In an article published last July on skyword.com, author Krystal Overmyer explains why it is important that marketing content include news items. Gone are the days when you could simply brandish your products and services to get your clients on their knees. This type of intrusive marketing doesn’t appeal anymore. Presently, your marketing content is bound to be informative and useful if you want to attract new customers and retain the existing ones.

Which platform? Bet on social networks

Where did you learn that Whitney Houston had died or that Usain Bolt had won his third 200m Olympic gold? That was most likely neither on TV nor in the printed newspaper. “On the internet” is your likeliest answer if the stats are anything to go by. This enthusiasm to be in the know is more noticeable on social networks. A study by the Pew Research Center conducted between January and February 2016 revealed that 62% of Americans (an increase of 13% as compared to 2012) obtained information on social media, with Reddit topping the list with 70%, 66% of Facebook, 59% on Twitter, 31% on Tumblr, 23% of Instagram, 21% on YouTube etc. As a result, Facebookers for instance share more news articles on their account rather than personal posts, thereby changing the very flavor of Mark Zuckerberg’s brainchild. Since it is expected that this trend will go on, marketers are advised to turn themselves into media publishers to adapt to this new situation.

Read also: Content Marketing and E-mail: the winning team

Make the content useful and shareable

It doesn’t matter if your marketing content has nothing to do with your product. This is the case of Red Bull whose magazine Red Bulletin talks about everything except the very energy drinks for which it is famous. What matters is that it catches the attention of the user, then have him glued on your page, and better, have him share that content. Marriott International adopted a comparable method which it calls ‘The three C’ which stands for Content, Community and Commerce. This implies that the brand will first entertain the prospective client, then create a relationship with him, and only then think about sales… Opt for a similar approach to propel the reputation of your brand in the long run, or even the short one.

Source: http://www.skyword.com/contentstandard/marketing/why-your-brands-content-strategy-should-cover-the-news/

Image & Credits: https://www.flickr.com/photos/62693815@N03/6280553392/sizes/l