How to build a data-driven content marketing strategy

January 2, 2020January 19, 2021 Dominic Lill analysis, content marketing, Data, keywords, SEO, social media, video

Staying relevant and up to speed with the latest in the marketing landscape is what every brand aspires to achieve, which is why being well versed in the sphere of digital is of utmost importance.

Marketing today has been changing drastically, and if you want to stay in the game, you should adapt accordingly. Content Marketing Institute reported that 91% of B2B brands use content marketing so using a data-driven strategy is imperative.

Play it cool

Although most of the big companies hire top data scientists for business promotional purposes (SEO, SMM, etc.), creating a great marketing strategy doesn’t need to be complicated. Most of the time, we have a hard time churning out a fool-proof and future-proof content plan because we put too much pressure on ourselves to make it perfect. Most of the time, it’s the time and effort you put into creating your data-driven content marketing strategy that makes it bloom in ways you’d never have thought possible.

By the way, Contently reports that 64 per cent of content teams have five or fewer people, so no need to create a separate department or team. And still, even easier, 53 per cent of organizations use freelancers to create content.

Think relevance, be relevant

According to recent research, 70% of marketing executives believe that data-driven marketing is a core element of nearly all campaigns. When conceptualizing the perfect content marketing strategy, you have to remember that you can never please everyone, but if you execute your campaigns properly and create data-driven content that’s relevant, timely, and entertaining, you’ve won.

To help you get started, here are 6 tips on how to build a data-driven content marketing strategy:

Step 1: Get to know your audience

Getting to know your audience is the first and most crucial step in creating a sound strategy. 88% of marketers surveyed by Forbes use data obtained by third parties to enhance their understanding of each customer.

Knowing who your brand caters to saves you the trouble of creating content that could be hit or miss. Knowing who your target market saves you the time and energy it takes to think of gimmicks and content that they’d like to engage with.

Their age, gender, location, job title, income, and emotional triggers matter to you.

Understanding their preferences and habits will get you very far. You may utilize applications that monitor your engagements and analyze your data such as Google Analytics. You may even do a good old survey to get things started – be careful not to make it too long. Once everything is set, keep tabs on your findings in a spreadsheet. If you’re not an expert in it, check this guide to Excel.

Understanding and investing in Lead Generation tactics is a great way for you to utilize your audiences and their respective customer profiles. Knowing who your brand is talking to will allow you to skew your content in the most efficient way possible. Once this is complete, you can begin boosting these posts as Ads to gain more traction to your website.

Audience members that engage with your posts are automatically captured by the lead generation campaign being run on your website or Facebook page; the most popular campaign platform at the moment.

Step 2: Think of the types of content

According to eMarketer, 60 % of marketers create at least one piece of content every day. So it’s crucial to choose the formats of content. Different types are depending on the goals.

If you aim to make the company known to the target market, your content should show your expertise, but be accessible to a wide range of users, not just those who already use your product.

Utilizing the best time for each platform is also an efficient way to ensure your posts are getting the traction and engagement they deserve. Most studies note that the best time for LinkedIn is in the morning, while Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube gain the most attention from the afternoon onwards.

Some sample content worth exploring:

Video lessons
Success stories
Cases
Motivating content in social networks
Expert articles in your blog and others (guest posts)
eBooks

It’s worthy of note that according to the research hold by Contently, 83 per cent still prefer article and video content the most, despite the hype for flashier content formats like podcasts and infographics. Also, they report that 75 per cent of readers want articles they read to be under 1,000 words. All in all, 69 per cent of organizations share visual content at least once per day.

If your goal is to increase attendance, your best fit is:

Targeted advertising in social networks
SEO-optimized blog content
Emailing
Mention in popular vlogs

If your goal is to increase the number of customers, it’s always best to display the benefits of your product. Consumers love being informed about the purchases they intend to make, so make sure your posts and infographics are concise and appealing to the eyes. According to Contently, 84 per cent of U.S. consumers believe good marketing can impact their purchasing decisions. Of course, make sure to mention a call to action!

Content:

Product demos
Video reviews
Tables of comparison with analogues
Influencers’ reviews and experience using your product

According to CMI, 88 % of top B2B content marketers value creativity and craft in content creation and production and including a video in a post increases organic traffic from search results by 157%. Quality of content produced is the key to a successful strategy and sales increase.

Step 3: Generate your best keywords

Collecting as much data about trending keywords related to your field is vital. This will help you come up with relevant content that is guaranteed to resonate with your target audience. A good exercise would be hopping onto Google and typing in keywords, phrases, and popular terms related to your brand.

Keep in mind that 50 % of search queries are four words or longer (IMPACT). In a matter of seconds, you’ll have a full list of fully-formed post ideas to help you kickstart your content marketing strategy!

Moving on, try Google Trends, Ahrefs, Semrush, and Serpstat. They are perfect in analysing effective keywords for your target audience.

Step 4: Invest in proper SEO

Building a data-driven content strategy is easy once you’ve determined your audience and have paid attention to their keywords. Investing in proper SEO takes this up a notch. Hubspot reported that 61 % of marketers say improving SEO and growing their organic presence is their top inbound marketing priority.

By applying a detailed SEO strategy onto your campaign, you’ll be able to closely monitor which of your content is performing at its best, which aren’t, and proposes the best routes to take for you to rank up on the Google search list. According to New Media Campaigns, organic SEO is about 5.66 times better than paid search ads.

Step 5: Do a competitor analysis

A good way to get perspective on your current content strategy and how well different approaches work for the same audience is by checking out the platforms of your direct competitors. Don’t think of it as cheating – it’s more like conducting your due diligence.

By collecting data on their most popular topics and most engaging posts, you’ll be able to create outstanding posts based on that winning angle. You can use this data to make your content strategy more effective! Be sure not to copy them to the letter, though. We wouldn’t want to be labelled as knock-offs, and we don’t want any legal ramifications hitting us hard.

Step 6: Knowing when to strike

Having the right content is one thing, but posting them at optimal times is another step towards success. Pro-tip: timing is just as important as quality.

Where? LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter. 65% of marketers generate leads from LinkedIn, 39% from Facebook, and 30% from Twitter. Studies have proven that for popular social media platforms that expect a lot of traffic – e.g. the heavy lifters like Facebook and Twitter – the best time to post anything is as early as 9 AM.

Timing is everything.

LinkedIn is great for making waves in the corporate scene. Engagement is at its highest during 10 AM. For good ol’ Instagram, it’s 5 PM. Keep in mind that data varies depending on your niche and marketing goals. This fun tip is just something to keep in mind as a general rule. It’s your content – you should do whatever you want. But keeping the numbers in mind greatly helps!

With these 6 tips, building a data-driven content marketing strategy will be a piece of cake.

Hannah Sharron is a lead editor at Spreadsheeto. She is fond of writing Excel guides and how-tos. Besides, she is interested in digital marketing and SEO tools. In her leisure, she adores hiking and reading.