When It Comes To Content Marketing, It's Ok to NOT Do It All

How to decide if you should adopt more platforms and outlets into your content marketing strategy

It’s happened to almost everyone in content marketing. While reporting the ROI of your most recent campaign to your bosses, they pause for a while and ask:

• Why aren’t we on Snapchat?
• Shouldn’t we be making video? I hear video is really hot right now.
• Facebook Live! Have we tried Facebook Live?

You become a little frantic. Between the blog, social media, and the occasional infographic, you just don’t feel like you have time to add yet another content marketing platform right now. Besides, you’re a strong writer and have a good sense for what works on social media—the numbers are all moving upwards! Engagement is robust! You’ve never edited a video before and either way - does a law firm really need to be on Snapchat?

To which the answers are: that’s ok, and no, probably not.

Sometimes, Less Content Is More

The truth is, while there is a seemingly endless array of platforms and ways to share your content, not every single one is going to be right for your purposes—and that’s perfectly ok! The key is establishing which work and which don’t. 

For example, while it’s true that video marketing is really popular right now—Buzzfeed has been balancing their books on a nonstop stream of recipes, demonstrations, and punchy sponsored videos—it can be very, very difficult to do video correctly. If your business doesn’t easily lend itself to video content (if you’re not, say, an animal shelter or a zoo that has tons of cute things to record and share), trying to force a YouTube presence isn’t a good idea. Additionally, the skillset required to make videos—scripting, shooting, and editing—is very specific, and difficult to fudge. For a novice, it can eat up a lot of time for not a lot of return.

And if your other platforms are working well—your blog is getting decent readership, your Facebook engagement is strong, etc—your time might be better spent growing those relationships, rather than diverting your attention to something new. Instead of spreading yourself too thin by trying out too many platforms, it’s often a good idea to pick just a few that you know you can do really well and focus on those. 

How To Determine Where Your Strengths Are

But how do you decide which platforms to invest in, and which to ignore for now?

First, take stock of what you’re currently doing, and what’s working best. Essentially all brands need a Facebook and a Twitter account that are active, and a blog is always a good idea for SEO and authority-building, but what about Pinterest, LinkedIn, or Medium?

Typically, it depends on what your goals are and who your audience is—but this is an exercise that requires realistic expectations. Your accounting firm may be able to offer millennials great money-management tips, but don’t assume that a .GIF of Liz Lemon making it rain will be enough to interest them or make it go viral. 

Which platforms work best are also contingent on what your skills are. If you did college radio and are great at editing audio tape, then yes, a podcast might be right for you. But if you’ve never talked into a microphone in your life, it may be a stretch. Decide what you’re best at, and then figure out how to put it to work.

The biggest piece of caution really comes down to what you have time for. Just because a platform is new and exciting, that doesn’t mean you need to be on it. Unless you feel like you really understand what the platform is for and when to use it, it’s best to stick with the ones you feel confident in and try to really grow those audiences. 

Wondering about content marketing? We can help!

efelle creative is a Seattle-based web marketing firm that specializes in social media marketing & management,  website design and development, website content management, search engine optimization, and other online marketing services. Since 2005, efelle has worked with hundreds of businesses to help them with their web development needs. Call us at 206.384.4909 or fill out our online contact form to get in touch with a custom web design specialist.

See Also:

The One Thing You Shouldn't Hack: Your Content Marketing Strategy

What’s Your Content Marketing Voice?