What is content marketing? Let me help you think about the three core issues of content marketing

This article will take you through three core issues of content marketing :

1. What is content marketing really?
2. How to correctly understand the value of content marketing?
3. How to make content marketing more effective based on the “user management” thinking?

"In the future, the value of content and IP will become more and more important. The ratio of traffic and content will change from 80:20 to 50:50. At the same time, traffic and content are the entrance and the commanding height respectively." This was the view expressed by Ma Huateng, chairman of Tencent, in March this year when he answered a question from a Caixin reporter about whether the Internet is shifting from a traffic war to a content war.

Nowadays, Internet traffic has become more expensive, and content has become the new commanding heights of Internet competition. Many Internet platforms, media and agencies, led by Tencent, Baidu, Alibaba and Toutiao , are actively developing content strategies to compete for users' fragmented time.

Not only that, brand owners are also actively exploring the In-House model to manage brand content dissemination, which has become a new trend. Well-known brands such as Red Bull, L'Oreal, NIKE, and Coca-Cola have all established their own content platforms or media studios to promote their brands and attract consumers' attention. For example, L'Oréal created a content factory in 2015. It cooperated with YouTube to produce many beauty tutorial videos in combination with its beauty products and shared them with users. They also created a fashion online platform called Fab Beauty, which brings together many KOLs in the fashion and beauty industry. They share short videos, interviews, and backstage insights from catwalks on the platform, allowing consumers to get a closer look at cutting-edge fashion from around the world. Maintain a long-term interactive relationship between brands and consumers.

Image source: Fab Beauty website

It can be said that in the new era driven by digitalization, content is still "king". But at the same time, with the explosion of information, content marketing has become in a state of supply surplus, and the vast majority of content marketing has failed to stand out and ultimately fallen into the rabbit hole of the Internet.

According to data released by the Content Marketing Institute, 88% of marketers use content marketing, and 76% of marketers say they expect to produce more content this year than last year. Content budgets are expected to grow from the current 23.3% to 33.1% in two years, making content marketing not only a traffic generator but also an important channel for engagement.

On one hand, there are the ever-increasing content marketing budgets and the endless stream of content, and on the other hand, there is the feeling of powerlessness in winning the hearts of consumers. Through some professional research data, we summarize the following main influencing factors:

● Consumers prefer content that is instructive and helpful.
● Personalized content can better encourage consumers to purchase.
● Consumers need to see content continuously.
● User-generated content makes consumers feel more intimate.
● Content dissemination channels are too fragmented, causing consumers to focus on information and ignore brands.

So, in order to achieve successful content marketing, what are the core key issues that we need to pay attention to and solve?

First, it is a cognitive misunderstanding. Many people’s understanding of content marketing is still limited to content forms that are mainly based on videos, pictures, and texts, using social media to publish content, combining film and television dramas to do IP marketing , etc.

Second, it is the focus of strategy. Marketers tend to be brand-centric rather than user-centric when developing content marketing strategies. According to a survey, only 23% of B2B marketers claim to be customer-centric, rather than channel- or product-centric.

Finally, there are the metrics for measuring content marketing success. Marketers do not have clear goals and plans when developing content marketing strategies, and cannot clearly define what is a good content marketing strategy. The survey found that 57% of B2B marketers believe that measuring content effectiveness is the biggest challenge facing content marketing.

Based on the above three core issues, our solution is:

First of all, we need to clarify what content marketing is.
Secondly, you must clearly understand the true value of content marketing.
The most important thing is to plan the content marketing strategy and ecosystem based on the "user management" thinking.

1. What is content marketing?

The most important part of content marketing is content, so content marketing is marketing generated by content. The concept of content marketing has existed as early as the newspaper era or even earlier. With the development of industrialization and informatization, content marketing has been continuously enriched and evolved.

According to the definition of content marketing by the Content Marketing Institute of the United States: the essential characteristics of content marketing are "valuable", "relevant" and "sustainable". It is a strategic marketing method and a media asset that is applicable to all content carriers, media channels and platforms. It is content that can attract the audience's automatic attention and acquisition. Rather than just advertising or public relations, based on a certain activity, it is not limited to social media, nor does it require huge amounts of money to publish content to reach the audience. More importantly, content not only attracts highly matched target groups, it can also promote business conversion and bring benefits to the company.

Content from: Content Marketing Institute

2. The True Value of Content Marketing

When talking about the value of content marketing, most marketers often go straight to "enhancing brand image and awareness", "increasing visitor volume", "bringing higher conversion rates "..., and our advice is to explore the true value of content marketing from the perspective of "the entire customer life cycle".

The value of content marketing will vary depending on the different stages of the customer life cycle.

3. Layout content marketing strategy and ecology based on "user management" thinking

Based on the "user management" thinking, here we give a formula for laying out content marketing strategy and ecology:

Below we will analyze this formula through specific method suggestions and cases.

1. It is necessary to establish a "user-centric" content marketing strategy

Before building a content marketing strategy, we must first ask ourselves a question: Can our content marketing strategy bring the greatest value to users?
The key to solving this problem is "balance". The so-called balance means that when doing content marketing, we must balance the relationship between business needs guided by brand goals and user needs guided by user value, and ultimately achieve the mission value of the content.

2. Focus on segmented groups, reflect the "customer life journey", and establish content connection points and connection strength

In the process of specific implementation , we must master four key elements: personalization, relevance, value and sustainability .

Personalization : It is to focus on the segmentation and insights of the crowd and establish personalized communication. For example, this year's highly anticipated online variety show "The Rap of China" is a large-scale hip -hop music talent show targeting those born in the 1990s and 2000s.

Image source: iQiyi promotional poster

Brand owners who also focus on this group can use this entertainment content IP, combined with the behavioral characteristics of the post-90s consumer group, to conduct personalized communication from different dimensions of the content, thereby increasing brand awareness and topicality.

Relevance & Valuability: This means connecting content to each stage of the customer’s life journey, solving user problems, achieving marketing goals at different stages, and promoting customer expansion.

In February 2017, Starbucks and Tencent jointly launched a new social gifting experience called “ Say It With Stars ” . WeChat users can use this social gifting platform to send a cup of coffee to their friends with a customized blessing. The other party can then scan the QR code in the store to get the coffee with the WeChat voucher they received. Allow consumers to express their emotions and blessings anytime and anywhere.

Image source: Internet

This platform meets users' social and emotional needs anytime and anywhere, and builds a bridge of emotional communication between people in a novel and convenient way. At the same time, the brand's added value and digital experience have been enhanced. The integration of online and offline has opened up users' consumption channels, increasing sales and user loyalty .

Persistence: Rhythmic Always-on builds a lasting relationship with users. Here is one of the most representative cases, which can help you understand more intuitively how to establish lasting relationships with users in a rhythmic manner.

Volvo Trucks Video Marketing - Volvo shot hundreds of videos of different content types, and disseminated them rhythmically and continuously on the Youtube social platform in three content formats: Hero (heroic content), Hub (gathering content), and Hygiene (daily content), which brought a large amount of exposure and loyal users to the brand. Quoting the “3H” content method of the Youtube video website can help us achieve an always-on content strategy, which is not just a short burst of activity, but also continuous dissemination and participation.

Another level of sustainability lies in the organic integration of media/channels to achieve seamless and sustainable connection between users. Leverage paid, owned, and earned media to deliver content your audience wants and maximize your content reach.

3. Establish content production, operation and effect evaluation standards based on "user management" thinking

The process of content production and operation is no longer linear, but a continuous cycle. A series of actions need to be taken based on the use of data: understanding the audience, creating strategies and content, precise promotion and communication, evaluating content, testing and developing new strategies and content, and ultimately achieving continuous optimization of content.

The following three principles can be used for specific implementation:

A. Establish a marketing route : Marketing discovery → Content goals → Roles + responsibilities → Content creation → Content promotion → Content evaluation.

B. Data-driven optimization : Use data for real-time evaluation, optimization, analysis, and response. Don’t let data hinder creativity. It can also create attractive content.

C. Standardize the evaluation system : Establish evaluation indicators (for example, consumption indicators, participation indicators, lead indicators, etc.) from the stages of attracting new customers, winning new customers, and promoting customer decision-making and conversion. Measure the performance of content through multiple content channels (such as websites, social media , instant messaging, etc.). In addition, you can also establish your own "content marketing operation indicators" (production indicators, cost indicators, etc.).
Finally, we have compiled a roadmap to help everyone have a clearer understanding of the methodological suggestions we have given.