One of the most challenging parts of content marketing is creating, executing, and measuring various campaigns. If you can automate these processes for your team and delegate this responsibility to more intelligent bots, then that’s a significant win in terms of time management. Automation will also drive up performance with more data points from multiple channels on an ongoing basis. The autopilot is a system that allows content marketing to run on its own. It has many features, such as creating content in different formats and automatically sending it out to social media channels. Content marketing is both practical and effective, and I believe we can all agree. It’s the pinnacle of inbound marketing, and it makes perfect sense when trying to attract 21st-century customers. I could even rattle off a laundry list of statistics to demonstrate the power of content marketing. There’s the ridiculous number of leads, the low financial investment, the improved audience engagement, the high return on investment, etc. But if there’s one area where content marketers get into difficulties, it’s the fact that the process is inherently time-consuming. It takes time and effort to create spectacular material. And not everyone has the time to dedicate to this kind of promotion. This isn’t even taking into account the extra work required to administer a campaign. It might take so much time in certain circumstances that it interferes with your capacity to manage other aspects of your organization. This isn’t good. Here are some numbers to help you understand how time-consuming content marketing can be.
If current trends continue, the amount of time needed for content marketing will continue to rise. But, of course, you must also consider that competition will continue to increase. As more businesses realize the possibilities of this strategy, it will become more challenging to differentiate your campaign from the crowd, necessitating even more of your effort.
So, what’s the answer?
As someone very busy, I’ve found some efficient strategies to conduct a content marketing campaign that takes the least amount of time yet yields the most returns. The quality of the information remains excellent, but I no longer need to “fuel the fire” to keep things working smoothly. To put it another way, my campaign involves less time (and stress), yet everything still runs well. Here’s how to set up a content marketing strategy that works without you having to think about it.
1. Organizing and structuring campaigns.
A well-constructed campaign, in my view, begins at the top and works its way down. You must maintain order by having a clear game strategy and ensuring that all team members are on the same page at all times. How do you go about doing this? I advocate adopting a collaborative content calendar that is accessible online. Although a simple spreadsheet might be helpful, I’ve found that it’s seldom enough to suit my requirements. An online collaborative content calendar, on the other hand, enables you and your team to:
- Plan and organize your material systematically.
- Make changes that are visible in real-time.
- Keep track of upcoming deadlines.
- From conception to completion, keep track of your journey.
Because of the visual aspect, I prefer this versus a spreadsheet. It’s simpler for me to keep my ducks in a row when I can see what’s going on and what needs to be done.
You can simplify communication, spend less time rushing for information, and avoid errors by being organized. CoSchedule, Buffer, and HubSpot are some of the tools I suggest.
2. Brainstorming.
I’ve discovered that coming up with fresh ideas for blog articles, white papers, videos, and other forms of content marketing is half the fight. There is never enough new material to satisfy the “hungry content monster.” However, having a few idea-generating materials at your disposal might help you speed up the brainstorming process. BuzzSumo is one of my favorite tools since it can direct me to articles on almost any subject imaginable. Take, for example, content marketing. I quickly gained access to many pieces produced on this topic by typing “content marketing” into the search field.
As you can see, BuzzSumo also displays the performance of each post based on social shares, so you can discover which themes are the most popular with readers. I also propose the following content aggregators and resources: You could also wish to compile a list of all relevant industry blogs into a spreadsheet that you can refer to when you need to develop ideas. Finally, I created an essay on how to never run out of ideas that goes into more detail on this subject. More information may be found there.
4. Generation of content.
This is the most time-consuming aspect of the content marketing process. It would help if you sat down and continuously produced high-quality material. Or maybe you don’t. While I create a lot of the material myself, there’s no way I can keep up with demand while balancing everything else that comes with operating a company. Therefore, I propose delegating at least some of the work to freelancers. “64 percent of B2B marketers outsource writing,” according to the study. Some companies may outsource a tiny portion of their work, while others may outsource practically all of it. It all comes down to your budget and content requirements. If content marketing is your go-to marketing strategy (or writing isn’t your forte), you’ll probably want to outsource a significant portion of your content generation. Outsourcing to freelance writers has been beneficial to me, and many other businesses agree. The excellent authors we employed were a massive part of KISSmetrics’ success. I even created a post on how this method helped KISSmetrics grow to 793,858 monthly visits. However, you don’t want to entrust your brand’s content and reputation to just anybody. It would be best to recruit highly competent writers familiar with your brand/style/tone and produce high-quality material that connects with your target audience. When you employ a writer, you should make sure they have these six talents.
5. Curation of content.
The process of sorting through the vast amounts of content on the web and presenting it in a meaningful and organized way around a specific theme is defined as “the process of sorting through the vast amounts of content on the web and presenting it in a meaningful and organized way around a specific theme.” Sifting, sorting, organizing, and disseminating material are all part of the job.” As you may imagine, this seems complicated. And that is often the case. However, it is a necessary component of most content marketing initiatives. According to studies, 95% of marketers distribute the content of other organizations in some way.
The issue is that it’s similar to gold panning. You have to filter through a lot of garbage to discover anything worthwhile to share with your audience. It’ll be a huge time drain if you’re merely curating material on the go without any strategy.
However, in my opinion, there are two basic ways to speed up this process:
- First, hire someone to do it for you.
- Make things easier on yourself by using a tool.
The first option is preferable since it saves time but gives up some control. The second option allows you complete control while still saving you time. Whatever method you choose, it will be much more efficient than manually sorting through mountains of text searching for the diamond in the rough. If you’re looking for a tool that works well for content curation, check out DrumUp. It “analyzes tens of thousands of articles every day from across sectors, hobbies, and niches,” allowing you to uncover unique content fast. Even if you’re in a narrow niche, this will enable you to identify relevant information for your audience without sifting through a haystack.
6. Automating the posting process.
Posting is the last component of the puzzle. This isn’t a significant concern if you have one or two accounts. All you have to do now is manually upload your material, and you’re done. But what if you’re active on social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Tumblr, and others? Posting the same piece of content on various platforms might suck up a lot of your time. This is particularly true if you publish daily. Fortunately, with a platform like Zapier, you can automate your content delivery. This simple platform integrates your applications and lets you share information across numerous platforms with only a few clicks. As a result, many tiresome busy labors may be eliminated (while saving your sanity).
Conclusion
Five significant elements must be addressed to create an efficient content marketing system:
- Putting your campaign together and structuring it
- Increasing the speed with which new ideas are generated throughout the brainstorming process
- The real content creation
- Curating content with efficiency
- Making your postings more automated
You may design a system that works on autopilot by taking steps to simplify and streamline these areas. This doesn’t mean that it doesn’t take any work or upkeep on your part. However, you may remove many of the duties and drastically minimize the amount of time you spend on the ones that remain. The final result should be a content marketing system that achieves similar or even better results than you’ve been getting so far—while taking up a fraction of the time you’ve been spending maintaining your campaign.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you automate content marketing?
A: This can be achieved through automated email marketing and other content distribution techniques. It would be best to look into search engine optimization to ensure that your website is getting the most traffic possible.
What is a content marketing system?
A: A content marketing system is an online marketing system that helps companies spread their ideas by producing, distributing, and promoting digital media. It includes the production, promotion, distribution, and monetization of digital assets to promote brands or share opinions with individuals on various topics to generate awareness for businesses
What is content marketing creation?
A: Content marketing is a process of making, distributing, and promoting content that creates value for an organization’s brand. It involves developing ideas, selecting media channels to reach target audiences, and determining the right mix of online and offline promotion.