Expedient Content Marketing on a Shoestring Budget
If you are a small-business owner with very little time or money to create original content, there is still a way to quickly generate fresh content. Content curation, when combined with original content, drives customer engagement, builds trust in your brand and demonstrates your brand’s commitment to its industry.
The importance of producing effective content marketing materials
Conceptually, content marketing can take you and your business very far if you do it in the best way possible for your particular business. If you do it right, what you are hoping for is that your content will get other people to notice what you are saying and doing and they will want to interact with you. Once that connection has been established, you can start to build a relationship together and eventually, you will do business together.
If you happen to have a marketing department in your business, there is a good chance that content marketing is not a focus of that department. There are several possible reasons for that, including the fact that marketing (straight marketing) and content marketing are not the same thing and in order to successfully create content marketing materials, the ability to write well is absolutely and important part of it. Another important part of content marketing is the graphic element. You need someone who can handle the graphic side of it with skill and a trained eye. Not only must the content be written well but it must be compelling and exciting and it must entice your readers enough to want to interact with you solely because of the content that you have written.
It is important to keep in mind that just because you are not surrounded by content writers, it doesn’t mean that you can’t get your hands on marketing content. You should remember that outsourcing is another option for you although, with the lack of time and money, you need to proceed carefully in order to make that happen. Whomever you choose to help you with your content marketing, whether it is someone from outside or inside of your business (or you, yourself), you need to make sure that the person or people possess a strong knowledge base and skill set to communicate in the way manner that you need.
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Curating content: Content curation is a great way to share content. Basically, you take other people’s content, give them credit, and add your own commentary to the end of that content. That content will hopefully have the intended and desired result of driving a larger amount of traffic to your website.
[tweetthis]Content curation is a great tactic for marketers with limited resources.[/tweetthis]If you use curated content, you would treat it exactly as you would treat original content as far as promoting it on social media is concerned. Of course, you will want to get the most out of the content and, as always, you will want your content to go viral. Hopefully, the results will be very positive, including high rankings on the search engine pages, engaging prospective and existing clients, and eventually getting people to buy what you are selling.
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Adding your own commentary: When you post curated content, you are really offering added value. First of all, you are offering top-quality content. However, you are going to take extra step of adding another layer of information and perspective. So, essentially, the reader is getting two for the price of one. Of course, it is not appropriate to post the curated content (even with the credit to the author) without your commentary. Otherwise, it should be considered a reprint, with no actual involvement from you. Interestingly, the perception that your readers will get of you is that you have enough confidence in your knowledge and expertise to be able to share the work of other people that you consider valuable.
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Pair original and curated content: There is absolutely nothing wrong with sharing a combination of original and curated content. In fact, your readers will most likely appreciate it and find it very interesting. This is where you can allow yourself to be really creative. You have already proven your own creative ability as well as writing skills. Now, you need to improve upon that by bringing content to the table that is even more valuable. In fact, it should be considered an important aspect of your content marketing strategy. Between your original content and the curated content of other exceptional writers, you will be able to offer fresh ideas all (or most) of the time. When it comes to the curated content that you are choosing, as you go along, you can hone what you share and refine it to the point where it is truly unique.
Conclusion
Your content marketing efforts are working toward the ultimate goal of being able to sell as much as possible. Time and money may make it easier but you can still succeed without too much of either one. Social media can give you so much. It is up to you to figure out how to use it in the most efficient way possible. You can invest a little time each day and a lot of your tools won’t cost you anything so you can make much more headway than you might think. The road may be long and winding. Of course, don’t think for one second that you won’t get there because you certainly will.
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