5 Overrated Content Marketing Tactics Being Used Today

Content marketing is touted as the one big thing that can do wonders for your business or brand. It’s defined as the creation and sharing of content, be it blog posts, social media status updates, videos, and even memes, with the purpose of acquiring customers. 

In other words, it's communicating the value of a product or service in order to create brand awareness, attract new customers, and even re-engage existing customers.

You've probably heard of the importance of content marketing a hundred times over. No one can deny the long-term impact content marketing has on boosting brand awareness, attracting new customers and landing more business deals. However, have you taken the time to think about the effectiveness of the multitude of content marketing strategies that exist today?

Here are some overrated content marketing techniques being used today. You'll be better off without them; or at least executing them in a much better way.

1. Content Curation

According to a report on eMarketer

But does sharing other people’s content make you a thought leader?

In the following clip, Michael Wyszomierski, who works on Google’s Search Quality Team, emphasizes how important “value” is to the content that you put out. Value is now required by the search engines because value is now required by the searchers, your consumers, themselves.

Content creation can help you get recognized as a resource for information. However, you will be valued for what you discover and deliver and not for your perspectives and thoughts. When you share someone else’s content, your audience doesn’t learn anything about you. We all know that humanizing your brand has been touted as one of the most effective ways to engage in the world of social media. With that being said, your audience wants to hear from YOU!

2. Targeting The Biggest Influencers

Online influencer outreach can be a valuable activity if done right, but trying to convince just any online influencer to blog, instagram, or tweet nice things about your product or service show very little impact in generating leads and sales.

Here’s where the “who” comes in. Anyone can post anything on social media, but true influencers are the ones that have a genuine connection to the brand and in turn are able to resonate with the message and convey it to their audience. There are certain factors to keep in mind when choosing the right influencer for you:

Social media is a great marketing tool, but banking on social media alone for your product’s marketing strategies can prove fatal for your brand.

Your platform isn’t truly yours - in an article written by New York Times best selling author, Crystal Paine, titled “Don’t Build Your Social Media House on a Rented Platform;” she shares her business set back when she depended on social media for traffic and new leads. When Facebook changed their algorithm her organic reached plummeted to between 1 percent to 3 percent. You might have garnered a huge following, but these social media channels have control on what your audience sees from you.

In the recent years, social media has leaned more and more towards a “pay to reach” model. This is unfortunate for brands because this means your organic reach will be low. Jeff Bullas, a leading social media expert, estimates the organic reach of Facebook is only around 2.71% or even less. On brief statistical study done by the Moz Blog, the average lifespan of a tweet is 18 minutes.

4. Creating Keyword Driven Content

Most digital marketers are still very much stuck in the keyword bubble without realizing that consumers nowadays are getting more and more conversational. At the same time search engines have been getting smarter and more effective at understanding the subtle differences of a user’s search.

As Jason Miller, the global content marketing leader at LinkedIn, puts is “We don’t need more content—we need more relevant content,” with that being said, content creation is more than just keyword stuffing, you have to ask yourself: Do you offer real value, something of substance to your audience that is unique, different, and useful that they won’t find elsewhere?

At the end of the day, “keyword density” guarantees nothing because there’s no exact number of times a keyword should be used to rank higher on search engines. Think about words that are relevant to your keyword research and use them naturally in your content.

5. Comments And Social Shares

Many have fallen for the trap of using the number of comments and social shares on a content as social proof or worst, a KPI (key performance indicator). Most people get hung up on that they lose sight what content marketing really is and that’s building your brand and your bottom line.

Simon Sinek, a global best selling author, explains why we’re so addicted to comments and social shares on a psychological level. These factors release a chemical compound in our body that’s called dopamine—this gives us the feeling of temporary high or feelings of elation/happiness much like the feeling we get from alcohol and gambling.

Although it’s human nature, it does little to prove the success of your strategies. Run your brand by numbers and actually sales.

Conclusion

Regardless of what type of tactics you use, content marketing should be part of your overall strategy. It is one of the best long term strategies that helps you build brand awareness, trust with your audience and consistent monthly revenue.

Content marketing, just like everything else, is constantly evolving. The tactics that were relevant in the past may not be as effective at present. It’s important for brands to keep up with not only what their audience and customers are looking for, but also what they react to.