Recently, Eloqua presented a good round-up of the latest trends and strategies ‘Modern Marketers’ need to implement to keep up with the ever-evolving content marketing landscape.
In ‘Tips for Driving Engagement with ‘Snackable’ Content Marketing [infographic]’, Eloqua presents a paradigm shift from a buying process in which prospects are bombarded with one-way communication, to an effort which provides engaging content to consumers – and, as the article notes: “Market respondents cited “creating engaging content” as the most significant challenge to their efforts, while “producing content consistently” and “measuring content effectiveness” were called out as the other top challenges in content marketing.” The article maintains that “one answer is to repurpose content. Tweaking your message for difference audiences, through different channels, is an effective way to gain a wide reach.”
This lines up with our experience talking to hundreds of B2B marketing professionals and recent research on this topic in the State of B2B Content Marketing. Increasingly, top marketing organizations are focusing on short format and visually engaging content that delivers strong results.
Sophisticated marketers segment their prospect database and deliver engaging content at each stage of the buying cycle. Short and engaging messages achieve a connection with audiences. Since it’s become harder to fight for attention in a content-filled world, concise content that’s tailored to target audiences is the right way to rise above the competition.
Communication must be a 2-way street. Dumping a bunch of information on a prospective customer doesn’t give them a chance to digest it. Instead it leaves them overwhelmed. Providing content that’s portioned out in a series of blogs, emails, tweets etc., can get you ahead faster.
Eloqua’s infographic shows that: “People’s attention spans are dropping- so ensure your content is stackable or risk being ignored by consumers. Long-form content is falling on deaf ears.”
Out of 2 billion visits across the web, 55% of people spent fewer than 15 seconds actively on a page (‘Snackable’, blog).
What’s the solution? “Taking a potentially long-form piece and breaking it down into bite-sized elements that readers can snack on – instead of being confronted by a large block of ‘click away’ baiting text.”
Keep in mind that your content marketing KPIs are interlaced with your audience’s behavioral patterns. Content should be optimized and should reflect your metrics. If a content piece proves to be more engaging than another, rely on your metrics to deliver the right message at the right time. Make sure that the content is visual and appealing and always deliver useful information.
Follow the big players. A vast majority (70%) of B2B marketers are creating more content than they did one year ago (‘Snackable’, blog). Looking to transition more prospects into paying customers? Perhaps it’s time you consider shifting over to more ‘snackable’ content.
Follow us on Twitter @techvalidate and let us know your thoughts on your experience with short format, relevant content targeted at your prospects.
