Content marketing refers to the strategic marketing means that encompasses creating and disseminating relevant and consistent content for the target population with the aim of driving profitable customer action (Odden 2012, p. 52). On average, consumers spend 79 days conducting online research before deciding on the product to buy (Dellarocas, Gao and Narayan 2010, p. 129). Research shows that online reviews influence 67.7% of consumers’ purchasing decisions (Dellarocas, Gao and Narayan 2010, p. 132). Organizations use content marketing to engage and retain existing customers, capture new readers and enhance relationships. Similarly, according to Corley II, Jourdan and Ingram (2013, p. 181), the purpose of content marketing is to attract and retain customers. Besides, it offers relevant content with the aim of enhancing the consumer behavior. Over the past decades, content marketing has become one of the most efficient forms of marketing by leading brands (Gong, Stump and Maddox 2013, p. 220). Individuals and organizations use content marketing tactics such as social media, blogging and case studies to promote their products and services.

Content marketing has become effective due to the changing social media platforms. Social media provides a platform where content marketing connects with the target audience (Ashley and Tuten 2015, p. 20). When you spend resources and time on creating great content marketing, you will also need to spend the same resources on marketing the content. Therefore, social media provides the medium for sharing information while content marketing acts as the foundation of social since a good content is worth sharing. YouTube, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook are the most effective social sites that engage audiences and deliver content (Hollebeek, Glynn and Brodie 2014, p. 150). Therefore, creating content and using the available social channels helps one to target audiences on platforms they are already active thus making it easier to reach your goals.

Another factor that has resulted in the growth of content marketing is the role of search engines. SEO refers to the technique that aids search engines to locate and rank websites (Kim and Jones 2009, p. 283). Besides, it entails using the most popular searches and building quality link backs to your site (Rose and Pulizzi 2011, p. 62). Writing great content is an essential aspect of search engine optimization. According to Animesh, Viswanathan and Agarwal (2011, p. 154), content drives results from SEO. Keywords are essential components of SEO; however, they do not work alone. Utilizing keywords with relevant and quality content enables users to search for a specific query (Malthouse, Haenlein, Skiera, Wege and Zhang 2013, p. 279). Websites are content, and the audience will find them based on their content (Spais 2010, p. 7). The relationship between the two is that SEO states requirements while content marketing plays the role of fulfilling them to achieve higher search engine rankings (Erdemir 2015, p. 42).

The best way to make successful use of content marketing approaches is by beginning with an internal search for content ideas. According to Bai (2011, p. 42), it is significant to outsource employees to create the content that the organization requires. In content marketing, the critical thing that organizations seek from employees is the technical skills to create the type of content required (Neti 2011, p. 6). Second, it is important to have clearly, defined goals and develop content marketing within a plan (Enge, Spencer, Fishkin and Stricchiola 2015, p. 56). Managers should not focus on particular items of content but, rather, create content based on building engagement with the brand. Relying on an ongoing stream of content is critical to delivering a successful content marketing strategies.

References

Animesh, A., Viswanathan, S. and Agarwal, R., 2011. Competing “creatively” in sponsored search markets: The effect of rank, differentiation strategy, and competition on performance. Information Systems Research, 22(1), pp.153-169.

Ashley, C. and Tuten, T., 2015. Creative strategies in social media marketing: An exploratory study of branded social content and consumer engagement. Psychology & Marketing, 32(1), pp.15-27.

Bai, X., 2011. Predicting consumer sentiments from online text. Decision Support Systems, 50(4), pp.732-742.

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Malthouse, E.C., Haenlein, M., Skiera, B., Wege, E. and Zhang, M., 2013. Managing customer relationships in the social media era: introducing the social CRM house. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 27(4), pp.270-280.

Neti, S., 2011. Social media and its role in marketing. International Journal of Enterprise Computing and Business Systems, 1(2), pp.1-15.

Odden, L., 2012. Optimize: How to Attract and Engage More Customers by Integrating SEO, Social Media, and Content Marketing. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons.

Rose, R. and Pulizzi, J., 2011. Managing Content Marketing: The Real-World Guide for Creating Passionate Subscribers to Your Brand. Cleveland, OH: CMI Books.

Spais, G., 2010. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) as a dynamic online promotion technique: The implications of activity theory for promotion managers. Innovative Marketing, 6(1), pp.7-24.

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