There is lots of confusion about what content to use where, what makes good content and how to identify the best use for content. Lots of noise out there, lots of people vying for attention. What is your best content strategy?

Deciding where certain content should be shared – whether through social media, blogging, email marketing, advertisements or news releases – is challenging, but highly important to successfully reach the right audience. By identifying the best use of specific content, relevant news is shared effectively and avoids getting lost in the content clutter on each platform.

The Marketing Thread is a series of short snackable videos released monthly discussing various marketing strategies.

In this feature, Digital Content Producer Todd Schnick is joined by Denim Marketing Founder and President Carol Morgan to discuss where content should be shared to achieve successful reach.

Public Relations

What makes a good news story? Public relations (PR) offers an advantageous way to share news with the right people through media with high readership. It’s important to match the content with the right reporter to ensure it reaches the correct audience.

PR is handled differently when it comes to different topics. Consider whether the news is soft or hard and the category it fits into such as features, business, technology, human interests, etc. It’s important to personalize pitches to different reporters to receive more feedback and better results.

A lot of what we write and pitch in the new home or housing industry is more features fluff.  But that doesn’t mean you can’t score it.

Is the last home left in a community news? Typically not, but with so little inventory today, it could be. Good news stories for PR follow trends, but they also announce new hires, promotions, new communities, zoning approvals, etc.

Blogging

Blogs are a great channel to share both timely news and evergreen content. Blogs offer the opportunity for more in-depth, thoughtful content that improves the website’s search engine optimization (SEO). Deep content that Google and the search engines can index is going to be a minimum of 400 words but can be as long as 2,000 words.  Sharing content through blogs is also an opportunity to provide relevant content for online visitors. The goal of the blog should ultimately determine the content that is shared.

Blogs are also a good way to establish credibility and transparency with potential buyers. They can also be used to answer the commonly asked questions posed by prospective buyers and raving fans. An easy way to boost the blog on Google is to use a question in the title that people are likely to search.

Another method of boosting SEO is to create relevant blog content that can be updated. Writing blogs about annual events or city attractions are great topics that can be revised yearly. This is a useful content strategy to leverage your blog and ensure that popular content retains credibility with readers.

Social Media

Social media is considered more urgent than any other content. Social media houses more content and offers a quick way to alert followers with bite-sized updates. That last house in a neighborhood is perfect for a social media post with a “Don’t miss this!” caption.

Our favorite content strategy to get people engaged with social media posts often includes adding few sentences, URL link, and photos, videos, graphics, video shorts, podcasts, etc. Content should include people, company news, testimonials, happy customers, vendors and more.

Social media also offers an easy way to share blog content posted on the company’s website. It’s a great way to share content to multiple platforms and reach different audiences. Social media is where most people check for news first. Often, breaking news reaches social media first in an easily digestible format.

Social media is centered around finding a way to catch audiences’ attention through the strategic use of different channels. Blasting content on every social media platform doesn’t always work. Post strategically and place content on platforms most used by the target audience.

Email Marketing

Many different types of email marketing are applicable for sharing different content – promotional, drip campaigns and newsletters. A wide mix of content can be used from community updates to evergreen content and announcements.

Email marketing offers the option to only send emails to certain people in the target audience. It’s important to consider segmenting the audience list for each type of email as each recipient may be interested in different topics. Are they looking for a home and desire frequent emails, or are they interested in keeping up with the organization through occasional emails? Prevent inbox clutter for recipients and only deliver emails to those who find the content relevant.

Advertising

Another great place for promotional content is advertising. It’s essential to know the best placement for ads containing certain content. Learn where most of the target audience is looking and utilize content that is more likely to catch their attention. Every user is offered an abundance of online ads, so it’s important to offer content that is fresh and unique.

Bonus Tip – A content machine is an important addition to getting all content created quickly and effectively. If your business doesn’t already include a marketing staff, then acquiring one is a great next step for your content strategy.

Is your company a content machine or do you need one? Denim Marketing is the content machine for many home builders, developers and others in the industry.  Our team is prepared to produce a plethora of quality, original content to support your business.  Hire Denim Marketing for public relations, social media, blogging, email marketing, advertising and website copy, awards and more.

Join Carol Morgan, Todd Schnick, Courtney Stewart and Mandy Holm for this free video series that guides home builders and related companies toward marketing success. The Marketing Thread is a can’t-miss new series that promises to boost any marketing strategy with effective tips.

View all videos from The Marketing Thread on the Denim YouTube Channel.

For more information on how to work with Denim Marketing, call 770-383-3360, ext. 20 or contact us.