Content marketing is getting even bigger online. With all the hoopla, I thought today would be a great day to discuss how content marketing should be more about the content than the marketing. When you provide awesome content, great marketing happens naturally.

Don’t believe me? Let me give you an example. Take the new webinar that I host on Wednesdays (Check Webinar). The previous title was 12 ways to use social media. While we had  a lukewarm response, we were able to nearly double attendance when we changed the name of the webinar topic to Free Leads For Social Media. Content. This just shows that the content can make the Marketing and Marketing does not make the content.

Content Marketing Is On The Rise

10 Ways To Make Content Marketing More About The Content Than  The Marketing

1. Be interesting. Boring, tried, and true is so, like, um, yesterday!
2. Have a sense of humor! Do you think I am funny for no reason! Absolutely not. I want you to enjoy this information and laughter has been proven to make information more memorable. Make it funny!
3. Think out of the box! Maybe a circle or in a triangle, but definitely stay out of the box. Once ideas go in the box, it becomes like a gelatin mush that is less and less effective as a general malaise sets in destroying the once ripe idea.
4. Make the content immediately useful. Good news! I can show you some information that you can use 5 years from now, but are you going to remember it? No, give your readers something that can provide instant gratification. Why? Because with a little instant gratification they will be more interested in doing what they need to do to succeed.
5. Give more than promised. I offer 10 ways to make content marketing more about the content than the marketing. This is a list of 12. Ooohhh!
6. Think about what your audience wants to know. While I can share a lot of dorky things with readers through this blog, I share what I believe they could use. A lot of blog posts even come from my readers.
7. How can the content make an impact? How can you tap into people’s emotions to get them to laugh, cry, smile, and agree with you?
8. Ask questions? Questions make people think. What are you thinking about right now?
9. Get the audience engaged. Answer my question from #8 in the comment section below. Wow!
10. Play around with different topics. You will not always get it right the first or hundredth time you do something. That is why try, try, and try again is crucial. First time wonders rarely become long term successes.
11. Provide action steps for your prospects. Once you are done with this blog post write your own. Really go and write a blog post 300-500 words. See how you are able to use these ideas for your own business. Let me know what you wrote.
12. Show your subscribers what you see in your crystal ball. People always want to know what is going to happen in the future. It is just so unknowable that people crave for more information. Perfect example! I am a Castle fan! I yearn to know what is going to happen next with the case for her mother. Plus, Stana Katic is hot. The future is also hot, because it just seems sexy to know about events that have not happened yet.

Go forth now and create your own content. Keep these principles in mind and remember to make a comment below telling me what you are thinking about right now (regarding content marketing)?