We are in a new age in content marketing, one that relies on technology as much as it does on creativity. Content automation is part of content marketing transformation, and you may feel that you’re at a crossroads: automate or lose traction.
Considering that 91% of businesses use content marketing, it only makes sense that these brands want to improve their operations. Technology has enabled this with content marketing software platforms that offer a variety of ways to automate, from workflow creation to content calendars to social media publishing.
It’s time to explore some tips for content automation that drives ROI.
Content Automation Delivers Benefits, Yet It’s Underutilized
There are many advantages to content marketing automation; however, you may not be using it to its full potential. These key benefits include:
- Saving time
- Reducing costs
- Generating better leads
- Improving accountability
- Inspiring creativity
- Cultivating a more relevant social media presence
Are you taking advantage of all these benefits? Or have you only begun to explore content automation?
Maybe you’re only relying on simple content automation strategies that will help you with resources, but they aren’t driving the results you crave.
It’s time to harness the power of content automation so that it enables you to become a content leader in your industry and generates real ROI from your efforts.
Let’s look at some key tips to drive ROI with content automation.
1. Use a Content Calendar to Facilitate Better Content Creation
While AI and machine learning haven’t been refined to the point where they can actually develop content, that’s not the path proposed when using content automation for content creation.
Customers have high expectations for brands these days. They crave relevant content that helps them solve their challenges. This can only be developed by human content developers who have great insight into their target market and industry.
However, content creation can be facilitated with content automation, especially with the use of a content calendar tool.
Using a content calendar delivers a great foundation for your team to plan a targeted production schedule. Automation functionality comes into play by enabling the efficient build out of individual calendars by plotting out publishing dates and auto-creating production workflows.
Content calendars, themselves, provide organization and transparency to the content creation process, and with automated notifications, team members are always informed of what’s happening and what’s changing.
Your content calendar is also a key space for ideation. By automating the process of allowing users to note ideas for future topics or projects, your team can also collaborate better.
When you have a well-running machine that facilitates better content creation, you can drive real results because you’ll have a clear awareness of what content is in the pipeline and where you may have gaps in your content strategy.
2. Content Automation Improves Lead Nurturing
Almost every lead you receive will need to be nurtured. Lead nurturing is critical to turning an interest into a conversion. Once a user has indicated they want to communicate with you, it’s time to feed them great content. Content automation helps deliver this more effectively.
Getting a visitor to sign up for your newsletter is just the first step in lead nurturing. What you do next matters much more. As users interact with your brand, set up triggers to send out emails that speak to that next step in their journey, and in your relationship with them.
It’s all about how the prospect responds. If they open your emails, you may send them a follow up to move them down the funnel. If they don’t, you can send them a different message that’s more of a reminder.
Being able to automate dynamic emails can prove beneficial in delivering vital information at the right steps of the buying process. Also, by aligning where your buyers are to the content they receive, they are likely to stay more engaged.
3. Automating Social Media Posts
With your content complete, your next goal is to get it in front of your target market, which means posting on social media platforms.
Your social media profiles are critical in your ability to disperse your content and get it noticed and consumed. But if you are doing it without content automation tools, you know it’s time-consuming and laborious.
By employing content automation, you’ll save time and be more consistent in your publishing. You can do this by using a content marketing platform that easily integrates with all the social sites you use. You can then plan, produce, and post/schedule your content from one hub.
Consider how simplified your content dissemination would be! Plus, you can view all your posts from one calendar so you know exactly what your feeds will look like.
With this automated, you can then spend more time interacting with followers on social media and digging into the data related to your postings so you know what types of content and what time of day you get the most engagement.
4. Content Workflow Applications Deliver Seamless Content Planning
When it comes to content planning, there’s never an easy answer. That’s why using content workflow processes can help. With the right tools, you can automate the stage, status, and process of each piece of content. With well-designed workflows, your team can easily identify content that needs attention with automated notifications.
The content workflow can include pushing your completed content to your WordPress blog and social media publishing.
5. Fewer Resources? Automate to Help with Identifying Repurposing Opportunities
An optimized content strategy is all about delivering high-quality resources to target buyers while also generating leads. However, you may not have a huge team that can spin new content out constantly.
There are ways to set up automation to help you repurpose your content, maximizing your content strategy. Have an eBook? Break it down into a series of blog posts or an infographic. Use the automation tools in your content calendar to help you find, plan, and execute on these opportunities.
By repurposing content that has performed well in the past, you have more assets to attract leads without additional costs.
Content automation is and will continue to be vital to any brand’s success. By using technology, you can optimize your efforts and see the results you desire. Why not help your business start driving ROI with content automation? A DivvyHQ test drive is a great way to start!