Content marketing has gotten a lot of buzz lately – and for good reason. It’s a powerful way for brands to offer helpful content to their customers without asking them to make a purchase – and part of the trust-building process brands can follow to generate leads for future sales.
While we hear much about content marketing for companies, it is also important to consider content marketing for personal branding. Here are eight ways content marketing can boost your personal brand:
Personal branding is the way to show the world how you can help them. Think of content marketing as a vehicle to help you on this journey. When you create helpful, high-quality content that speaks to your audience, you are building your personal brand every time. Be there for your audience, and they’ll be there for you. Your personal branding experience will be that much richer.
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#1: Content marketing lets you show off your expertise.
What are you an expert in? There’s no better way to tell the world than through content marketing. Put yourself in your potential customers’ shoes and think about the questions they have about your industry. Then, write blog posts, make videos and design PowerPoint presentations that answer these questions. By positioning yourself as an expert and problem-solver, people will turn to you for answers, and, eventually, to purchase your products or services.#2: You can build online authority through content marketing.
Your goal is to make your name synonymous with your niche, and content marketing will help you achieve this goal. As you create more content marketing pieces and share your knowledge with the world, you build your online authority. Partnering with other experts also helps build online authority. Bylined articles, podcast interviews and collaborating on webinars are all effective ways to extend your online authority.#3: Content marketing helps with SEO.
Simply put, when you constantly create new content, you are helping your overall search engine optimization (SEO) strategy. Google looks for relevant content, social signals and smart linking as part of its search algorithms. By creating helpful content, you are satisfying one-third of this SEO formula. Showing up on the first page of Google search results is a great way for customers to find you!#4: Connect with others through content marketing.
Another aspect of your personal branding strategy is to connect with others, building relationships that grow your personal brand. Content marketing can help you connect with others in so many ways. First, through blog comments, you can answer questions and leave valuable feedback on influencers’ blog posts. You can also build relationships as you share your original content through social media channels. Finally, consider guest posts and interviews where you can extend your reach even more.#5: With content marketing, you are always learning and sharing.
Personal branding is a journey of learning and sharing. While you are an expert in your niche, you can always learn from others. Be generous with what you learn and share it with your audience. Not only will you be more “human” with your audience, you will gain their trust even more. Consider content curation as part of your overall content marketing strategy. By using content curation tools such as Alltop, Paper.li, Feedly and Google Alerts, you’ll always have fresh content to share.#6: High-quality content marketing makes you trustworthy.
That may sound like a tall order, but it’s very true: People learn to trust you through content marketing. When you provide high-quality content on a consistent basis, people will see you as helpful, knowledgeable and reliable. Furthermore, people buy from those they trust. If you’re helping them with your content marketing, you will be the person they’ll trust when it’s time to make a purchase.#7: Establish yourself as a teacher and role model through content marketing.
Hand in hand with trust, people also purchase from those they admire, and content marketing is a fabulous way to find people who will admire your work. In most cases, you are not a marketer – you’re a photographer, SEO specialist or personal trainer. Teach people what you know. Be a role model in your industry. Show this expertise through content marketing, and people will line up to hire you.#8: Through content marketing, you are showing people you are there for them.
Part of your personal brand rests on this question: What do you want to get paid to do (but you would do it for free)? When you’re passionate about your niche, it shows. You can’t help but help people get better! As you create content that exudes your passion, people will see you care for them. As you answer their questions, your audience will know you have their best interest at heart. This care and compassion translates to trust, admiration and loyalty – all hallmarks of a solid personal brand.Personal branding is the way to show the world how you can help them. Think of content marketing as a vehicle to help you on this journey. When you create helpful, high-quality content that speaks to your audience, you are building your personal brand every time. Be there for your audience, and they’ll be there for you. Your personal branding experience will be that much richer.
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Stuck on what type of original content to produce? Be sure to get my free report, 76 Types of Original Content That Will Skyrocket Your Brand. You’ll never be short on content marketing ideas again!
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Jill Celeste
