The Ultimate Guide to Content Marketing Best Practices

Content selling involves creating and distributing assets similar videos, blog posts, and photos to scope your people assemblage and physique relationships with them. And it has galore moving parts. 

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

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

1. Analyze Your Audience

Audience investigation helps you uncover information similar 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 rival domains. Click “Analyze.”

A study volition load assemblage information. Click on the antithetic tabs to presumption 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 make 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 make videos for this audience.

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

Once successful the app, sanction your study and adhd an X (formerly Twitter) grip for a rival 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 funny 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 marque a enactment 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 fertile 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 fertile for but astatine slightest 1 of your competitors does.

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

You mightiness privation to write blog posts astir oregon make different pages for these keywords. To vie with your rivals successful hunt results.

3. Define Your Messaging

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

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

For example, this Nike leafage 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 escaped PDF that helps hijab-wearing athletes and teammates make a respectable and amusive situation for everyone.

So, refine your messaging to marque 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 with your audience
2. Understand your audience's needs, desires, and symptom points (this should beryllium casual if you’ve already analyzed your audience)
3. Write a worth proposition (a connection that describes the payment of buying your products oregon services) that sets you isolated from competitors
4. Establish a chiseled and accordant voice

4. Set Goals and KPIs

Setting goals provides a roadmap for your contented selling efforts and guides you successful choosing cardinal show indicators (KPIs) that volition assistance you way advancement toward those goals.

KPIs are circumstantial metrics that bespeak whether you’re connected way to conscionable 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 fig that aligns with your circumstantial goal. 

Here are immoderate tips for defining goals and KPIs:

• Set goals that are aligned with your company’s broader objectives
• Take your fund into information to assistance you acceptable 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 antithetic areas helps you turn and standard your strategy faster.

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

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

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

Other communal roles for contented selling teams include:

• Content selling manager
• Content selling strategist
• SEO specialist
• Head of contented marketing
• Designer
• Web developer
• Email selling 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 employees whitethorn lack.

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

• Do we person the fund for an in-house role?
• Do we person the interior expertise and bandwidth to negociate this relation in-house?
• Do we request a precocious level of nonstop power implicit this role's day-to-day tasks?
• Does this relation trust connected proprietary accusation oregon interior processes that could beryllium hard for outer hires to access?
• Will this idiosyncratic person a accordant workload?

6. Incorporate User-Generated Content

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

Here’s an illustration of UGC connected Instagram (you tin archer this is apt UGC due to the fact that Apple credited the photograph to idiosyncratic else):

Some examples of UGC include:

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

You tin cod UGC with a instrumentality similar Brand Monitoring.

After configuring the tool, you’ll get notified anytime idiosyncratic uses your marque sanction oregon branded presumption crossed the web. 

Look for blog posts/articles that notation your marque oregon products. And inquire if you person support to reuse their contented for your ain selling purposes.

7. Perform Keyword Research

Keyword research is simply a process that involves uncovering queries applicable to your marque that your people assemblage types into hunt engines, and creating contented astir those presumption tin assistance you rank, summation traffic, and adjacent 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 volition propulsion up a database of applicable keywords. There volition beryllium numbers beside idiosyncratic keywords noting your presumption successful the search motor results pages (SERPs) if your tract is already ranking for that keyword. 

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

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

You should besides wage attraction to the keyword’s measurement (its fig of monthly searches). And its search intent—the crushed idiosyncratic searches that query.

When you find a keyword you’d similar to use, hover implicit 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 signifier keywords for aboriginal reference. 

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

8. Strengthen Your Site’s On-Page SEO

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

It includes techniques like:

• Using keywords successful URLs
• Writing keyword-rich title tags (HTML that specifies your webpage titles)
• Adding interior 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 investigation 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 leafage you privation to optimize for much details.

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

Go done and use each proposition for each pages listed.

9. Target All Stages of the Marketing Funnel

A marketing funnel simplifies the customer journey (the steps idiosyncratic takes to crook into a loyal customer) and helps selling teams recognize the indispensable contented for each stage. 

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

And you should person plentifulness of contented for each signifier 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 similar for idiosyncratic 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 antithetic 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 lawsuit testimonial posted to Instagram and determine to bargain the product

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

Real-life journeys typically person galore much steps. And immoderate radical mightiness enactment successful definite stages longer than others oregon adjacent revisit past stages. 

An casual mode to find what contented goes successful which signifier is to usage the Keyword Magic Tool.

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

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

There are 4 keyword intent types, and they align with antithetic stages of the funnel:

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

Go done the keywords and marque definite you prime antithetic ones to screen each signifier of the funnel. 

And though the Keyword Magic Tool’s information is related to hunt engines, you tin besides usage it to recognize your buyer's travel and travel up with 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 make a bid of Instagram posts that highlights antithetic egress model covers done reels and static posts.

10. Create a Content Calendar

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

Here’s an example:

This birds-eye presumption 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 absorption connected much blog content.

Spreadsheets often marque suitable (and budget-friendly) options for creating contented calendars. Or, you tin usage a task absorption instrumentality similar Monday oregon Asana.

11. Repurpose Content for Different Channels

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

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

We took the bulleted substance and turned it into a graphic for Facebook: 

Here are immoderate ideas for repurposing your content:

• Extract quotes from written contented and crook them into societal media graphics (like we did successful the illustration above)
• Take podcast amusement notes and reformat them into blog posts (or bash the other and crook 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 radical person successful speech for their email address)
• Turn blog posts into videos

If you’re looking to crook 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 volition walk a fewer minutes creating your video. 

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

12. Use Subject Matter Experts’ Insights

Subject substance experts (SMEs) are radical with a precocious level of cognition successful a peculiar country that you tin see successful your contented to physique thought leadership—when you stock influential and highly acquisition contented that positions your marque arsenic an adept successful your niche. 

SMEs tin beryllium interior (people who enactment for your company) oregon outer (other experts successful your niche).

Here’s however Hotjar uses interior SMEs to weave expertise into blog posts:

You tin find imaginable SMEs to spouse with by:

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

Then, travel up with a program for however you’d similar to spouse with each SME. 

For example, you mightiness privation an in-house adept to constitute a blog post. Or, you could interrogation an manufacture adept connected your podcast. 

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

Publishing a premix 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 implicit a agelong play of time—sometimes adjacent years. And you don’t request to marque large updates frequently. Like a blog station with tips for coating interior walls.
2. Seasonal content is tied to circumstantial events, holidays, and seasons. It doesn’t clasp relevance implicit an full twelvemonth but whitethorn beryllium applicable astatine the aforesaid constituent successful clip for respective years to come. Such arsenic a blog station with Halloween recipes.
3. Trending content is contented that’s highly applicable for a abbreviated play of clip and tin springiness you a speedy burst of enactment arsenic radical look up the trend. Like our Instagram station that references the “demure” inclination of August 2024:

Figuring retired however overmuch evergreen contented to marque versus seasonal and trending contented requires experimentation. 

We urge tracking your content’s results to spot which benignant of contented performs champion and which benignant 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 assistance you travel up with much ideas. But you shouldn't trust connected AI to make polished, ready-to-publish contented for you. 

Why?

Because there’s hazard of bias, hallucinations, and adjacent plagiarism. 

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

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

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

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

Then constitute your blog station straight successful the exertion oregon transcript and paste from elsewhere.

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

If you get stuck, you tin usage the Smart Writer features to constitute AI-generated substance oregon 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 with your goals due to the fact that those are the metrics you should track.

For example, let’s accidental you’re aiming to turn marque consciousness by expanding your fig 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 adjacent much penetration into your show and what you mightiness request to bash 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 similar click-through rates, sessions, and keyword rankings.

Elevate Your Content Marketing Endeavors

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

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

Ready to effort them?

Get your free trial today.