With the World Wide Web increasingly accessible via a myriad of devices – many of which are mobile – the rate at which internet users consume their chosen content grows at a pace. Global time on social media sites is soaring; up 82% (Nielsen). News consumption is a socially-engaging and socially-driven activity, especially online, and participation is through sharing rather than contributing news (Pew Centre).

There is little doubt these trends will continue into 2011 as consumers read, share and publish content online with friends, family, local businesses and even global brands. With so much choice of content to consume, your marketing messages can easily get missed, or worse, ignored completely as consumers divide their increasingly limited time among their trusted online content outlets.

Content Marketing: Think Pull Not Push
Push marketing techniques, such as flashy banner ads and obtrusive pop-up ads will increasingly get ignored as consumer's online behaviour becomes more sophisticated. So rather than relying solely on traditional push marketing methods, think pull. Pull marketing relies on creating ‘magnetic content' that will naturally attract – and win over – consumers.

How Can Content Marketing Help You?
Producing a steady stream of fresh, interesting content that appeals to your target audience will benefit your business in the following ways:

• Help generate inbound links and attract qualified traffic to your website.
• Create a two-way dialogue over multiple platforms which consumers feel comfortable with.
• Identify genuine customers from tyre kickers to prioritise high quality, sales-ready leads.
• Build sales momentum that moves prospects toward making a purchase.

Make your content easy to share, the most trusted information sources for consumers continue to be family and friends.

Where To Publish Your Content
Content marketing is about increasing engagement with your target audience on a more personable level. While your website and ideally your business blog should be the hub for your content sharing activities, it is key to publish it in a number of formats over multiple platforms.

Consider hosting a webinar to share your expertise, or join the conversation using social media networks such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube or LinkedIn to name a few. Engage with customers by publishing product reviews, how-to articles, demonstrations and more. Be creative and deliver content that fills a need.

Creating Content That Gets Followed
If you're not a confident writer you may wish to collaborate with a copy writer. If you intend to produce the content yourself, consider the following questions.

• Is my content unique?
• Is my content useful – would I share it?
• Does my content get the message across?
• Does my content convey the right personality?
• Does my content make good use of the channel in which it appears (e.g., social, mobile, video)?

Think about what makes you want to share the content you consume and identify what will enable your content have similar ‘follow appeal'.

Finally, in order to maintain a well executed content marketing campaign, develop a content plan to help focus your activities. Key to the plan will be to follow a content editorial calendar which will enable you to produce a steady stream of ‘magnetic' content. If you would like help with your online marketing in 2011, call us on 08450 740068.