in successful branding has only grown. It’s no coincidence that within the last year, a majority of businesses have taken extra steps to boost their use of content across all of their digital marketing channels.
But that doesn’t mean all your content will be effective. To reap the benefits, you may need to alter how you think about the larger system in which it is produced.
Why Marketing Content Fails Promising Brands
Despite doing all the right things, your content marketing can still come up short. Maybe you’re relying more heavily on content but not optimizing it to your advantage. You increased your blog output like you were told yet failed to reach a significant number of interested consumers. Or you dutifully post about your business on prominent social media platforms yet aren’t seeing any bump in sales. For your efforts to be worthwhile, you need to first address the most important question in any campaign: is my content ecosystem working the way it should?
What Is Meant by Content Ecosystem?
Think about what an ecosystem is: a community or environment in which living beings come together and interact with one another. In that context, anything that conveys messages about your brand identity could be considered part of your content ecosystem. And it follows that each infographic and Insta vid should be designed to support a larger, complex system.
If you sell women’s apparel, your ads, blogs and social media posts, your target audience – even the technologies used to promote those clothing products – should all complement one another in some way. To improve your own content environment, start by breaking your system down and taking a look at whether the different pieces are serving your larger goals.
Does Your Marketing Team Collaborate on Content to Achieve Shared Goals?
Your brand messaging within this system likely takes on many forms. Most people around the world – and the vast majority of internet users – use social media. So the quality, timing and placement of your posts should align with whatever is most beneficial to your brand. Videos and articles are also increasingly central to companies’ marketing campaigns. Are you investing sufficiently in those areas? Even conversations with business prospects and product packaging could be considered part of your ecosystem. That’s why content performs best when team members work together on shared messaging goals in a collaborative environment.
What Does a High-Functioning Content Delivery System Look Like?
A high-functioning ecosystem is one that a team develops intentionally based on a fair amount of thought and analysis. They don’t simply follow the formula that other businesses use, because their business is unique and needs a content system to match. They identify potential audiences and where to find them, then develop strategies for engaging them to increase their brand visibility.
A healthy system also produces the data to support its choices. An experienced digital marketing partner can help you analyze your results in vital areas such as these:
- Lead conversions. What proportion of visitors are heading toward your sales pages or reaching out to you?
- Click-through rates. What are those click numbers telling you?
- Digital marketing ROI. How much money are you making for every dollar spent?
- Page views. How many more people are checking out your website?
- How landing pages perform. Are enough visitors being converted into leads?
- Bounce rates. What percentage of viewers are you letting get away?
- Keyword ranking and other marketing metrics. Are your keywords helping you get higher search results on Google?
Signs of success should include measurable data like unique visitors, social media followers, and sales figures. Most of all, it will resemble a well-oiled system in which your team – or an outside partner – follows established processes to create and manage all of your content. Keeping the most important elements at the center of your online branding ecosystem will help you achieve whatever results you plan.
Connections Marketing Uses Digital Marketing to Improve Your Content Ecosystem
Are you ready for a content ecosystem that actually works? Connections Marketing identifies gaps in systems to improve outcomes and maximize clients’ resources. Our digital marketing team can build stronger content programs for any group that wants to connect with clients, existing and potential consumers, and anyone else interested in what they have to offer.
Contact Connections Marketing for a free consultation on how to start improving your content ecosystem today!