Brands keep pumping out content, hoping that the sheer volume will help to make up for lower quality standards. We all know that it’s not a long-term strategy but, because it’s working right now, many brands are happy to keep feeding the content monster. Many businesses fail to realize that having copious amounts of content isn't going to rank them high on search engines, it’s the high-quality and context of your content that will.
Some businesses are learning that its context, not content, that’s king.
Where You Publish Matters
Publishing on Facebook is a little different from publishing on Twitter, which is different from publishing on your blog.
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Facebook posts do best when they’re short, contain video or images, and when things are kept light and interesting. The one exception to this, or rather two exceptions, are politics and religion. Unless you’re in those niches, it’s usually best to avoid these topics altogether because they’re so polarizing and divisive, Plus, it’s a topic that isn't related to your business.
Twitter benefits from ultra-short updates. In fact, most of the best tweets are less than the 140 characters that Twitter allows. Images do well, but so do videos. However, the type of content that perform well vary on Twitter.
Self-promotion actually works well on the site and “random thoughts’ also do well, but only if they’re funny or exciting. Also, questions to followers tend to do well.
Finally, your blog is a place where there’s strength in length. The longer, the better. Posts of over 1,000 words tend to do well because, if people bother to visit your website, they are there to read something substantial. Don’t disappoint them!
Blog Quality Matters
Your blog’s quality matters, a lot. Sometimes, the layout is more important than the substance of your post. If you've been reading this Studyweb guide on how to get your blog set up, you’ll know that things like plugins, site layout, and design can make a huge impact on readership. Hire a professional designer if you have to. Just make sure that you’re optimizing the user experience and that your site is well-designed to showcase your hard work!
In addition, your writing style can contribute to your blog quality as well. If you’re not a professional writer or content manager, then make sure you have someone to revise your content. Grammar and punctuation can be a make or break. So, even if your content is an incredibly great idea, make sure it’s well written. In the end, small mistakes like these can make your business look unprofessional.
When They Read It Matters
This isn't just about time of day or day of the week. The same prospect, at different times in his life, can either be considered a good prospect or a bad one. There’s this idea in sales, that an individual is either an intrinsically good or intrinsically bad prospect.
Once you've disqualified that person as a sales lead, it’s time to move on because you’ll never gain them as a customer. That’s not necessarily true. There will be people who you will permanently disqualify because they aren't right for your brand - maybe they don’t value the quality of your products or services and never will.
However, there are, more often than not, shades of grey in prospect metrics like “quality.” Today’s disqualified prospect might be disqualified because he doesn't have enough money or because she’s too young and doesn't care about what you’re selling…right now.
Yet 10 years down the road, that person might become a loyal customer. What’s the difference between now and then? Context. When you have evergreen content on your blog, it means that the content is timeless. Two, three, or five years down the road, your prospect may read your blog and become a customer.
Think of it this way. Have you ever been waiting in an airport and your stomach is gurgling? You’re hungry. You want something to eat. Every food vendor there charges 20% more than what you could get if you were safe and sound at home to price shop for groceries. Plus, the quality can be questionable at some of these places.
You’ll pay those inflated prices though because you’re hungry and you want food in your belly more than you want the money in your wallet (or bank account). It’s totally worth it at that moment.
Now, when you’re off the plane, you probably wouldn't be making a trip to the airport just to have vendor food, would you? You’d be shopping your favorite grocery stores, maybe taking a coupon for those baked beans you saw in the flyer, or maybe you’d be picking up your bulk foods at a discount warehouse store, like COSTCO or Sam’s Club.
Clients go through this kind of analysis with you and your products or services. That’s not to say you’re the dubious vendor selling week-old hot dogs at a lowbrow kiosk in a mall, airport, or any other location lacking a modern kiosk solution. Maybe you're the high-quality discount store or maybe you're the luxury brand. If a prospect can't afford you right now or doesn't want your product, maybe it's not really because they don't want your product. It could be because they're not ready for it yet.
Give them time. The way you give them time is by capturing their email and continually grow on them with emails. Every once in a while, like once every six months or a year (interspersed with non-sales emails), resend them the link to one of your evergreen posts. One of these prospects may eventually turn into a customer.
Different Context
So, when you’re advertising to a prospect on social media or you’re publishing your next blog post, keep that in mind. Don’t change the message to fit what you think everyone will want right now. Keep the message laser focused on your ideal client and realize that it doesn't necessarily mean a specific person.
Today’s disqualified prospect can very easily become a sale years or even months from now. Don’t neglect your future prospects or the possibility of turning these disqualified leads into a customer. Remember that the context of your content is just as important.
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Your point of when they read it is the part that sticks out there to me. A customer not being ready for your product might mean they want your product more than anything else, but they can’t yet fit it into their budget, or it could mean that they’re currently bound to a different product for the time being and can’t make the switch yet.
So like you said, keep your content as timeless as possible, and update it from time to time anyways. When those people come back to get your product, they’ll be happy to know you’re still there and ecstatic to know your product is better.