This post will go through content marketing for IT companies. By the end, you’ll have a great grasp on the following.
How to promote your content
Content formats that are generating leads for IT companies
The top content marketing trends for IT businesses
New tactics information technology companies are using to create content and a host of other tips.
So, if you want to generate more traffic content marketing for your IT business, this is the post you need to read.
Let’s dive right in!
Double Down On Video Content
Video is, without a doubt, the future of content marketing.
Yup! That’s right.
You see, the number of businesses using video as an element of their content marketing has risen by an impressive 38 percent since 2017.
Besides, 72 percent of consumers say that they’d rather watch a video than reading text-based content.
If video is that essential, the question is: how can IT companies get started with video marketing?
Better yet, how can you double down on your efforts if you’re creating videos already?
Here’s how…
Perfect Your Video Intros
Whether you’re creating YouTube, Twitter, or LinkedIn videos, you must ensure that the intro is enticing.
You see, according to YouTube’s internal data, a captivating first 15 seconds can motivate viewers to keep watching your videos.
Do you know what this means?
Well, it implies that you should avoid starting your IT marketing videos with a fancy, animated logo. You also don’t want to spend a whole 30 seconds trying to explain why your video’s topic is important.
It would be best if you dive right in without rambling.
Focus On YouTube
Make no mistake. We aren’t saying that Facebook videos aren’t a thing. Or that Instagram Reels aren’t effective for IT marketing.
However, if you want to get more eyeballs on your brand, you should focus on YouTube.
Why?
For starters, YouTube outperforms Facebook and Instagram … or any other website under the sun apart from Google.
The winner, though, is the fact that your YouTube marketing videos can continue to garner views years after you upload them.
The same isn’t true for Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter.
Optimize For Suggested Videos
YouTube will get your content in front of potential customers. And the beauty of it is that you can leverage “suggested video.”
This section on the channel to the right of what you’re currently watching. While you may not know, it’s here that most views on YouTube originate.
So, be sure to optimize your video description and tags around a trending topic that can bring new customers.
Ideally, you want to optimize your video around competitive keywords. That way, your video can show up next in line to a competitor’s video that’s generating a lot of views. You get the drill, right?
And oh, one more thing – work off a script. That way, you won’t have to worry about what to say and how to say it.
Pro Tip: You can start by creating how-to and behind-the-scene videos.
Embrace Email Marketing
Email marketing isn’t old school.
In fact, any serious IT company is using email marketing to attract new customers and retain the old ones.
Here’s how to run effective email marketing for an IT company.
Leverage Your Homepage Instead Of A Blog Feed
Listen, we’re not saying that having a blog feed on your website is bad. The problem is, a site with a blog feed isn’t optimized for conversion.
Optimizing your homepage to allow you to collect emails can increase your conversion rate by up to 60 percent.
Cut To The Chase With Your Newsletter Email
Indeed, the best way to share your new content with your subscribers is through email.
But, it would help if you were mindful of the length of your emails.
While there’s nothing wrong with sending long emails to your subscribers, you’re likely to experience a low click rate if you opt for this strategy.
Instead, break your email into bits and pieces.
Of course, be sure to include the link to your new post at the end of the email.
Leverage Topic Upgrades
Sure, content upgrades can bring in tons of subscribers.
Even so, it takes a lot of time and effort to maintain content upgrades. You see, every time you tweak your content, you’ll need to update your content upgrade PDF.
So, let’s say you make over 100 changes and updates to your content every three months … that’s a lot of work.
However, you can use a clever strategy called topic upgrades.
Think of topic upgrades as a less tedious version of content upgrades.
Topic upgrades work like this – instead of creating a resource that’s specific to a particular post, such as a downloadable PDF, you’ll write another post that relates to that topic.
For instance, someone reading about “IT for business” would want to read about “business technology tools to save time and money.”
Instead of creating a post on IT for business and a downloadable PDF that talks about business technology tools, you can create separate posts for each topic.
Send Your Subscribers Exclusive Content
You’ll need to send your subscriber more than links to your latest blog posts and podcast episodes if you want them to stay on your email list.
So, ensure that at least 10 percent of your newsletter content is exclusive. We’re talking about content that your readers cannot find in your blog.
Exclusive content has a higher open rate.
Scale Your Content Marketing Efforts
You’ll need to generate a significant amount of content if you want to put your IT business in front of your customers and potential clients.
This includes:
Longform blog content
Newsletters
Flagship courses
Long-form YouTube videos
Here’s how to improve your content marketing efforts.
Document What You’re Doing
Your readers will stay tuned for your next blog post if you show them what you’re already doing.
For instance, if you’re planning to send a press release about your new accounting software for small businesses, you can start by sending details of your soon-to-launch product.
First, when you create content this way, it comes out A LOT better. On top of that, documenting is faster and easier and places your business as a thought leader.
Assemble A Content Team
If you want to grow your IT business, you must perfect the art of delegating.
Whether you’re a CEO or COO, you can’t do everything yourself.
To scale your content marketing efforts, you must have a team to generate content. But what happens if you can create a talented in-house workforce to churn out content?
Well, you can always hire a content writing agency to help you out. All you need to do is make sure that you’re partnering with a writing company that understands your industry.
At Growth Generators, we help IT companies generate high-quality content that generates leads. We will handle everything from keyword research to choosing a content format, writing and SEO.
Simply get in touch with us to discuss your content needs, and we develop a content marketing campaign that suits your business and industry. That way, you can concentrate on other areas of running your business.
What’s more? We can help you create a content calendar to enable you to keep track of how much content is on your site at any particular moment.
Also Read: MSP SEO – Tips to Boost Your Google Rankings
Publish Authoritative Content
Your content has to be of high quality, that’s for sure.
However, the IT industry is super competitive, so you’ll need to take it a notch higher. Strive to generate “the to-go-to” content.
In other words, create content that’ll make your site the to-go-to resource when potential clients and industry players want to read original, research-backed blog posts full of new data and trends.
We’re talking about data bloggers, and journalists can cite in their work.
And so you may know, 74 percent of people who publish original content report an increase in traffic, according to BuzzSumo.
Here’s how to “be the source” irrespective of your IT market segment
Choose Topics That’ll Make You The Go-To Resource
You find winning topics by:
Building A Proven Topic
Let’s say you’re an MSP. Your prospects would be interested in reading about “managed IT.”
You can create an updated version of the post currently ranking in the #1 position on Google.
Of course, you’ll include the latest trends, stats, and research to make the post a helpful resource that’ll benefit anyone looking to learn about managed IT.
Or…
Focusing On An Emerging Topic
Technology is evolving, and you can be sure that people will want to read about what’s happening in the industry.
Simply looks at what’s new in your area that is yet to get in-depth coverage and hop in.
Pay Attention To Validity
To create an authoritative piece, your data has to be 100 percent valid and accurate. In fact, your study’s validity is crucial when it comes to helping your brand stand out.
The biggest question is – how can you get run a study if you don’t have the resources?
Well, you can get free raw IT data available on platforms such as Github. All you need to do is analyze the information to up with your findings.
Promote Your Study With A Press Release
Even though press releases are optional, they can give your authoritative post the push it needs to stand out, especially if you’ve covered something interesting.
Work With Industry Experts
Let’s say you want to create a post on why you should outsource IT.
You can hire a freelance writer to create the article or partner with an entrepreneur who grew their business by outsourcing IT.
While a random freelance writer can create a good post, there’s a chance of regurgitating what’s already available in the public domain.
On the other hand, an entrepreneur has hands-on experience such as what it takes to find the best outsource IT service, the budget, tasks outsource, the impact on their business, etc.
What if you can’t find an entrepreneur or someone with hands-on experience to work with?
You can work with an IT marketing agency such as Growth Generators. The catch here is to ensure that the marketing company you want to partner with has helped other businesses like yours create content that stands out.
Repurpose Your Content
Repurposing content is an excellent way to boost your content marketing efforts.
And the beauty of it is that you don’t have to start from scratch – and that’s why content repurposing is a hot content marketing topic right now.
Here’s how IT companies can use content repurposing.
Match The Content To Your Current Format
A few years ago, all you needed to do to repurpose content was to take a single post and recycle it. That’s not the case these days.
Nowadays, you’ll need to collect ideas, examples, and concepts from your original content and make it matches perfectly with your new format.
For instance, if you want to create a YouTube video based on your blog post, you shouldn’t “copy-paste” everything.
You can add a short story at the beginning as long as it relates to the topic or skip some material in your post if you think it’s outdated.
Reuse Specific Tips And Steps
Again, you don’t have to reuse the entire blog post when repurposing content.
We recommend that you only use the best sections of your pieces. Let’s say you have a post on “hardware monitoring for business success.” You can reuse bits and pieces of that piece with updated information as a LinkedIn post.
The Bottom Line
Content marketing for IT companies has changed over the years.
The worst part is, you’ll still come across information telling you to strive to become a thought leader or master the art of storytelling without showing you how.
The truth is, if you want to grow your IT business through content marketing, you have to go beyond the obvious. And, this post shows you exactly how to do it.
If you’re running into problems implementing these tips or you want to run a hand-off content marketing campaign, contact us today, and we’ll be glad to help.