What Is Content Creation In Digital Marketing? Types, Process & Mistakes To Avoid

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Imagine you’re crafting a B2B content marketing funnel, and suddenly, you hit a wall. Content creation in digital marketing feels like a maze with confusing paths and hidden pitfalls. You’re not alone. Many marketers face this challenge as they try to make sense of the types and processes involved, not to mention the common mistakes that can derail even the best strategies. This article will help you unravel these complexities, offering a clear roadmap to overcome obstacles and confidently achieve your B2B content marketing funnel goals.

Feather's notion to blog can help you better understand these challenges and confidently move forward.

What is Content Creation In Digital Marketing?

Content creation is more than just a buzzword in digital marketing; it’s the core of how businesses communicate with their audience online. It involves creating text, visuals, or multimedia that align with a brand's message and resonate with the audience’s interests.

Done right, it engages audiences, drives leads, and boosts sales. It also enhances a business's authority in its industry, establishing it as a trusted voice.

Why Content Creation Matters

Think of content creation as the bridge between your brand and your audience. It’s not about churning out generic materials but crafting content that meets specific business goals and audience needs. This means addressing pain points and inspiring action with the following:

Blog posts

Social media updates

Videos

Infographics

Each piece of content helps build trust, foster relationships, and increase visibility on digital channels.

The Challenges of Content Creation

Creating content is tough, and many marketers find it their biggest hurdle. A 2019 survey by ClearVoice found that 2,830 marketers identified content creation as their top challenge, seven times more than content strategy itself.

The Balancing Act of Content Creation and Optimization

The process requires consistently producing fresh, high-quality content, which is time-consuming and resource-intensive. Balancing creativity with the technical aspects of SEO and analytics adds another layer of complexity. This ongoing challenge highlights the need for a structured, sustainable approach to content creation.

Why Is Content Creation Important in Digital Marketing

Content bridges your business and potential customers, answering their questions and guiding them through their decisions. Imagine a local bank explaining mortgages to first-time buyers. This educates the customer and saves time for the experts, turning visitors into potential buyers. With no expiration date, this content keeps working for you, offering ongoing value without additional effort.

Content Ranks in Google and Boosts Visibility

Google’s search engine processes over a trillion queries annually, making it crucial for businesses to create content that ranks. By researching and using the right keywords, you can attract qualified traffic and guide visitors to action, whether purchasing a product or requesting a service.

After publishing, submit your pages to Google for quicker indexing. As you wait for results, keep producing more content, driving more potential customers to your site.

Content Attracts Backlinks, Enhancing SEO

Links from other sites are like votes of confidence from Google. The more you have, the higher your site ranks, allowing your new pages to appear on the first page of search results. While major websites dominate top keywords, your business can target less competitive ones, potentially surpassing local competitors. Even a few links can significantly impact your digital marketing strategy.

Social media platforms essential for promoting your content include:

Facebook

Twitter

Instagram

Leveraging Diverse Platforms for Maximum Reach

Each network offers unique ways to engage with your audience, from Facebook’s interactive posts to Instagram’s visually appealing images and videos. By experimenting with different platforms, you can find the ones that best suit your business and use them to drive traffic and increase brand awareness.

Content Drives Conversions

The ultimate goal of content is to convert visitors into customers. This is where conversion rate optimization (CRO) comes in. CRO allows you to test and improve elements on your site to increase conversions. A/B testing small changes, like CTAs or button placements, can gradually boost your conversion rate. With CRO, your content continually works to bring in more customers.

Content Establishes Your Brand as an Authority

By creating informative content, you position your business as an industry leader. Whether you’re a plumber discussing piping materials or a fashion retailer highlighting trends, this expertise builds trust with your audience. Your authority grows as your content earns links and mentions, leading to increased traffic and conversions.

Content is the Core of Digital Marketing

Content is the foundation of any digital marketing effort, from SEO to PPC. It’s the substance behind social media posts, the focus of CRO efforts, and the driver of online reputation. Every aspect of digital marketing relies on strong, engaging content to succeed.

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10 Types of Content in Digital Marketing

1. Blog Posts

Blog posts are one of the most popular forms of content—and for a good reason. Consistently publishing high-quality blog posts can attract quality traffic to your website, position you as an authority, and nurture site visitors over time, especially if you have a strong SEO strategy that includes:

Choosing relevant keywords that you stand a good chance of ranking for to drive traffic from search engines

Developing a good internal link structure to keep visitors on-site and increase chances that they'll become leads

Building backlinks to drive traffic and boost the authority of your website and organization

While blogging was previously used mainly for top-of-the-funnel efforts, more organizations are using it for other parts of the funnel, such as product-led content.

2. Emails

Email is another prevalent content type known to earn marketers outstanding returns. One benefit of email marketing is its versatility. For example, you can:

Create newsletters to share your latest content with subscribers who are still at relatively early stages in the customer journey

Share middle-of-the-funnel content, such as webinars with prospects

Send sales emails to convert prospects into customers

Good to Know: Email is a great channel, whether your focus is nurturing ideal customers through a long sales cycle or driving e-commerce sales.

Next up, there's social media content. There are billions of daily active users on:

Facebook

Instagram

Other platforms

It's safe to say that most target audiences—yours included—can be found on one social network or another. So, figure out:

Which social platform does your audience spend the most time on

What are the best posting times and schedules are

What content types get the most engagement (e.g., videos or text, humorous content of informative content, etc.)

Be sure to link your social posts to a content marketing goal, such as driving traffic to your blog or main web pages.

4. Guides

Guides—informative long-form blog posts covering a topic comprehensively—are becoming increasingly popular. Blog posts have gotten consistently longer over the years, landing at an average of 1,416 words in 2021. And research shows that such long-form content can get better results.

Building a Strong Content Foundation with In-Depth Guides

Consider creating guides (in-depth content pillars) for your organization’s primary focus areas. Then, link content on related subtopics back to those central guides. This will help site visitors:

Find the info they're looking for

Build your site’s topical authority

Help you rank better in search engines if you’re doing SEO

5. Ebooks

Instead of an in-depth blog post-based guide, many content marketers create ebooks. Ebooks could be a good option if your content falls into one or more of these buckets:

It's exceptionally long

It would create poor UX to make readers scroll endlessly

It contains original research or other differentiators that you can use in exchange for an email address or payment.

Not only can the depth of your ebooks position you as a trustworthy authority within your industry, but gating them also makes future lead nurturing possible.

6. Video Content

Next up is the versatile media type of video content. It can be used in:

Blog posts

Emails

Social media content

It can also serve many purposes, including:

Audience education

Demoing products

Making sales

In fact, in 2021, 87% of video marketers claimed that video gets a good return on investment. The positive results they've seen include everything:

Increasing time on the page

Generating leads

Reducing support calls

Increasing sales

7. Webinars

Like video content, webinars can also have a great ROI. While primarily informational, they're often tailored to individuals in the later stages of the content marketing funnel and, therefore, meant to drive conversions.

So, for example, many software companies use webinars to:

Give pro tips on the processes their software is designed to simplify

Explain the benefits and use cases of the software

Offer an incentive to try it

A similar strategy could work for you

8. Case Studies

Case studies, like testimonials, are great for gaining the trust of future customers or supporters. After all, their purpose is to explain how you've helped members of your target audience reach their goals.

Because this type of content is specific to your company and the products or services you offer, it should be tailored for individuals in the mid to bottom-of-the-funnel stage. And the more similarities between them and the subject of your case study, the better.

9. White Papers

White papers are information-packed reports that offer intelligent, research-backed solutions to audience problems. They provide an excellent opportunity to showcase original research and establish your company as a thought leader with fresh perspectives on the industry.

The key to an excellent white paper? Conduct in-depth, careful research to substantiate all claims and create value on top of the already-public information on your topic (instead of rehashing it).

10. Press Releases

Last but not least, press releases inform the media and general public about your company-related announcements, such as:

New product launches

Upcoming events

They essentially:

Get you free publicity

Generate buzz around your organization

Increase brand awareness through word-of-mouth

Earn you backlinks

That is, as long as you:

Choose topics relevant to your audience

Cover the who, what, when, where, why, and how of whatever update you're sharing

Give the media and other readers something worth discussing, such as thought-provoking quotes or findings from research.

The Process of Content Creation in Digital Marketing: Content Creation Lifecycle

Kick-off by identifying your business goals. Are you aiming for brand awareness, building trust, or boosting conversions? Pinpointing these objectives will guide your content strategy. Next, get to know your audience inside and out:

What are their pain points?

What type of content will hit home?

The Power of Keyword Research and Content Planning

Don’t forget keyword research. This step is crucial for SEO and will heavily inform your content planning. And, of course, an editorial calendar is your best friend here. Use it to keep track of what’s next for your content team. A solid plan sets you up for a smooth creation process and a consistent publishing schedule.

Crafting Content: Bringing Ideas to Life

Now that you have a plan, it’s time to roll up your sleeves and create. Decide whether to keep everything in-house or bring in freelancers or an agency. At a high level, the process involves preparing a content brief, making it, and editing it for everything from grammar to flow.

Choose content formats that you know will resonate with your audience. Think long-form articles and videos over white papers and guides. Collaboration is key, so use a tool that allows your team to collaborate seamlessly. And if you outsource, do it wisely. Focus on quality over quantity every time.

Going Live: Publishing and Promoting Your Content

You’ve created it; it’s time to publish and promote it. Your content management system (CMS) will handle the bulk of the publishing load, but you’ll also want to optimize for SEO. This means:

Writing strong meta-descriptions

Choosing an accurate URL slug

Incorporating internal links

These steps can boost your rankings on search engine results pages (SERPs). Regarding distribution, think about how your audience prefers to consume content.

Do they engage with email newsletters?

Are they active on social media platforms like LinkedIn and X (formerly known as Twitter)? Do they turn to YouTube for specific information or product research?

Keep It Fresh: Updating and Optimizing Your Content

Research shows that updating your content periodically can significantly increase organic traffic. Remember this: only a portion of your content will be genuinely ‘evergreen.’ After publishing and distributing new content, set reminders to review it periodically.

Data-Driven Content Optimization

Regularly checking website analytics can help you identify which content might benefit from a review sooner rather than later. For example, turning your attention to higher-performing content first might improve their traffic volume or conversion rates. Or, you could add value to a general piece by enriching it with:

New information

Statistics

Data

The Never-Ending Cycle: Managing Your Content

Content management involves creating, collecting, editing, and delivering any form of information on any medium. Everything from images and video to audio, multimedia, and text falls under this umbrella. All content has its own lifecycle, which needs to be managed from creation to storage or even deletion.

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12 Content Creation Mistakes To Avoid

1. Equip Yourself with the Right Tools

In content creation, using the right tools is just as crucial as the content itself. Many writers and marketers are unaware of what tools are needed for specific tasks. Basic word processors aren't optimized for content creation, leading to time-consuming hiccups.

Advanced tools simplify content workflows with features for:

Writing

Editing

Publishing

Scheduling

Explore digital platforms that offer comprehensive content creation and management tools. With the right resources, you can speed up content production without sacrificing quality, ultimately benefiting your business in the long run.

2. Don’t Skip the Schedule

Publishing content at the right time is essential for capturing readers' attention amid their busy lives. Timing matters whether it's early morning on a weekday or afternoon on a weekend. After publishing, track metrics to see if your content is being read.

Utilize a content calendar tool to maximize performance. By analyzing analytics and scheduling content effectively, you can achieve the best return on investment from your efforts.

3. Avoid Bad Writing

Bad writing can alienate your target audience. Content that doesn't resonate with your niche or needs to be better written can cause you to lose potential leads and affect your brand's trustworthiness. To attract and retain your audience, produce well-written content that aligns with your brand's image and keeps readers engaged.

4. Prioritize Proofreading

One common mistake in online content publishing is neglecting editing and proofreading. A stream of ideas on paper is only the beginning; thorough proofreading is necessary before publishing. How your content is perceived impacts your brand's credibility and conversion rates. Ensuring your content flows smoothly and professionally can make a significant difference.

5. Include Visual Aids

Online audiences favor visual content, such as infographics, photos, and videos. It makes information easier to digest and more engaging. Incorporating visual aids into your content can enhance effectiveness and increase engagement. Visual elements can also encourage sharing, broadening your content's reach.

6. Credit Properly

Acknowledging others' work is crucial for building your brand's reputation. More than properly crediting or failing to give credit can be a red flag. Crediting others' work can build awareness for their brand, but avoid exploiting their popularity for your marketing purposes.

7. Avoid Multiple Publications

Repetition in content publishing can harm your brand. Avoid publishing the same content on multiple platforms or repeating the same formula or keywords. Each piece should be unique. Instead, publish content on your website and share it across different channels. This prevents platform oversaturation and maintains your credibility.

8. Don’t Repeat Topics

Repetitively covering the same topics can alienate your audience. Fresh, unique content keeps readers engaged. To avoid repetition, maintain a record of topics you've covered or find new angles to explore.

9. Remember Interlinking

Interlinking articles is a powerful but underused practice. It directs traffic to other parts of your website, increasing visitors and potential sales. Interlinking also improves SEO, leading to higher search engine rankings. Ensure your website is well-connected for increased traffic.

10. Don’t Obsess Over Numbers

Consistency is essential in content creation, but focusing solely on numbers can be limiting. Metrics are valuable, but optimizing content and schedules takes time. Your content should reflect your brand's image and goals while seeking engagement. Look beyond numbers to improve your brand continuously.

Sharing your content is crucial for building your brand and growing your audience. It increases traffic and engagement. Don't expect your content to go viral on its own. Share it on different channels, join social media groups, and offer incentives for sharing.

12. Engage with Comments

Comments and user engagement can provide valuable feedback on your content's performance. They can also highlight areas for improvement. Satisfied audiences contribute to business growth. Engage with comments to better understand your audience's needs and preferences.

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