Content marketing is marketing through the creation and distribution of content that is valuable for readers (Kristen, 2013). It aims to create a conversation with consumers by providing informational or entertaining content (Wu, Kao and Lin, 2013). But with so many different marketing strategies available to SMEs, why should content marketing be adopted?
Builds Brand Awareness
Ho et al (2015) define brand awareness as a consumer’s level of readiness to recall attributes related to a particular product or brand. While brand awareness is not an end goal, it facilitates SMEs in positioning themselves as viable options for potential customers (Ho et al, 2015). Increased brand awareness improves an organisation’s likelihood of being selected by a potential customer and leads consumers to actively seek out product or service information from them.
Good content is often shared via social media, news websites, bloggers and sellers, carrying your brand name to new circles of consumers and linking back to your website and other items of content (Whiting and Williams, 2013). For example, IBM shared their blog article about their research scientists’ progress towards building the first practical quantum computer and 28 people had shared this article with their own circles within an hour (IBM Twitter, 2015), while multiple bloggers and news sites shared the information and linked back to the IBM website.
Figure One: IBM share their blog article on Twitter (IBM Twitter, 2015)
Figure Two: Market Business News share blog with link back to site (Nordqvist, 2015)
Integrates Multiple Channels
This example with IBM also demonstrates that content can span multiple channels, which improves the likelihood of content being shared (Mills, 2012). With the rise of social media and web 2.0 the barriers to entry for content creation and sharing are gone, and anyone with internet can contribute (Pulizzi, 2012). This means that the costs of content creation are lower than ever and consumers are more capable and willing to participate in two-way communication with brands (Pulizzi, 2012).
IBM also shared their content on Facebook, where it gained 27 ‘shares’, 162 ‘likes’ and 3 comments within the first hour.
Figure Three: IBM share their content on Facebook (IBM Facebook, 2015)
Retains customers
Social media users seek information and content that they can share to increase their feeling of belonging (Whiting and Williams, 2013). Providing conversational content that is either informational or entertaining encourages existing customers to engage with the organisation, something which is key to customer retention, particularly in financial services (Seigyoung et al, 2007). However Sashi (2012) highlights that interaction is not sufficient and customers must feel satisfied by the interaction in order to become loyal customers.
Increases customer engagement
The interaction and satisfaction that Sashi (2012) describes can be managed long term to create brand advocates, who will not only share the organisation’s content but also actively promote a brand to their circles. The more influence a customer has the greater the value of their advocacy and influencers can also be targeted to share and co-create content in order to increase return on investment (Kumar, and Mirchandani, 2012).
Facilitates acquiring new customers
Boosting brand awareness and producing positive peer reviews and brand advocates decreases the consumer’s perceived risk of engaging in transactional business, particularly for online retailers (Easlick and Lotz, 2014, Hajli, 2013). Functional and informational content boost trust in an organisation by allowing consumers to see demonstrations of expertise (Ho et al, 2015; Kristen, 2013). As growth through retention alone is limited by existing customer base factors such as size and need for repeat custom, acquisition can be a valuable source of business growth for SMEs (Reibe et al, 2013).
Limitations
As with any marketing approach, content marketing has its limitations. Many SMEs struggle to find the time and resources to create bespoke and valuable content and outsourcing this can be expensive. However, using social media to create microblog content can be an effective and inexpensive method of content creation allowing for easy consumer participation on a low budget (Okazaki and Taylor, 2013).
Overall, the case for content marketing with support from social media is highly compelling for organisations of all budget sizes. Acquiring new customers and retaining existing customers can both be achieved with good quality content sparking two-way communication and sharing of your organisation’s messages to new consumer circles. So if your organisation relies on word of mouth and customer engagement, you’d better get together a content creation plan.
For more information on content creation as a marketing strategy read Ho et al (2015) at http://bit.ly/1eWwA0F.
References
Eastlick, M. and Lotz, S. (2011) Cognitive and institutional predictors of trust toward an online retailer, International Journal of Retail and Distribution Management, Vol. 39, No. 4, pp 234-255
Hajli, M. (2013) A research framework for social commerce adoption, Information Management and Computer Security, Vol. 21, No. 3, pp 144-154
Ho, C., Chiu, K., Chen, H. and Papazafeiropoulou, A. (2015) Can internet blogs be used as an effective advertising tool? The role of product blog type and brand awareness, Journal of Enterprise Information Management, Vol. 28, No. 3, pp 346-362
IBM Facebook (2015) ‘IBM’ [Online] <https://www.facebook.com/IBM?fref=ts> [accessed 29th April 2015]
IBM Twitter (2015) ‘@IBMResearch scientists achieve critical steps to building first practical quantum computer’ [Online] <https://twitter.com/IBM/status/593457347495927808> [accessed 29th April 2014]
Kristen, H. (2013) Content Marketing Strategies to Educate and Entertain, Journal of Financial Planning, Vol. 26, No. 3, pp 18-20
Kumar, V. and Mirchandani, R. (2012) Increasing the ROI of Social Media Marketing, MIT Sloan Management Review, Vol. 54, No. 1, pp 55-61
Mills, A. (2012) Virality in social media: the SPIN framework; Journal of Public Affairs, Vol. 12, No. 2, pp 162-169
Nordqvist, C. (2015) ‘Practical quantum computer a step closer, say IBM scientists’, Market Business News, 29th April 2015 [Online] <https://marketbusinessnews.com/practical-quantum-computer-a-step-closer-say-ibm-scientists/58585> [accessed 29th April 2015]
Okazaki, S. and Taylor, C. (2013) Social media and international advertising: theoretical challenges and future directions, International Marketing Review, Vol. 30, No. 1, pp 56-71
Pulizzi, J. (2012) The Rise of Storytelling as the New Marketing, Publishing Research Quarterly, Vol. 28, No. 2, pp 116-123
Reibe, E., Wright, M., Stern, P. and Sharp, B. (2013) How to grow a brand: Retain or acquire customers?, Journal of Business Research, Vol. 67, No. 5, pp 990-997
Sashi, C. (2012) Customer engagement, buyer-seller relationships, and social media, Journal of Management History, Vol. 50, No. 2, pp 253-272
Seigyoung, A., Bell, S., McLeod, C. and Shih, E. (2007) Co-production and customer loyalty in financial services, Journal of Retailing, Vol. 83, No. 3, pp 359-370
Whiting, A. and Williams, D. (2013) Why people use social media: a uses and gratifications approach, Qualitative Market Research, Vol. 16, No. 4, pp 362-369