How often should a business publish content in order to achieve a level of effectiveness in content marketing?
It’s a question I hear a lot and I have two answers:
- It depends. There are a number of factors on which the answer depends: capacity, resources, editorial strategy, business size, and the industry among others. Further, what works well for one business, may not be optimal for another.
- Consistency matters more than frequency. More than anything else, consistency is the single most valuable attribute in content marketing.
But We Produce a lot of Content
There is so much noise around the term content marketing that the difference between content marketing and producing lots of marketing content gets lost.
When I talk about the importance of consistency, I often hear this objection from classical marketers: But we already produce a lot of content!
The problem is this content is scattered all over the web; it’s on microsites, landing pages and URLs long since forgotten.
Shot-gunning content all over the web it’s not the same thing as being consistent. Content marketing consistency means showing up in the same place, at the same time, with quality content the community finds useful.
Consistency Conditions the Community
Some marketers might relate consistency to the ability to sustain effective content marketing. I agree there is well-documented power in force of habit, but there’s something more to it than habit: publishing consistent content conditions your community as well.
For generations, people picked up the newspaper from their doorsteps every morning. Even as the content has shifted to the web, the expectation from the community for consistent content is quite similar to the good old days of newspaper delivery.
So how often should a business publish? It depends.
5 Big Ideas on Content Marketing Consistency
There is usually a range of views for best practices in content marketing. So as an added benefit to readers, I canvased 20 marketing news sites or blogs I read regularly looking for ideas on consistency.
Here are five that stood out among the volume:
1. Marketing Land: The 1% Rule Of Content Marketing
“…don’t sacrifice consistency for perfection. After all, the sweet spot for content marketing to start showing results is about six months in, so you want to be producing content consistently over that time period.”
2. Copyblogger: How to Consistently Create Remarkable Content
“Producing abundant and engaging content requires a great deal of focused intention, a fair amount of passion, and a lot of elbow grease: 1) Start with an educated guess for your content strategy. 2) Create and release content knowing it’s likely to be a bit flawed. 3) Optimize it often, based on audience feedback.”
3. Business {Grow}: What is the ideal blogging frequency for your business?
“A year ago, I was posting five times a week, including a {growtoon} comic on Fridays. I noticed that the number one reason people stated for un-subscribing was “too many posts.” Once I cut back to four times a week by eliminating the cartoon, the un-subscribe level dropped by 80 percent. So I used data and feedback from my readers to find a sweet spot.”
4. Seth’s Blog: Consistent, persistent generosity
“That might be exactly the strategy you need to have an impact on the market.”
5. TopRank Marketing Blog: 8 Ways to Build Credibility & Trust with Content Marketing
“This may be the easiest fix on the list. Set a posting cadence and keep to it. This helps readers make an appointment with your content—it sets an expectation you can continue to meet. If you usually post daily but you go dark for three days, your credibility will suffer. On the flipside, when you consistently deliver content, each post boosts your reputation.”
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Did you know? This PR blog is now a PR firm based near Atlanta – how’s that for practicing what we preach? Find out more about what we do to drive results for clients here: 7 PR, Content Marketing and Social Media Services that Deliver Results.
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