By James Lang 
When you sit down to write content to fill your content marketing calendar, you’re taking time to create content that you believe will win over your target audience. It might sound simple, but weak content hurts more than it helps. You have a very short period to grab someone’s attention – some studies measure the modern attention span in milliseconds.
If you want to punch through the noise, you need to leverage every advantage you have. Below, I’ll outline some of the content marketing strategies I’ve used to grab attention and score conversions.
1. Why am I reading this content?
As your target audience scrolls through their social media feed, they are inundated with demands for their attention. You need to immediately communicate why the content is relevant to them.
This starts with the title and meta description for your content. Here’s a really strong example of how to communicate value instantly. Within seconds the reader knows what they’ll gain from the content, and the formatting of the content is designed to allow skeptical readers to skim and gain value.
2. Take me to where I expect to go.
If I click on your content in my social media feed, I want to go where I’m expecting. And I’m expecting to land on a page that provides answers to the questions – or the itch – that caused me to click in the first place.
If your promoted social media post states: “These 8 simple steps can help you regrow your hair in 60 days!”, then I expect to see an outline of the 8 simple steps. You should not take me to a page that offers to sell me a magical elixir.
A great salesman knows when to close. The first click is not when you close. The first click is for convincing me that you are a genuine authority – building trust for when you do push the close.
3. Prove it with a case study or two.
Your content needs to be backed up with research. You should have at least one authority link to a case study or interview that proves your point. In the age of wikipedia, customers will not just take your word for it.
Curious about how a case study fits into your overall social media and content marketing plan?
I like to look at content marketing as a pyramid. First, there’s the surface level social media post with an attention-grabbing teaser. Then you take me to an asset that communicates the unique value propositions of your product or service. There should be multiple landing pages and in-depth pages of content that allow me to sink my teeth into the things that make your product / service the best. And finally, I should have a persistent call to convert from casual browser to customer.
This type of setup allows me to go on a self-guided journey through your content. The more I click and explore, the more I feel you are a genuine authority, and the more likely I am to fork over my hard-earned money.
4. Get visual with your social media posts.
Did you know that if you comment or like an Instagram post made by a targeted customer, they will follow your Instagram profile back 34% of the time? Visual marketing, whether it’s Instagram syphoning or tutorial distribution, is a powerful strategy for engaging your target market.
Text is boring. You need to capture their attention within milliseconds of your post entering their feed. Visuals are much more effective at capturing the attention of the human eye. Don’t believe me?
Think about how you process information. A picture really is worth 1,000 words. There’s no way I could describe an artistic masterpiece in less time than it takes for your eyes to zero in on it.
Wrapping Up
In conclusion, there are an endless number of strategies you can deploy to build up your company’s digital presence. Social media is a hugely powerful tool for connecting in a more intimate way with your target customer. The content marketing strategies I’ve outlined above are meant to help you zero in on the systems I use to maximize the ROI on my time and marketing dollars.
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Editorialist Team 
Adam