These nine content marketing myths are now over

Are you satisfied with the performance of your content marketing strategy?

There is a good chance that you (or your marketing team) are making mistakes. These mistakes can often be fatal.

Content marketing is not just about ranking content – it’s also the best way to promote your brand.

There are many myths that can stop your content marketing strategy working.

These are the most popular:

Producing content makes me an authority

This is still a common phenomenon. Someone publishes their first article, and hopes to be famous.

You are not an authority in your field just because you create content.

You must produce high quality content regularly and be cited as a reliable source by other authorities to do this. It’s not about the content itself, but the content.

A blog is sufficient

A blog is an excellent first step to content marketing.

Too many companies create blogs because their competitors have.

Blogs are useless if there isn’t a plan or strategy. Your blog is a key component of your content marketing strategy. Your blog is a central platform for publishing original content that shows thought leadership and builds authority.

Your strategy must be supported by other pillars to avoid it falling apart, just as a house is built. It is wrong to assume that your blog is all that is needed.

Before you start a blog, ask yourself “why?”. You can plan content by using keyword research and analysis. Include customer support in order to better understand the needs of your customers, using surveys, etc. Planning is key to blogging.

More is better

You can see the benefits of creating one piece of content. How much more attention could you get if there were many?

This strategy is risky as it could lead to overwhelming your audience with too many things. You could also risk your reputation and ranking by focusing on quantity over quality. Google now demands that content be helpful, which is why quality content is so important.

Better options? To increase your credibility and convert more customers, you should produce authoritative and well-researched content on a regular basis. Delegate content creation to your employees if you are able. It will be amazing how much talent your company already has.

Do not publish more content than what you have the time.

Automation can’t hurt me

I’m not denying that automation can be helpful, and sometimes even essential. Automation is essential to email marketing success. Web analytics monitoring and reporting often require some automation.

Automating creative or human interactions is dangerous. Although artificial intelligence is now capable of automating content creation, it can still be detected and could lead to criminal charges.

Over-scheduling and automating can be detrimental. It is logical to schedule content for times you are not available. However, showing up and being present to discuss the issues is what builds relationships.

If every share or tweet is automated, it will result in lower engagement unless you are already a huge brand.

Why change something that works?

Content marketing is one of the most popular marketing channels. You might be able to use what worked yesterday, but it may not work today.

Too many businesses continue to rely on old marketing strategies. Although a 300-word, average article may have ranked a decade ago, it is unlikely that you will rank today if you purchase a few backlinks.

Continue to learn, discover new techniques and monitor what is unacceptable. Building trust is more important than winning quickly when it comes to corporate or brand-driven blogging.

Advertising is the essence of content marketing

Your content does not have to be used as a constant promotion tool for your products or services.

Your content marketing should offer something to those who are interested in your content.

You can still use soft selling, such as white papers that identify a problem and explain how your product solves it.

You can also create a conversion funnel using your content but it will be longer than your commercial landing page. You will likely need to offer some free content to your readers or encourage them to sign up for your newsletter.

Content marketing is all about building links

Content marketing is all about creating great content that helps customers make informed decisions about your brand, products or services.

If you create quality content, people will talk about it and link to your site. You’ll gain authority, search engine prominence, and backlinks if you focus on creating content that is interesting, deep, and relevant to users.

Only content that goes viral succeeds.

Everybody dreams of creating viral content. But don’t be discouraged if it doesn’t happen. It doesn’t necessarily mean that your content marketing campaign failed.

Your success is measured by the attention you receive for your brand and products.

Your content marketing campaign will succeed as long as it reaches those goals. If you do get virality, it is a bonus.

It’s easy to market content

This is the greatest myth of them all.

It might seem easy if content marketing is just about blogging or social media. It’s not. Content marketing is about understanding the goals and types of content you want to create.

Although it’s not an easy task, it’s worth it if you understand the process and follow the correct steps.

Ann Smarty, the founder of Viral Content Bee and brand manager at Internet Marketing Ninjas, is Ann Smarty. You can find her on Twitter @seosmarty

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Search Engine Watch’s first article, Move on from these 9 fundamental content marketing myths appeared on Search Engine Watch.