Who would have thought something good could come from my encounters with ruthless copyright trolls? While I wish I had not run into online bullies that target small businesses with image copyright infringement claims, the silver lining is that I've acquired knowledge to empower other business owners. In turn, that has helped establish the #Strella blog as a go-to place for people looking for relevant, practical content marketing information.
Provide Value: The Tried-and-True Blogging and Content Marketing Success Factor
My blog posts that describe my ordeals with Getty Images and Pixsy stand as wonderful examples of a content marketing best practice that can benefit your customers, your business, and the subject matter experts you include in your blog posts.
What is that best practice? Offering value.
Write about topics that matter to your readers. Consider what can help them solve a problem or achieve greater success. Both my Getty Images and Pixsy posts touched on an all-too-common issue among businesses that do online marketing. For my blog post about Pixsy, I interviewed my attorney, Jan Matthew Tamanini of JMT Law, LLC. She offers guidance for navigating copyright trolls.
Judging from the fact that the post has drawn nearly 4,000 readers to date (and the post about Getty Images has attracted over 2,600), it's evident the topic is relevant and valuable to the #Strella audience. These posts' popularity stems from their focus on giving business owners insight into a problem that can potentially create hardship for their companies if not handled properly.
A Win-Win-Win
#Strella blog readers have benefitted from the information in the posts. And the content's relevance has helped our company reinforce our reputation of being a trustworthy source of information for the business community. Also, Jan has received several inquiries from people who read her insight within my blog posts and need help responding to copyright infringement claims. The relevance of the blog posts in addressing the issue of dealing with unscrupulous companies' unauthorized image use claims has made the content beneficial for all involved.
Bonus Tip
I would be remiss if I neglected to mention that creating content centered on relevant topics is only part of the equation for content marketing success. Consistency is also essential! When blogging and maintaining a social media presence, your reliability matters. Your readers will look to you to regularly and reliably provide them with relevant, quality content—otherwise, they may tune out and look for other sources of insight and inspiration.
Digital marketing expert Mark Schaefer recently wrote about the importance of consistency in a recent post on his blog. While publishing content regularly requires work, it's necessary work. There are no shortcuts for building reader loyalty. Per Mark,
"Creating and reinforcing consumer habits through content requires a long-term commitment. The only reason I am part of the woman's life who reads my posts over a cup of coffee is because she counts on me showing up."
Your turn! What are your biggest challenges with content marketing? Leave a comment and share your thoughts!
