Why Does Content Marketing Take So Long to Get Results?

A PR executive was asking me the other day about the time it takes for a content marketing campaign to yield results. Especially when it involves social media.

I know firsthand that it can take a long time – but a lot of it depends on what outposts you’ve already got established on the Net.

For example, if you’ve already got a relatively successful and search engine optimised blog that’s already doing well in search engine results pages you can quickly generate organic traffic and funnel it to your content marketing efforts.

Similarly if you’ve got a thriving Facebook Page or hoards of meaningful followers on Twitter, you can alert your community to your latest content marketing campaign.

What About Newbies?

If you’re a small business and looking to start out with content marketing bear in mind that it’s going to take months before you see genuine results.

To begin with you need to understand how content marketing works and what online channels you already need in place. For example, I find that without a successful blog businesses struggle to generate organic traffic because Google simply won’t take you seriously – unless you manage to get a stack of worthwhile links in a very short period of time.

Similarly, without a thriving community on Facebook – if that’s where you’ve determined your customers hang out – you’re not really going to be able to share your best content there. It takes time to build a community or a tribe (CF How to Optimize Your Facebbok Page for Business).

So – bottom line – if you’re a business owner and looking for quick results you might consider running a pay-per-click campaign to begin with to generate enough traffic to see your online content. Of course, to get the conversions you’re looking for your landing pages have to be knock out with targeted call-to-actions that generate the right kind of response from your target group.

Pay-per click doesn’t have to cost a fortune – as long as you set a specific budget for each month and ensure that your landing pages are top notch. If in doubt, do A/B testing on your landing pages to figure out what’s working best for you and getting the best conversions. And this in itself isn’t easy. If you’re not sure what I mean, you might want to talk to a designer about landing pages before you even start your campaign.

Takeaways

Don’t expect an online content marketing campaign to yield instant results – unless you’ve got a well-established online presence.

If you’re new to the game, take to qualified experts who can help you with pay-per-click campaigns and definitely make sure you’ve got awesome landing pages. Otherwise, your very best content could yield very little in return.

This post is #25 in a summer series of 31 Blog Posts in July