Content tactics can effectively move people through a conversion funnel by building awareness, supporting consideration and converting people into leads and customers, as well as product and brand advocates.
1. Awareness – Exposing new people to a brand, product or service
Measuring awareness success:
1. Higher ranking in search engine results pages
2. Steady increase in website’s “first time visitors”
3. Social metrics – such as likes, followers, +1s, upvotes, etc.
Why is Awareness Important?
93% of online experiences begin with a Search Engine
75% of searchers do not move past the first page of results.
Quality content can increase the number of keywords fr which a site can rank.
Social Media is an excellent content distributor, 15,100,000 online consumers say they research via social media before making a purchase.
68% go to social media networking sites to read product reviews.
Associate your brand with #trendingtopic
Outcomes:
Web site traffic
Social followers
Improved search engine rankings
How to generate awareness?
Content tactics include:
Blog posts
News articles
Press releases
Social media content
2. Consideration – Inspiring potential customers to engage; read, download, comment, share, etc.
Measuring consideration success:
1. Increased total page views
2. Longer visit duration
3. Lower bounce rate
4. Social metrics
– Such as video views, content shares, positive comments / interactions.
Why is consideration important?
Search engines rank content based on relevance
1. Time spent on site per user
2. Amount and age of pertinent, original content
3. Social chatter about site
4. Sites with 300+ indexed pages, traffic is increased by 2.36%
5. Sites with 400-1000 indexed pages received 500% more leads
61% of consumers feel better about a company that delivers custom content.
65% of social media users learn about products and services
Outcomes: Informed decision making, Favorable comparisons, Lower bounce rates, Social recommendations and Brand trust.
How to drive consideration? Content tactics include:
“Category Level” webpage content
“Long Tail” blog posts and news articles
Newsletters
FAQS
White Papers
3. Conversion – When a customer makes a purchase, or fills out a form to be contacted
Measuring conversion success:
1. Increased conversion rate measured by sales or leads.
2. Track which content sources contribute to the conversion funnel
3. Social metrics – Track social media referrals from (Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc.)
4. Measure subscribers vs. non-subscriber behavior.
Why does content marketing drive conversions?
39% of all customers come from search. Search engines supports searches for specific products/services.
Social media amplifies traditional word of mount and grows organically with time unlike pay per click.
77% of B2C companies have acquired a customer through Facebook.
41% of B2B companies have acquired a customer through Facebook.
Outcomes:
Sales or leads
Knowing which tactics deliver ROI (marketing intelligence)
After conversion, people share their experiences with others on blogs, social media and community message boards. These discussions reference content, which builds links and positively impacts search and social media awareness.
