{"id":1914,"date":"2020-07-03T17:35:25","date_gmt":"2020-07-03T17:35:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/britopian.com\/?p=1914"},"modified":"2023-11-13T08:10:19","modified_gmt":"2023-11-13T08:10:19","slug":"data-driven-content","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.britopian.com\/social-data-analytics\/data-driven-content\/","title":{"rendered":"Here’s Why You Should Prioritize Data-Driven Content Marketing in 2022"},"content":{"rendered":"
This has to be the year of data. It’s no longer enough to talk about it. Instead, we need to use it to drive our content marketing strategy and make intelligent marketing decisions. Social media has democratized content publishing, allowing everyone with an internet connection and decent writing skills to flood the internet with noise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Social media has also changed how we consume-share-produce and link to content on the internet. Data-driven content marketing is the only way to reach these customers and prospects. The only way!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For CMOs, and brand and content marketers, one of the biggest challenges is determining how to use data-driven content marketing to attract and retain customers. So as we enter the new year, let’s talk about using online research to inform your content marketing<\/a> strategy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Data-driven content marketing is the process of creating content based on insight. It’s an insight backed by defendable data and research. It can be long-form content like an article or blog post or a short-form shareable piece of content on social media channels like an Instagram post, Tweet, or LinkedIn status update.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But there’s a difference between content marketing based on intuition and hope and content marketing built on data. Data-driven content marketing is anchored in real-world customer and prospect insights. This audience data can come from various sources, including surveys, focus groups, customer interviews, social media listening, and web analytics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Once you have your customer data, the next step is to analyze it to find trends and patterns in the discussion. For example, what is the audience talking about? Are there any keywords, phrases, or buzzwords that are unfamiliar? Again, this data can inform<\/a> digital marketing strategies beyond content and social media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What is your target audience searching for? What are their pain points? Once you understand their needs and wants, you can create shareable content<\/a> that addresses those pain points and uncover your customers’ unmet needs based on what they search for on Google.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Data-driven content marketing is not just important. It’s critical. Content marketing strategies informed by data ensure that you can target your content to the right audience at the right time and in the most efficient channel. The result leads to reaching more people on Google, improved customer success, and higher conversion rates. Data is probably the most critical asset in a marketer’s tool kit, yet many ignore it. Why? Big data can be overwhelming. Knowing where to start is hard, and getting lost in the numbers is easy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But data doesn’t have to be scary. You needn’t be a data scientist to drive your content marketing strategy. Some tools and platforms can help optimize and rank content and improve your search visibility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Another reason building a data-driven content marketing strategy is vital is that it allows you to measure the performance of the stories you distribute into the marketplace in various paid media channels. For example, you can track how many people viewed, downloaded, shared, or read your content with data. You can also track how many leads or sales were generated due to your content. This information will help you determine which pieces of content are the most successful with your audience and which need improvement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The bottom line is that data-driven content marketing works. Creating content from real-world customer insights resonates with your target audience and leads to better segmentation and conversion rates. So if you want to succeed in 2023, data-driven content marketing must be a priority.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There is no one-size-fits-all answer to this question, as the approach you take will vary depending on your data and the insights you have at your disposal. However, here is a general framework you can use to create data-driven content marketing strategies for your business:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Start with your target audience. <\/strong>Before starting the content creation process, take some time to dissect your audience. Who are they? What do they want? What are their pain points? Once you understand your audience well, you can create content that will resonate with their needs. A good approach is to build buyer personas<\/a> that align with your brand promise and reflect your audience. Buyer personas are fictional characters representing your ideal customer. It includes demographic information like age, sex, occupation and psychographic information like interests and needs. More advanced buyer persona analyses will include keyword research using SEO tools like SEMrush or Surfer SEO data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Keyword and topic analysis. <\/strong>Another way to use data is to determine which topics to cover in your content. What are people searching for? What are they talking about on social media? What are the latest trends? Use this information to determine which topics you should address in your content. You can use cluster analysis tools like Netbase Quid or Graphext<\/a> to cluster larger text data sets. This analysis uses artificial intelligence and NLP to uncover those hidden themes and topics based on the relationships and context of the words.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Use data to determine what type of content to produce. <\/strong>This goes beyond the narrative, topics, and themes important to your customers. Once you know the content they are engaging with, you can use that data and analytics to create and produce the content for that channel. For example, are they interested in case studies? Infographics? Blog posts? Videos? Once you know what type of content your audience wants, you can tailor your content’s production accordingly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Make sure your content is relevant and timely. <\/strong>You must be prepared to execute your content marketing strategy in real-time<\/a> in today’s world. Consumers move so fast that marketing teams must think about agile content creation<\/a> and be prepared to engage in real-time. To be effective, data-driven content must be both relevant and timely. Ensure you monitor current events and address the latest trends in the content channels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The only effective way to reach audiences on social media is through short-form content marketing and storytelling. But what do these buzzwords mean?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Let’s break it down into a few different pieces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In a nutshell, short-form content marketing and storytelling are telling a related story on a social media channel using the combination of a digital asset and post copy. This is extremely important for any B2B content marketing strategy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For some, writing long-form content comes easily. Most journalists, writers, and novelists have gone through years of formal education to build up their writing expertise. I would venture to say that most of them were also born with the gift of words. They can articulate a thought or idea using language and stories. Some are better than others, but they are all talented.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The challenge with short-form storytelling is having to articulate those same thoughts and ideas using fewer words and a digital asset. Despite what others may tell you, it’s not easy. Social media content creation is more than just writing a Tweet or status update.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In Hollywood, there is something called a setup and a payoff. In every movie or television show, the larger narrative usually involves a setup and a payoff. The setup is either the challenge or the opportunity. And the payoff is the outcome.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Did the man get the girl? Did the high school football team overcome adversity and win the state championship? Did the cop catch the bad guy?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Even within the story’s larger context, there are usually more minor sub-plots or storylines that also have a setup and payoff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Think about a series like Criminal Minds or 9-1-1. Each episode has its own confined storyline with a setup and payoff. Even if you watch one episode, you’d be able to understand it. There are also larger setups and payoffs within these television shows; to understand the full narrative, you’d have to binge-watch the entire season to get it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It would be challenging to start watching a series like The Handmaid’s Tail or Son of Anarchy because each builds off of the previous one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A setup hints at the action or obstacles later in the story. It plants information and deepens the viewer’s sense of anticipation by providing clues about what’s to come. A setup lays the groundwork by creating user curiosity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The payoff is the reveal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Other terms for “payoff” include discoveries, revelations, surprises, epiphanies, twists (sometimes plot twists), or reversals. Everything in the story has been set up and is now fully realized.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In comedy, this is called a punchline. In social media, this is called a well-written social media content creation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Let me explain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With short-form digital content, the setup is creative, and the payoff is the post copy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The creative could be a 15-30 second video clip, an animated video with vector graphics, an animated gif, a photo, a photo with words on it, a PDF document, or anything that will grab the user’s attention. This visual storytelling continues to be a dominant way to influence purchase decisions, according to a Gen Z shopping<\/a> habits report from eMarketer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is meant to pique users’ attention, stop them from scrolling, and spike curiosity. But, of course, the natural behavior is for users to read the post copy. That is the payoff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The question is: does the combination of the digital asset and post copy tell a story? Will it cause a user to act like a click, a share, or a comment? Is there a proper setup and payoff?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Short-form content examples that can be improved.<\/strong> Let’s review this through the lens of a setup and payoff. In this case, the setup is an image of the person flying on a paper plane. The color stands out with the white background. The challenge is that there are a lot of messages in this image. There are 20 words on the image, not including the company logo. And some of the words would be hard to read on a mobile device.<\/p>\n\n\n\nWhat is Data-Driven Content Marketing?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Why is Building a Data-Driven Content Marketing Strategy Important?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
How Does Data-Driven Content Marketing Strategy Work?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
The Anatomy of Short-Form Content Marketing and Storytelling<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
What is short-form content marketing and storytelling?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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What are the challenges of short-form versus long-form content?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Breaking down the setups and payoffs of short-form digital content<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Short-form Content Marketing Examples<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n