Nowadays, most marketers understand the essentials of content marketing: know your audience, provide value, don’t sell aggressively.
But content marketing is evolving quickly – and success is not always cut-and-dried. As a result, it’s easy for old ideas to outlive their usefulness, or for marketers to overreact to changes in the landscape. And when that happens, myths and misconceptions creep in. These myths may include a grain of truth, but ultimately they stand in the way of content marketing success.
With that in mind, let’s clear away five myths that continue to haunt content marketing.
#1: Your content speaks for itself
Myth: If your content hasn’t truly broken through with your audience, either your content isn’t good enough or you’re not producing enough of it.
Reality: Content remains the heart of your marketing efforts, and there is no substitute for brilliant content. But it’s easy to fall into the cult of “more” or the cult of “better,” and fail to examine the role of amplification and distribution in content marketing success. Without support and validation from other marketing channels, even the best content can fail.
#2: SEO is dead
Myth: Old-school SEO tactics – such as keyword stuffing and amassing low-quality backlinks – no longer work. Therefore, competing for organic rankings is impossible and a waste of time.
Reality: SEO is as important as it’s ever been. It’s true that search engine algorithms have evolved, and there are no tactical shortcuts to the top of the rankings. As algorithm updates make search engines better at gauging whether content has value to actual humans, the focus has shifted to creating unique, rich and engaging content – while still optimizing so search engines can crawl and interpret content properly.
#3: RIP Facebook
Myth: Young people are abandoning it in droves, “organic reach” is an oxymoron, and Mark Zuckerberg is seemingly in front of Congress every other day. The targeting tools might be nice for advertisers, but organically Facebook is over.
Reality: Despite the bad press, Facebook is still the world’s largest social network. While it may not be the main social channel for every business, a decent Facebook presence is still a necessity for most well-rounded organic social strategies. An abandoned-looking Facebook page is a missed opportunity and may lead visitors to think less of your brand.
#4: More content is better content
Myth: The more you throw at the wall, the more likely something is to stick, right?
Reality: There is some truth to this myth. If you sink all your resources into one content masterpiece, you can’t iterate and learn – and if your piece doesn’t perform, you’ve got a problem. But the trouble with turning on the content fire hose is that your audience is already inundated – they’re seeing vast amounts of low-quality, unmemorable content every day. The soundest content strategy is a happy medium – a series of strategically chosen bets rather than trying to be everywhere at once.
#5: More martech, more money
Myth: Technology solves problems. Therefore, marketing technology solves marketing problems.
Reality: To be clear: great tech, used well, is a massive advantage. Martech solutions become problematic when you lack a clear
Opinions expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily Marketing Land. Staff authors are listed here.
About The Author
A digital marketer and SEO expert with over 15 years of experience, John Marcinuk leads the marketing production team at Blue Fountain Media. John’s focus has been on owned and earned media throughout his career, with a refined specialty in where SEO meets content marketing and relationship building. He and his team’s strategies have been successfully leveraged for major brands including Microsoft, Bowlmor AMF, Columbia House and Coles Myer.