Being able to create excellent content for your audience is a journey in and of itself, but it often is only the first part of the process. Being able to optimize content and ensure it reaches as many people as possible requires a series of efforts, some of which are unique to each particular piece of content. Other efforts may be universal, and are just as important to utilize in your content marketing schedule.

If you feel like your content is high-quality and your natural audience is sufficiently large enough to garner engagement – but you’re not getting the desired results – then it may be due to one or more common, major content marketing mistakes.

Today, we’ll inspect some of the biggest content marketing errors that brands make and hopefully help you avoid doing the same in the future.

Ignoring the Power of Email

There are a seemingly countless number of methods and platforms through which content marketing is possible. Many focus on newer and emerging forms of marketing, which can provide a variety of benefits. However, some of the oldest tips in the book are among the most efficient. Email marketing is absolutely the best example of this.

Given that email marketing is – at least in terms of each impression – practically free, it’s hard to justify ignoring it. Being sure to send out periodic emails with a round-up of your recent content offerings can help ensure your content is being received by a larger audience. Likewise, optimizing your subject lines, link structure and including calls to action in each email can further improve open rates and clickthrough rates.

Publishing Irregularly

Studies show that brands that maintain a regular, consistent and active content publishing presence create more engagement and conversions than brands that only publish periodically. The more content that’s pinging your website, the more opportunities you have to reach select segments of your audience. Additionally, a regular content schedule can let readers and visitors know when to check back in for new options. It can also boost your visibility in search results, believe it or not.

Dropping the Ball on Social Media

Social media is a complex marketing platform and requires careful interaction. Simply publishing links to your latest content offerings with little to no description is unlikely to generate any meaningful interaction. Likewise, when audiences engage with your social media activities, failing to engage back can cause a reduction in long-term brand loyalty and vital social signals.

Not only should you optimize content publishing on social media platforms just as you would on your website, but you should have a game plan for ensuring you’re able to interact with each comment, question or complaint as efficiently as possible.

Ignoring SEO Opportunities

Every content marketing plan is different, but the vast majority of brands want to generate organic traffic where possible. Search engines are arguably the best sources for this traffic in the long term, meaning that search engine optimization should be a prime focus in content you publish. These search engines pinging your website are looking for a variety of factors to determine how well you’ll rank in select results.

Whether it be targeting select keywords, optimizing your headings and subheadings, creating a diverse array of internal and external links on each post, or simply proofreading your content, these optimizations can help better position your brand to rank well in select search results in due time.

In the end, content marketing is stressful and complex – but not every part of the process has to be! If you’re failing to embrace any of the tips above, then consider revising your current strategy in order to avoid these common yet major mistakes.