I recently wrote an article about the benefits of content marketing, and whilst there are many advantages of implementing a content marketing strategy within a small business, it can prove challenging at times. In this article I discuss seven of the challenges I have come up against with content marketing. I have also provided solutions to overcome these challenges and some of the tools I use to help me with the daily challenges of content marketing.

 

Challenge one – consistently publishing content

It takes on average three attempts to develop something into a habit, like going to the gym or cleaning the house, and the same applies to content marketing. One of the most challenging parts of content marketing can be consistently publishing content that is not only good but relevant and useful to your audience. Getting into the habit of regularly writing a blog or recording a podcast or posting on social media can be difficult, especially if you lack inspiration just when you need it.

Solution

Create a content schedule, detailing when you need to write an article or record a podcast, or even share something on social media. Start your schedule by deciding on what days you want to publish an article. Then work out how much time you need to write an article and set a deadline to have it finished and ready to be published.

For example, here at the TCMA we know that we want to publish articles every Monday and Thursday, and I know that it roughly takes me three to four hours, start to finish, to research, write, edit and proof an article. So I know I need to start writing an article at least the afternoon before I want it published (although me being super organised I usually have it done a few days before it is due to be published).

If you know you are not going to have time to write a blog post one week, have a back log of articles already written and ready to be published. Your content schedule can also have curated content included and Buffer can be a great tool to ensure you are consistently sharing content, whether curated or your own. The trick here is to create a content schedule that works for you and stick to it!

Challenge two – finding relevant content to curate and publish

This is one challenge I occasionally find particularly difficult to overcome. Do you sometimes find that you have browsed all the websites and blogs you know and trust and still haven’t succeeded to fill up your content schedule to the end of the week? Content curation is an important part of content marketing. Sharing quality content about your specialist topic will help towards becoming a thought leader and respected expert in your field. Finding relevant content takes time but what do you do when you feel you have exhausted every avenue?

Solution

Don’t feel that you have to fill Buffer up for the whole week in one day. New content gets published every day so dont sacrifice quality for quantity, instead, find a few great pieces of content to share everyday. Check sites like AllTop and Feedly for the most recently published articles. I have set up Google Alerts to send me a daily email with links to any article with the words “content marketing” in them. That way the content comes to me rather than me hunting down the content.

Challenge three – coming up with blog ideas

When you first start blogging you are buzzing with tons of ideas about what you want to write about. But after a while the ideas start to run dry and you are left wondering what is there left to write about. The reality is that there is an infinite amount to write about in your industry, you just need a spark of inspiration to come up with some new idea.

Solution

I found that it doesn’t work just sitting down to write a list of blog ideas. Overthinking what to write about can lead to idea burnout and get you nowhere. Instead surround yourself with great content on a particular topic and ideas will come to you. Read some blogs about your industry, see what your customers are talking about, read about what is going on in the news. Take a step back from writing, get to know your industry again and inspiration will ignite.

Buzzsumo is a great tool for finding out what people are talking about in relation to a particular industry or buzzword. If you know the keywords you want to include in a piece of content but need some inspiration, Hubspot blog topic generator suggests blog titles based in three key terms you enter.

Challenge four – time consuming element of content marketing

One of the most common reasons people cite about why their content marketing strategy is not working is that they do not have to the time to write good content. As a small business owner you may be solely responsible for the marketing of your business as well as simultaneously managing the financial and HR elements. Finding the time to focus on marketing can seem like a struggle but it should be of top priority, even when you have a million other things that need your attention.

Solution

The best advice I can give you is to plan your time wisely. Be organised ( I know for some it is easier said than done). If you are not the orgainsed type then get a diary and write in what you plan to do for your business each day. So for example you may do the finances on a Monday and write a blog post on Tuesday, then deal with any HR issues on a Wednesday.

I recently learned about the 2 minute rule, that is if you have a task that will take you 2 minutes or less to complete, why put it off or add it to the end of your to do list? Just get it done there and then and start building up small wins throughout the day and you will feel like you have accomplished so much more.

If you do need to make a to do list, allthings is an amazing tool for keeping track of what tasks you need to get done that day/week/month/eventually. Everyone has time for content marketing and if you say you don’t then you need to ask yourself if it is something you really want to be doing.

Click here for a related article about allthings.

Challenge five – knowing which channels to be on

How do you know which channels your target audience are on? Do you just ensure you are on all channels available and dedicate equal time to all in the hopes that your target audience might see your content? That doesn’t seem workable given the time constraint challenge mentioned above. Without understanding how to reach your audience your content marketing strategy cannot be fully developed, nor will it be effective in achieving your goals.

Solution

Really get to know your audience, what they want, where they are most likely to be (in the digital sense, don’t start stalking them in the street). There are some great analytical tools out there that can help you understand how people find your website (Google Analytics) or find you on social media. The more you know about where you target audience is most likely to be, the more you can tailor your content to that specific channel.

Start with the channel where the majority of your target audience spend most of their time online. So for us that is Twitter and that is where we dedicate a large proportion of our time, and it is paying off. We do still spend time on other channels, Facebook and LinkedIn but Twitter is our priority just now. So don’t feel that you have to be everywhere and anywhere, be selective and choose the channel that is right for your customers and you.

Challenge six – knowing when to publish content

What is the best time to publish your content so that your target audience are most likely to see it and engage with it? It can be challenging to know when most of your target audience will be online and viewing your content. There are many blogs out there that all claim to know the optimal times to post on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, but in truth it will differ based on your industry.

For example, we know that our audience as small business owners and so between 9am-5pm they will most likely be a work and wont have time to check their social media feeds. So we post content we really want our audience to see before 9am and later on in the evenings.

Solution

A great tool for Twitter is Followerwonk. This uses your account details to determine some statistics including the most active hours for our Twitter account. You can then use this to adjust your Buffer schedule to post content at the times that your followers are most active. Another tool that I recently found is SocialBro, a great tool to analyse, engage and monetize your twitter followers.

Sometimes the best thing to do is trial and error, especially when you are initially starting out and trying to build your twitter followers. Pick a few different times a day to post, see what the engagement statistics are like and adjust accordingly. Eventually you will find what works best for your business and there is no one best time to share content.

Challenge seven – increasing audience engagement

It is all well and good sharing great content but what you truly want is for your audience to engage with you, share your content with others, ask questions, give feedback and share with you content they have found. Getting your audience to interact with you can be difficult, especially as people don’t usually provide feedback on a product or service unless there is something in it for them or unless the product or services as amazingly good or amazingly bad.

Solution

What we do at The Content Marketing Academy is have a “Your Turn” section at the end of every article we write. We ask three or four questions related to the article and ask readers to join in the conversation in the comments section underneath. This then puts the ball in the readers court and invites them into the discussion in the hopes that they will be inspired enough to even write “Great article” (we hope).

Another technique you could use is to analyse what other content your audience are liking and looking at. Whether it is some of your older content or someone elses content and post more of the same. Buffer analytics can help you see what has gained the most attention and interaction with your audience. Bitly is also a great tool for tracking clicks on a web link. It shortens any web address, leaving you more characters on Twitter to write something witty and interesting.

Your Turn

1. What have you found challenging about content marketing?
2. Are there any challenges that you have not found a solution for?
3. What challenges have you overcome in your content marketing efforts?
4. Are there challenges on this list that you have found solutions for? If so what are they?

Let us know in the comments section below