Telling your company’s story is no small feat. To succeed with content marketing, you have to consider your target audience, locales, brand voice, content types, publication calendar, distribution strategy, marketing goals - and more!  

Yet, content marketing has a huge potential to ignite your readers to take action. By growing your content marketing, you may see exciting new engagement and sales. 

Of course, wowing potential customers with your content marketing is tricky. In fact, 65% of marketers find it hard to produce engaging content. To help you out, let’s go through eight hacks to grow your content marketing strategy and win over new customers.

Gamify Your Blog

Interactive content marketing is growing these days. Adding interactive areas can engage your readers and keep them on your blog. Use gamify tactics such as adding a voting button, or a quiz at the end of your post. You might also try calculators, interactive infographics, or social media filters. Interactive content adds value to the user and boosts trust in your brand.

Go Long (Whenever Possible)

Long-form content is all the rage - and for good reason. Longer blog posts give readers amazing value, which is why Google rankings also reward them. In fact, according to SEO stats, posts that are 2,000+ words are shared more times and get stronger results. Of course, value is the big factor here, so if you create shorter posts with great value, they will perform well regardless. 

Pro tip: Ideally, guest posts should also be long-form. Whether you’re posting on your company site or another expert’s blog, take the time to research and write longer posts whenever possible.

Optimize Your Headlines

Deciding on the just-right headline can make a difference. Headlines are key to SEO and rankings, which is why you should take the time to tweak and perfect them. Try using the Headline Analyzer to find out your headline’s score and then optimize it from there. Some best practices include using a balance of word types, hitting the right character count, and boosting clarity. 

Make Long-Tail Keywords a Must

Long-tail keywords are highly specific phrases that are relevant to your post. For example, instead of the keyword “social media,” you might add long-tail keywords such as “social media best practices” or “social media trends in 2021.” You can drill down even further by adding the location, year or other features. If you were targeting a post for marketing companies in the U.S., you might use the long-tail keyword “social media trends for American brands.” 

Use Pop-Up Content with Care

Let’s be real: pop-up content can be a pest. Try not to overwhelm your site with too many pop-ups. The idea behind pop-ups is to inform users of a timely opportunity. They’re best used for time-sensitive discounts or deadlines. Otherwise, potential customers may be frustrated by having to click through three or four pop-ups before reaching the content they wanted to read.

Repurpose and Diversify Your Content 

Churning out new content every day can be draining. Luckily, you don’t need to. Repurposing content is a quick and painless way to stay fresh. You have choices when it comes to repurposing content. You might update a post that’s outdated, or transform into a new medium. For example, you might flip a popular blog post into a podcast, YouTube video, infographic, digital download or webinar. Diversifying your content types can do wonders for your engagement - and it saves you some topic hunting.

Pro tip: Consider making exclusive content around blog posts you’ve already written. For example, if you create a digital download based on an old post, offer it exclusively to your email list subscribers.

Using Visuals to Your Advantage

Instead of choosing stock images for your post, you may see better engagement with company-designed images, videos, or relevant infographics. This new type of page header can impress readers and make them trust your brand. Rethinking stock images may open new doors to engagement.

Localize Your Content

Localization is often overlooked by content marketers, yet it can have a huge impact. By localizing your content, your company can expand your brand’s reach to new locales (even if you're not active in those locations yet). 

Localizing isn’t just translating your content. Instead, it involves using locally appropriate vocabulary and cultural references. This is especially important for key pages of your site, such as social proof or sales pages. Consider creating a localization strategy to seriously grow your content marketing - in our highly globalized world, localization should be a pillar in every marketer’s content strategy.  

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While there’s no shortcut to grow your content marketing, you can boost audience engagement and sales with these eight hacks. In the long run, applying these strategies will add value to your content and give you a chance to grow globally.