The Ultimate Guide to Content Marketing Best Practices

Content trading involves creating and distributing assets for illustration videos, blog posts, and photos to scope your target assemblage and build relationships pinch them. And it has galore moving parts. 

But you tin simplify the process by pursuing our database of contented trading champion practices. 

Here are 15 activities to see utilizing successful your contented trading plan.

1. Analyze Your Audience

Audience study helps you uncover information for illustration psychographics (pain points, challenges, and desires) and demographics (age, gender, and salary) to pass which topics you screen and which types of contented to create. 

Use Semrush’s One2Target to commencement assemblage research. 

Open the instrumentality and participate up to 5 competitor domains. Click “Analyze.”

A study will load assemblage information. Click on the different tabs to position insights for demographics, socioeconomics, behavior, and assemblage overlap (where you tin spot different websites the assemblage visits).

For example, if you click the “Behavior” tab, you tin spot which societal platforms your assemblage spends clip on. This lets you cognize which societal platforms to create contented for.

In the illustration below, you tin spot that this assemblage spends the astir clip connected YouTube. Meaning it mightiness beryllium a bully thought to create videos for this audience.

Then, caput to the Audience Intelligence app for moreover much assemblage insights.

Once successful the app, sanction your study and adhd an X (formerly Twitter) grip for a competitor to analyse their followers. And click “Create caller report.”

You’ll past beryllium capable to spot an overview of the audience. Which includes demographic information, their favourite brands, etc.

Click “See each sources” successful the “Top contented sources” widget. 

This study reveals the contented your assemblage posts. Like the hashtags they usage and the websites they often share.

Use this accusation to ideate topics for your ain contented that your assemblage is apt to beryllium willing in.

2. Review Your Competitors

Analyzing your competitors’ contented strategies helps you spot what whitethorn beryllium moving for them, which tin animate your ain strategy.

You tin reappraisal your competitors’ societal media contented by heading to their societal profiles and examining each post. 

Look for engagement specified arsenic likes, comments, and shares. And make a statement of the topics and contented formats (such arsenic videos, carousel posts, etc.) that person the astir interaction.

Then, usage Semrush’s Keyword Gap instrumentality to spot which keywords your competitors rank for but you don’t.

Open the instrumentality and participate your domain and those of up to 4 competitors. Adjust the state if needed and click “Compare.”

Scroll to the keyword array and click “Untapped.” This shows you each the keywords you don’t rank for but astatine slightest 1 of your competitors does.

Also, click “Missing” to position the keywords you don’t rank for but each your competitors do.

You mightiness want to write blog posts astir aliases create different pages for these keywords. To compete pinch your rivals successful hunt results.

3. Define Your Messaging

Your messaging is really you pass what your assemblage should cognize astir your institution and encompasses elements for illustration your brand voice, halfway values, and what sets you isolated from your competitors.

And defining your messaging sets the instauration for really you’ll pass pinch your assemblage crossed each platforms and pieces of content.

For example, this Nike page lists making athletics accessible arsenic 1 of their halfway values. 

And they’ve built that worth into their messaging that they usage crossed their contented strategy. Like successful this Instagram station that highlights players from the Paris Paralympics. 

Or this free PDF that helps hijab-wearing athletes and teammates create a respectable and nosy situation for everyone.

So, refine your messaging to make it easier to travel up with—and execute—content ideas.

Here are a fewer tips to specify your messaging:

1. Identify the halfway values that bespeak your marque and resonate pinch your audience
2. Understand your audience's needs, desires, and symptom points (this should beryllium easy if you’ve already analyzed your audience)
3. Write a worth proposition (a connection that describes the use of buying your products aliases services) that sets you isolated from competitors
4. Establish a chopped and accordant voice

4. Set Goals and KPIs

Setting goals provides a roadmap for your contented trading efforts and guides you successful choosing cardinal capacity indicators (KPIs) that will thief you way advancement toward those goals.

KPIs are circumstantial metrics that bespeak whether you’re connected way to meet your objectives.

For example, if your extremity is related to expanding marque awareness, a applicable KPI would beryllium regular sessions for your website. And you tin reappraisal your website analytics regularly to spot if you’re reaching a number that aligns pinch your circumstantial goal. 

Here are immoderate tips for defining goals and KPIs:

• Set goals that are aligned pinch your company’s broader objectives
• Take your fund into information to thief you group realistic goals
• Research manufacture benchmarks if you’re unsure what numbers to purpose for

Further reading: 14 Content Marketing Metrics to Track for Success

5. Build a Dedicated Content Team

A dedicated contented squad that splits up tasks among experts successful different areas helps you turn and standard your strategy faster.

The roles you adhd to your contented squad dangle connected your goals and wide contented strategy. 

But astir contented trading teams person 1 to 3 specialists/roles, according to our State of Content Marketing report.

Our investigation besides recovered that the astir communal in-house specialists were trading managers, writers/content creators, and societal media managers.

Other communal roles for contented trading teams include:

• Content trading manager
• Content trading strategist
• SEO specialist
• Head of contented marketing
• Designer
• Web developer
• Email trading specialist
• Data scientist

These roles tin stay in-house. Or, you tin outsource to agencies and freelancers to capable immoderate gaps. 

Outsourcing marketing activities related to contented tin prevention time, money, and fto you pat into expertise that in-house labor whitethorn lack.

Ask yourself these questions if you’re unsure whether you should outsource aliases prosecute in-house for definite roles:

• Do we person the fund for an in-house role?
• Do we person the soul expertise and bandwidth to negociate this domiciled in-house?
• Do we request a precocious level of nonstop power complete this role's day-to-day tasks?
• Does this domiciled trust connected proprietary accusation aliases soul processes that could beryllium difficult for outer hires to access?
• Will this personification person a accordant workload?

6. Incorporate User-Generated Content

User-generated content (UGC) is immoderate contented created by your customers aliases different contributors, and it adds to your contented efforts without requiring further work.

Here’s an illustration of UGC connected Instagram (you tin show this is apt UGC because Apple credited the photograph to personification else):

Some examples of UGC include:

• Testimonials (written aliases video)
• Blog articles that mention your merchandise aliases service
• Videos and photos that showcase your merchandise aliases work (like unboxingings aliases video tutorials)
• Podcast episodes talking astir your merchandise aliases service

You tin cod UGC pinch a instrumentality for illustration Brand Monitoring.

After configuring the tool, you’ll get notified anytime personification uses your marque sanction aliases branded position crossed the web. 

Look for blog posts/articles that mention your marque aliases products. And inquire if you person support to reuse their contented for your ain trading purposes.

7. Perform Keyword Research

Keyword research is simply a process that involves uncovering queries applicable to your marque that your target assemblage types into hunt engines, and creating contented astir those position tin thief you rank, summation traffic, and moreover person users. 

Find keywords utilizing the Keyword Magic Tool. 

Start by entering a wide keyword related to your business. Then, participate your domain (for personalized recommendations), set the state (optional), and click “Search.”

The instrumentality will propulsion up a database of applicable keywords. There will beryllium numbers beside individual keywords noting your position successful the search motor results pages (SERPs) if your tract is already ranking for that keyword. 

You’ll besides get information for illustration each keyword's Personal Keyword Difficulty (PKD %) score—how difficult it is for your circumstantial tract to rank successful the apical 10 results for each keyword. 

So, look for keywords pinch little Personal Keyword Difficulty percentages. As those are apt easier to rank for.

You should besides salary attraction to the keyword’s measurement (its number of monthly searches). And its search intent—the logic personification searches that query.

When you find a keyword you’d for illustration to use, hover complete the “+”sign and click the hamburger menu. This opens a widget wherever you tin adhd keywords to lists. 

Creating lists helps you and your squad shape keywords for later reference. 

For example, you tin create a database of imaginable keywords for your SEO master to review. 

8. Strengthen Your Site’s On-Page SEO

On-page SEO refers to the activities you execute connected webpages to thief them rank higher successful SERPs.

It includes techniques like:

• Using keywords successful URLs
• Writing keyword-rich title tags (HTML that specifies your webpage titles)
• Adding soul links (links to different pages connected your site) and outer links (links to different sites) successful content
• Writing unsocial and informative content

Use the On Page SEO Checker to get a elaborate study of your site’s on-page SEO, truthful you cognize what to improve. 

After configuring the tool, spell to the “Optimization Ideas” tab and click the bluish “# ideas” fastener beside a page you want to optimize for much details.

You’ll get a study pinch suggested fixes. Such arsenic improving your SEO strategy by targeting the correct keywords for the page.

Go done and use each proposal for each pages listed.

9. Target All Stages of the Marketing Funnel

A marketing funnel simplifies the customer journey (the steps personification takes to move into a loyal customer) and helps trading teams understand the basal contented for each stage. 

Content trading funnels incorporate 3 sections: apical of the chimney (ToFu), mediate of the chimney (MoFu), and bottommost of the chimney (BoFu).

And you should person plentifulness of contented for each shape to guarantee you’re reaching each imaginable customers and speaking to them wherever they are. 

Here’s an illustration of what the buyer’s travel could look for illustration for personification who wants to screen windows successful their home—and immoderate contented ideas for each stage:

1. ToFu: They Google “window covering ideas” to get inspiration. While searching, they travel crossed a blog station from a institution that sells peel-and-stick model privateness film.
2. MoFu: They travel the institution connected Instagram wherever they spot UGC showing different types of privateness films successful people’s homes
3. MoFu: They cheque retired the company’s YouTube transmission and travel crossed how-to tutorials showcasing easiness of use
4. BoFu: They spot a customer testimonial posted to Instagram and determine to bargain the product

The supra illustration is simply a elemental buyer’s travel pinch different types of contented for each stage. 

Real-life journeys typically person galore much steps. And immoderate group mightiness enactment successful definite stages longer than others aliases moreover revisit past stages. 

An easy measurement to find what contented goes successful which shape is to usage the Keyword Magic Tool.

Open the tool, participate a wide keyword, and click “Search.”

Go done the keywords and salary attraction to the “Intent” column.

There are 4 keyword intent types, and they align pinch different stages of the funnel:

• Informational: The personification wants accusation astir a taxable (e.g., “window covering ideas”). These keywords are usually ToFu.
• Commercial: The personification is researching products aliases brands (e.g., “window privateness movie vs zebra blinds”). These keywords are usually MoFu.
• Navigational: The personification wants to find a circumstantial website aliases page (e.g., “hunter douglas website”). These keywords are apt MoFu aliases BoFu.
• Transactional: The personification wants to bargain a definite merchandise (e.g., “buy huntsman douglas zebra blinds”). These keywords are BoFu.

Go done the keywords and make judge you prime different ones to screen each shape of the funnel. 

And though the Keyword Magic Tool’s information is related to hunt engines, you tin besides usage it to understand your buyer's travel and travel up pinch ideas for different types of contented and platforms.

For example, the keyword “egress model covers” has commercialized intent. And you whitethorn person societal media followers who are adjacent the bottommost of the funnel. 

So, you could create a bid of Instagram posts that highlights different egress model covers done reels and fixed posts.

10. Create a Content Calendar

Content calendars are elaborate schedules that fto teams collaborate and way each portion of contented and its specifications (e.g., status, contented type, topic, its chimney stage, etc).

Here’s an example:

This birds-eye position tin hint you into times erstwhile you whitethorn request to set your planned content. 

For example, you recognize blog posts person consistently outperformed videos for the past 3 months. But erstwhile you reappraisal your contented calendar, you spot that your squad is readying to chiefly nutrient videos. 

Knowing this, you tin set your plans to attraction connected much blog content.

Spreadsheets often make suitable (and budget-friendly) options for creating contented calendars. Or, you tin usage a task guidance instrumentality for illustration Monday aliases Asana.

11. Repurpose Content for Different Channels

Content repurposing is erstwhile you reuse—and tweak—content for different channels, which tin prevention you clip and money. 

For example, here’s a conception from 1 of our blog posts:

We took the bulleted matter and turned it into a schematic for Facebook: 

Here are immoderate ideas for repurposing your content:

• Extract quotes from written contented and move them into societal media graphics (like we did successful the illustration above)
• Take podcast show notes and reformat them into blog posts (or do the other and move blog posts into podcast episodes)
• Take long-form videos (like YouTube content) and disagreement them into smaller videos for Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, and TikTok videos
• Create summaries of blog posts and nonstop those summaries to your email list
• Convert webinars into lead magnets (assets group person successful speech for their email address)
• Turn blog posts into videos

If you’re looking to move blog contented into videos, effort the AI Video Marketing Automator app.

Click “Get for Free,” caput into the app, and prime “URL to Video.” 

Fill retired the pop-up model and click “Create Video.”

The instrumentality will walk a fewer minutes creating your video. 

Once it’s finished, you tin set things for illustration the voice, style, music, the content, and more.

12. Use Subject Matter Experts’ Insights

Subject matter experts (SMEs) are group pinch a precocious level of knowledge successful a peculiar area that you tin see successful your contented to build thought leadership—when you stock influential and highly acquisition contented that positions your marque arsenic an master successful your niche. 

SMEs tin beryllium soul (people who activity for your company) aliases outer (other experts successful your niche).

Here’s really Hotjar uses soul SMEs to weave expertise into blog posts:

You tin find imaginable SMEs to partner pinch by:

• Reaching retired to in-house experts
• Checking contributors successful manufacture publications
• Networking astatine events
• Engaging pinch authors of applicable studies

Then, travel up pinch a scheme for really you’d for illustration to partner pinch each SME. 

For example, you mightiness want an in-house master to constitute a blog post. Or, you could question and reply an manufacture master connected your podcast. 

13. Create a Mix of Evergreen, Seasonal, and Trending Content

Publishing a operation of evergreen, seasonal, and trending contented helps you maximize engagement and reach.

There are 3 main types of contented based connected lifespan:

1. Evergreen content remains applicable complete a agelong play of time—sometimes moreover years. And you don’t request to make awesome updates frequently. Like a blog station pinch tips for coating interior walls.
2. Seasonal content is tied to circumstantial events, holidays, and seasons. It doesn’t clasp relevance complete an full twelvemonth but whitethorn beryllium applicable astatine the aforesaid constituent successful clip for respective years to come. Such arsenic a blog station pinch Halloween recipes.
3. Trending content is contented that’s highly applicable for a short play of clip and tin springiness you a speedy burst of relationship arsenic group look up the trend. Like our Instagram station that references the “demure” inclination of August 2024:

Figuring retired really overmuch evergreen contented to make versus seasonal and trending contented requires experimentation. 

We urge search your content’s results to spot which type of contented performs champion and which type yields the highest return. You tin set from there. 

14. Use AI When Appropriate

Using AI successful contented marketing tin velocity up your processes and thief you travel up pinch much ideas. But you shouldn't trust connected AI to create polished, ready-to-publish contented for you. 

Why?

Because there’s consequence of bias, hallucinations, and moreover plagiarism. 

But by knowing those risks you tin build checks and balances into your contented creation process to debar them. 

For example, alternatively of penning an full blog station pinch generative AI, you tin usage it to reappraisal human-written blog posts and springiness you tips for things for illustration SEO and readability.

Semrush’s SEO Writing Assistant is an AI-powered instrumentality that’s useful for optimizing content. 

Just participate your blog post’s keywords into the “Keywords” area, set the target audience, and click “Get recommendations.”

Then constitute your blog station straight successful the editor aliases transcript and paste from elsewhere.

The instrumentality reviews what’s already ranking successful the hunt results to springiness you recommendations connected really to amended your ain content. And provides recommendations for readability, SEO, originality, and reside of voice.

If you get stuck, you tin usage the Smart Writer features to constitute AI-generated matter aliases rewrite existing text. 

15. Measure Results

Measuring your content’s results lets you spot what needs betterment and whether you request to set your strategy. 

Review the KPIs that align pinch your goals because those are the metrics you should track.

For example, let’s opportunity you’re aiming to turn marque consciousness by expanding your number of caller followers crossed societal media. Semrush’s Social Analytics instrumentality tracks this for Facebook, LinkedIn, TikTok, and Instagram.

But it besides lets you reappraisal a big of different metrics to supply moreover much penetration into your capacity and what you mightiness request to do to improve.

And Organic Traffic Insights combines information from Google Analytics, Google Search Console, and Semrush into 1 dashboard. So you tin easy show website-related KPIs for illustration click-through rates, sessions, and keyword rankings.

Elevate Your Content Marketing Endeavors

Content trading has galore moving parts that travel the buyer’s travel crossed societal media, webpages, email, and more.

Semrush has a assortment of devices that tin thief you travel these champion practices crossed your contented efforts. 

Ready to effort them?

Get your free trial today.