Content marketing is hard; it doesn’t matter if you’re a great writer, or you’re selling an awesome product. It’s hard to be successful because you’re competing against a bunch of other people who are also great writers and selling awesome products. So how do you make your brand stand out so that you can end up in one of those coveted slots on the first page of the Google SERPs? You should definitely be employing some traditional strategies such as utilizing search engine optimization and a solid foundation of keywords, but even this isn’t enough. If you truly want to create shareable content that garners a high level of engagement you’re going to have to think outside of the traditional marketing strategies. Take a risk and ensure your marketing tactics stand out from the crowd!

1. Be creative and memorable

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I know I know- this is easier said than done. But it’s worth saying, because if you’re creating the same types of content as everyone else in your niche and wondering why you’re not ending up on the first page of Google, it’s because your content isn’t unique…and it might be a little boring. Consumers aren’t going to share, let alone remember, something they’ve seen a thousand times before. You need to get creative when it comes to creating content and developing a marketing plan. Think outside the box and make sure the content you’re producing is different from your competitors’. Don’t be afraid to take risks, or to get a little weird. If you’re not sure where to start, think about the personality behind your brand. Hopefully it’s different from other companies who are selling similar products, so how can you incorporate that into your marketing? I can’t tell you exactly how to do this- your strategies should be unique to your brand, and to yourself. In the image above, Oreo designed their “stay playful” campaign; a slogan that stays true to the nature of their company, as Oreo cookies are often eaten by children and are designed to be playful. They incorporated Whiz Khalifa in order to stay on trend and set themselves apart from other cookie brands that might also be considered “playful”.

2. Respond to people on social media

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If people are talking about your brand, whether it be on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, or somewhere else, you should be participating in the conversation. Not only can you direct the conversation to ensure it’s positive, but responding to customer inquiries helps to put a human face behind your company. Offer solutions to problems that are posted to show people that your brand is dedicated to customer service. But even a simple “thanks!” or “we appreciate you!” goes a long way towards building rapport with people who otherwise might think your company is run by robots. Twitter makes it especially easy to do this because they’ll send you a notification any time someone mentions your business.

3. Encourage customers to share your content

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This might sound like a no-brainer, but it’s more than just writing a “share this post!” call to action at the end of your blogs. You want to create content that in itself invites people to share it. The perfect example of this is Coca Cola’s Share a Coke campaign. The whole purpose of that marketing campaign was to encourage people to share Cokes with each other, whether it be in person or virtually. Whoever came up with that strategy was a genius; people took to social media like crazy to find friends and family members whose names matched up to the ones listed on the Coke bottles and to post pictures of themselves sharing the product. So next time you write content, instead of adding “like and share” at the end, think about including a call to action that gives readers a purpose for sharing.

4. Create content that plays off of trending topics

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What is popular in society right now? What are people talking about? Use it as the inspiration for your next marketing campaign! If you don’t know what’s going on in the real world, check out Google Trends. The page lists exactly what people are searching for in the current moment, and also breaks it down into popular searches by year. I think the best way to make your content stand out is to relate it to a popular topic that’s not necessarily related to your business niche (have you seen the Game of Thrones Oreos?) but if that’s too hard then you can type your topic into the search bar to see what keywords people are searching for.

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5. Consider a pop-up shop

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These unique little shops are becoming more and more popular, and the reason is simple; they work! They always garner extra attention which in turns helps to spread the word about your brand. It also gives people the opportunity to connect with your company on a personal level, and to ask questions that they might not have taken the initiative to ask online. You’ll boost your sales and have the opportunity to get feedback from your customers. Bark Shop is an online pet subscription box, and they opened up a pop-up shop called Bark Shop Live in New York where pet owners were encouraged to bring their pets and shop their products in person, so that the pets could decide what they liked and what they didn’t! They got feedback on their products, spread the word about their company, and increased their number of subscriptions.

Still not sure what direction to take your content marketing in? Check out these helpful articles from No Risk SEO! This one discusses the major content marketing trends in 2019, and this one is all about the campaigns that were successful in 2018!

feature image credit: visme.co

Image 1: oreo.com

Image 2: twitter.com

Image 3: coca-colacompany.com

Image 4: trends.google.com

Image 5: trends.google.com

Image 6: barkshoplive.com